carl “sherlock” holmes started gigging in the early sixties forming carl holmes & the commanders with whom he recorded a full length album for atlantic in 1962 entitled twist party at the roundtable. later on he recorded a couple of 45’s for the parkway and verve labels. in may of 1966 a pre-experience jimi hendrix gigged with the group but never recorded with them. after a final 45 for the local philly label black jack, the group disbanded and carl formed the sherlock holmes investigation a solid outfit backed by a strong rhythm section packed with congas, vibes, flute, organ and sax. philly’s sigma sound studio was the place they recorded their sole album and curtis r. staten’s crs records was the label that released it.

these two tunes are available on 45RPM single for the very first time. finally, in march 2012 tramp records re-releases the sought after investigation no.1 album, don't miss it!

*THE FIRST 150 COPIES COME WITH ORIGINAL LABEL ARTWORK*
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investigation
it ain't right

vocalist gary walker (who recorded a couple of 45s for the jin label in lousiana and later teamed up with the boogie kings) should not be mistaken for the drummer gary walker (that came to some commercial success in the UK in the 1960s). this christmas tune from 1965 obviously renders homage to james brown's original from earlier that year which had marked nothing less than the beginning of funk music.

from the forthcoming christmas compilation santa's funk & soul christmas party out 28/11/2011 on tramp records.

*LIMITED TO 250 COPIES*
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santa's got a brand new bag

another treasure from the vaults of curtis staten comes from an obscure combo by the name of zodiacs. the band originally released both tunes on their own zodiac label. shortly after, curtis staten re-released them on his own c.r.s. label. while the mix of don't change on me is exactly the same on both issues, on rough nut it isn't. tt was not only re-titled hey rugh nut but more important is that it has overdubbed horns which gives the tune a much better dance floor appeal.

as all re-issues on tramp it comes with excellent sound quality and a strict limitation of 500 copies.

*THE FIRST 150 COPIES COME WITH ORIGINAL LABEL ARTWORK*
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hey rugh nut
dont change on me

the seventh release in the JAZZ DANCE SERIES is another scorcher from the early 1970s.

if you are familiar with the original composition by les mccann you may be hit hard when dropping the needle on this 45rpm single. the tsu jazz ensemble is responsible for probably the heaviest and funkiest version of this jazz classic. the vocalist of this monster tune is anita moore (1950- 2001) who sang with duke ellington in the early 1970's in his last years and later with mercer ellington's band. blues for the new world is from a later album recorded in 1976 and features local legend arnett cobb on tenor saxophone.

as on all previous releases tramp records ensures excellent sound quality and a strictly limited press run of 250 hand-numbered copies.

* THE FIRST 150 COPIES COME WITH ORIGINAL LABEL ARTWORK*
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compared to what
blues of the new world

guitar ray, whose actual name was raymond washington, recorded just over half a dozen 45rpm singles in new orleans from the late 1950s to 1968. four of those had been released on hot line records out of new orleans, which was a subsidiary of nola records. wardell quezergue, one of the principals of the companies, did most of the production and arranging for them - as shown on the label: "arr by wardell." released in around 1967, the singer's own funky pete appeared on the third of washington's four singles for hot line. it was a straight-ahead dancer that emphasized the rhythmic elements of the song, all locked into a tight, spring-loaded, high energy groove, probably propelled by el supremo beat-man, smokey johnson. the drum and vocal intro that quezergue set up pulls you right into the action; then the horns come in and push the groove to maximum heights.

as all re-issues on tramp it comes with excellent sound quality and original label artwork too. because funky pete pt.1 also appears on the feeling nice compilation (tr-9012) we did a strictly limited press run of 115 hand-numbered copies. be quick!
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funky pete pt.1
funky pete pt.2

the JAZZ DANCE SERIES is back with another highlight from the german jazz scene of the 1970s.

klaus weiss, who sadly passed away in 2008, was one of the most outstanding german jazz drummers. he started his professional career at the age of 16 as a member of the jazzopators. during the 1960s he worked with klaus doldinger, dusko goykovic and erwin lehn, to name a few. in the late '60s and early '70s he became increasingly active as a studio musician. in 1971 he worked with a multi-national quartet which featured american bassist jimmy woode, dutch saxophonist ferdinand povel and austrian pianist fritz pauer. the same year the quartet released an album under the name sunbirds on the basf label. one year later they released their second album along with some guest musicians.
both songs of this 7" release have been taken from those aforementioned albums. actually this is sunbirds' first 45rpm single release as they have never released something on this format during their time of existence.

