Sunny & The Sunliners - "The Thing"

One of my favorite things about hunting for Soul music (including funk, jazz-funk, boo-ga-loo, northern soul, sweet soul, and all the other offshoots) is that there is literally just an endless amount of recorded material, really good material, out there. Throughout the sixties and seventies there was a seemingly unlimited amount of artists working and recording, some on major labels and some on microcosmic independent labels. So just when you think that you've uncovered every little niche of the genre, not necessarily discovering every artist or record in that niche but just as a whole, another door opens up and there's a whole different Thing going on that you had no idea existed. It's kind of like a giant puzzle and it's what holds my attention and keeps me interested (something that's NOT EASY to do) in discovering what else is out there.

The primary way of finding these new doors is through networking and meeting new people. Since everyone has a different ear, and more importantly since everyone comes from a completely unique cultural background, each person is bound to have a different experience with the music. Sooooooo, getting to today's song and how this all relates. In New Orleans I meet Justin "Rambo" Salinas through my friend Tarik. Naturally Justin and I had a lot to talk about since we both have a profound love for Soul and records. He kept talking about a musician from his native state of Texas, Sunny Ozuna. I had never heard of Sunny before but Justin spoke with great passion about him and his music. This caught my attention since it seemed I had found out about a new little niche. After coming back from New Orleans I turned this record up by Sunny & The Sunliners, and it blew me away.

"The Thing" is a tremendous instrumental workout that's part boo-ga-loo, part jazz and part funk. Throw that all together and you have an incredibly killer tune that's sure to get the people moving. The song moves along driven by a groovy rythym comprised of an organ, the bass, guitar and drums. Around that static rythym is where the magic happens: a few HUGE horn breaks and horn lines, and a seemingly improvisational jazz-like trade off between the trumpet and sax. Man, this song is just plain cool.

I'm sending this out to Rambo Salinas. He's currently hosting an all-nighter weekender for the three year anniversary of his hot-as-hell Hot Pants party in Minneapolis. I wish I could have made it out for that but I'll have to celebrate on my own with this record.