Cookin' (Food) with Dee Felice and James Brown

JB x DFFirst off, let me begin this post by saying that I recently stumbled upon a blog called Hippy-DJKit that traffics in everything from '60s psych to soul jazz and whatever could be fit in between the two. Maintained by the duo of DJ Fanis and DJ Kit, the site gets a regular update every few days. But on occasion a slew of discs'll show up on a single evening. Ahhh...the innernuts. But as with any endeavor, this site aims to post unique content. They succeed often, sometimes not - the Peanut Butter Conspiracy for instance. Even if the music that gets posted isn't to one's liking, it'll still be pretty rare - as is the case with the Dee Felice album In Heat.

That name shouldn't even ring a bell, frankly. And while Dee Felice, who apparently has lived in south western Ohio or the northern portion of Kentucky for forty years or so, now runs a restaurant, he might be on that one James Brown record you have tucked away. There very honestly isn't any information to flesh out this story at all, but at some point during '69 Brown tapped Dee Felice, a drummer, and his combo to support him on the studio effort Gettin' Down to It. To be frank, I hadn't even heard of that album, but apparently, it's a laid back (in comparison to his other work) set of traditional vocal tracks with a small jazz combo backing him and features soul sister Marva Whitney on vocals. It is Mr. James Brown, so there's gotta be a bit of funk on there - track it down if you can.

Subsequent to that date, though, Brown produced the aforementioned set entitled In Heat. The cover makes it look like it should be some sort of tripped out rock outing, or at the very least, a Gabor Szabo effort. It's not though. The disc is basically the latin jazz equivalent to Ramsey Lewis. There's nothing that could be construed as offensive - it's all smooth and sensible changes and lilting solos. But if you'd like to find a copy, an internet auction site might be your best bet - the disc has recently gone for over $200. I can't say that the price tag is warranted. And if not for Brown's face adorning the album itself, the disc might be a jazz afterthought.

The music itself isn't bad. There's an oddly placed cover of "Summer in the City" that comes off a bit too cheesy, although the trio's rendition of the country tune "Witchita Lineman" isn't bad. In the end, this is dinner music just like Jimmy Smith. It's palatable and if better marketed could have easily sold a few copies. Again, the psychedelic album cover probably didn't help. But it also seems as if Felice isn't too found of being far from home, so perhaps touring proved problematic. This is all just conjecture, though, so if you're out there reading this Mr. Felice - or if you're his second cousin thrice removed - let us know the deal.