Life, Liberty and Pursuit of The Groove

"Liberty Bell" (Wilson Turbinton)
Willie Tee, from Anticipation, United Artists, 1976

"It tolls for thee. . ."

“Liberty Bell” is the first part of a two-song suite on Willie Tee’s 1976 album, Anticipation. I featured the second song, the title track, in the early days of this blog on October 30, 2004. What better weekend than the 4th of July to lay on you this message song, Tee’s musings on liberty, love and leadership during that bicentennial year of the USA.

Most of the album was cut at Studio In The Country in Bogalusa, LA, using mainly Tee’s Gatur Rhythm Section: Louis ‘ Guitar June’ Clark, guitar; Erving Charles, bass; Larry Panna, drums; Alfred ‘Uganda’ Roberts, percussion. On this track, Julius Farmer laid down the bass. Also featured here are Tee's brother, Earl Turbinton, on soprano sax along with assorted other horn players, as well as David T. Walker on guitar, and Geraldine 'Sister Gerry' Richard, vocal backup. On all tracks, the versatile Mr. Tee sang and played keyboards; and wrote and arranged all of it to boot. To me, “Liberty Bell” has a real summertime groove, steamy funk not in a hurry to get anywhere, but with a lot of good instrumental interplay going on, especially Farmer's perpetual motion bad-ass bass workout. The rest of the album moves from funk into more upbeat soul with pop leanings, and, while not totally a classic, remains enjoyable.

If you want to read more on Willie Tee (Wilson Turbinton), there a link below*; and back on May 16, I featured a side from one of his Atlantic singles. In the near future, I want to get to a cut by the Gaturs, too. But now it’s holiday time in these parts; so, I hope you have a good 4th of July, wherever and however you are spending it. Remember, nearly 30 years after this record came out, we still need to fix that bell.

* Willie Tee's web site