Current Traffic

Monday 20 October 2014

Post 533 - Heart 'N' Soul - Hot Boogie Band LP

Heart'N'Soul started out as a dinner-suited club/cabaret band in Sydney in 1967 but it soon evolved into Australia's first -jazz-rock 'big band' and the first local group to perform what has become known as jazz-rock fusion. Like several other larger outfits of the period, they were strongly influenced by 60s soul acts on Motown, Stax and Atlantic, and probably also by the soul-jazz-rock excursions of American band Blood Sweat & Tears. The original line-up consisted of the Willington brothers, Phil Prideaux, Percy Ohrling, Rory Thomas, Graham Lewis and Leith Corbett. Among the noted musicians who passed through the ranks were Keith Barr, session stalwart Bobby Gebert (piano), Eric Cairns and Les Gough, jazz legends John Pochee and Bernie McGann, the late Larry Taylor (aka Larry Duryea) who later joined Tamam Shud and Arthur Eisenberg,  Keyboard player Peter Sheehan, who joined during 1970, had come from NZ band Freshwater, for whom he had co-written the A-side of their single "Satan" / "Satan's Woman", which was about the Charles Manson murders.  Heart’N’Soul by then renamed "The Heart'n'Soul Hot Boogie Band" -- was one of the first acts signed to Festival's new progressive label Infinity, which was launched in January 1971. When they recorded their “Hot Boogie Band” (SINL 934098) LP here for you to download, the group had expanded to twelve members, but sadly it had split by the time the album and its accompanying single "Hot Boogie Band" / "Earthrise" were released as part of Infinity's inaugural issue in January 1971. Thanks to Micko with the help with the art work.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for this one my brother.
Somehow this has never made it into my collection, an oversight which you have now rectified :-)
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.