Willie Tee - "Reach Out for Me" (1970)

[Jim Dixon]

Here's an item I don't see in the online discographies or in the Dominic book. Maybe it's common knowledge among the serious completists, I don't know.

https://www.discogs.com/release/1172658 ... Out-For-Me



I like New Orleans music and know just a little of Willie Tee's work. Here's his Wikipedia page if you've need the basics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Tee

[blueonblue]

Jim,
Thanks for the track and info, it's totally new to me....never heard that version before.

'blue'

[Jim Dixon]

I generally prefer singers who stick pretty close the the original conception of a Bacharach tune, and don't over-decorate or get too loose. Willie's arrangement and vocal are very evocative of 1970 and fun to hear, though I wouldn't go to this version very often, as it's a little too loose for me (though it's funny how at 0:37 they kind of snap instantly into a more formal take and follow the Warwick arrangement more closely).

But it reminds me of some instrumental soul jazz versions of Bacharach and similar 1970s adult pop tunes, and I'd love to hear a great instrumental version of Reach Out with something like Willie Tee's groove. Or even Willie singing with a soul jazz band. As an example, here's vibes player Billy Wooten doing a great vibes & organ instrumental of "We've Only Just Begun"



I'd happy listen to a whole album of Wooten playing classic Dionne Warwick tunes by Bacharach. (I am a fan of Cal Tjader's Bacharach album, though it's not quite as funky as Wooten's.)

Regarding Willie Tee, I guess I want things to either be stretched waaaay out and extra groovy, or I want to hear the song as the song without a lot of improvisation on the melody line and with the key instrumental hooks, rhythmic figures, and counter melodies.

[pljms]

While songs with a similar message (Reach Out And I'll Be There & Bridge Over Troubled Water) have gone on to become immortal classics, Reach Out For Me has never quite attained the same status. The gospel influenced recording by The Sweet Inspirations from the late-60s featuring Cissy Houston on lead vocals also takes a few liberties with the song's melody and overall structure.

[Jim Dixon]

That's funny, I just got the three Sweet Inspirations Bacharach tracks from that era yesterday, along with a couple of Cissy Houston Bacharach covers from Presenting Cissy Houston. Good stuff.

Those tight gospel harmony stabs that open up "Reach Out" are so good. Cissy, like Aretha on "Say a Little Prayer", gets a pass on all her embellishments--it all works superbly.

Lou Johnson's 1969 "Please Stay" came up on my shuffle music playlist this morning, and the Stax/Muscle Shoals treatment and his vocal melody rewrites...not as great as Aretha or the Sweet Inspirations!

To me there's an irony in Burt's relationship to R&B...the genre and its singers really helped snap his career into focus, but sometimes his songs don't fare so well on an R&B session, particularly after James Brown and Marvin Gaye (and Isaac Hayes and Donny Hathaway, etc.) changed the rules of the R&B game and made the genre less focused on old-school songwriting forms.

[pljms]

Slightly altering or adding a few grace notes to Bacharach's melodies is fine even if it sometimes can grate but in my opinion his chord progressions should be sacrosanct. Because the majority of his songs are full of jazzy extended chords I've noticed a tendency among some pop, rock and R&B artists to simplify them so that for example major 7ths are replaced by straight major chords, and in so doing detracting from the essence of what makes these songs so distinctive and what attracted us to them in the first place.

[mark]

Wow. Never knew this existed. I used to work with Willie's niece years ago. Makes me want to put together a whole playlist of New Orleans Bacharach covers. Here's one to start:

[Jim Dixon]

I love that Meters cover and would love to know about more instances of New Orleans R&B musicians covering Bacharach. Off the top of my head I can only think of a couple of Irma Thomas songs.

Speaking of great organ combo versions of "Look of Love", I like the 1968 live recordings by Dennis Coffey with organist Lyman Woodard. The band really had a vibe, even if the individual players weren't at the very top of the jazz heap on their respective axes. Their "Look of Love" is pretty epic at 11 minutes...maybe longer than some listeners would care for, but that's 1968 for you.