tramp records ensures excellent sound quality and a strictly limited press run of 250 hand-numbered copies.
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sunshine
ocean song

apparently dutch-born, okko bekker is quoted as first appearing on the german music scene in the late-1960's when in hamburg he first struck up a friendship with the then very young asmus tietchens.
after extensive musical and technical studies, okko bekker went on to become an ethnomusicologist and dabbler with electronics, with a range of musical exploration that has been very wide-ranging. he debuted under the sole moniker "okko" in 1971 with the album "sitar & electronics", which sounds like a hybrid of ananda shankar and the funkier MPS stuff. east indian traffic as well as ganges delta have been taken from the aforementioned album. they see the light of the day for the first time on 45, properly mastered with amazing sound quality and authentic label artwork.
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as all re-issues on tramp it has been officially licensed and comes with excellent sound quality.
limited to 225 hand-numbered copies.
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east indian traffic
ganges delta

carl "sherlock" holmes started gigging in the early sixties forming carl holmes & the commanders with whom he recorded a full length album for atlantic in 1962 entitled "twist party at the roundtable". later on he recorded a couple of 45's for the parkway and verve labels. in may of 1966 a pre-experience jimi hendrix gigged with the group but never recorded with them. after a final 45 for the local philly label black jack, the group disbanded and carl formed the sherlock holmes investigation a solid outfit backed by a strong rhythm section packed with congas, vibes, flute, organ and sax. philly's sigma sound studio was the place they recorded their sole album and curtis r. staten's crs records was the label that released it.

and here we are. available for the first time on 45rpm single we chose the smokin', breakbeat-heavy funk of black bag while the flip-side contains the latin-inspired jam modesa.
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as all re-issues on tramp it has been officially licensed and comes with excellent sound quality.
limited to 225 hand-numbered copies.
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black bag
modesa

the soul dukes were a little known funk/soul band out of englewood, new jersey. founded in 1966 by drummer stepen daniels, the band was originally called the dukes & the duchess. after some personal changes the band renamed to the soul dukes. they played at clubs, discos, theaters and concert halls in the north-east region of the US. they even shared the stage with james brown and lloyd price, to name a few.

their one and only 45 r.p.m. single release (soul-69 b/w jelly fish) has been recorded in early 1969. although soul-69 was heavily played by keb darge at his famous madama jojo's club night, it never reached the cult-status as other tracks he played to death like for example by mickey & the soul generation or larry ellis & the black hammer. that a funk 45 gets re-issued it has to be rare, yes, but more important though for the tramp crew is the quality of the music. that's why they invested time to track down the original band members to finally re-release this killer double-sider 41 years after its first release.

as all re-issues on tramp it has been officially licensed and comes with excellent sound quality.
limited to 225 hand-numbered copies.
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soul-69
jelly fish

here we have another sought after funk 45 which gets a proper re-issue treatment. the dynamic corvettes recorded those two sides in 1971 for rufus mitchell's ru-jac records label out of baltimore, maryland. between 1963 and 1972 mitchell put out more than 50(!) 45 r.p.m. singles on his label. most artists recorded soul music, but some were jazz musicians or hybrids of the two. an interesting side note is that a young joe quarterman spent time writing for many ru-jac artists in the 1960s.

keep off the grass and it's a trap are two beautiful examples of what we call deep-funk nowadays, however with a slight psychedelic touch which makes it also appeal to mod-soul/beat aficionados. as all re-issues on tramp it has been officially licensed and comes with excellent sound quality.
limited to 250 hand-numbered copies.
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keep off the grass
it's a trap

after an excursion into the jazzier side of things on recent releases, tramp records is proud to announce another funky soul jewel from the mid 1970s.

clay brown, originally from a small town near barnwell, sc (the birthplace of james brown) recorded a couple of 45 rpm singles which were released on the florentine label in the mid to late 1970s. walk with a groove has some of that funk thing going while everybody's talkin' is a bit more on the soulful side. whatever, both songs are highly prized in northern soul circles fetching over $1000 each for original mint 45's.

from now on, all 45 rpm single releases on tramp records are limited to 250 hand-numbered copies.
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walk with a groove
everybody's talkin'

the musical taste of the tramp records crew do not know any boundaries. after excursions into jazz and modern soul it is time to go back to the original raw & superheavy funk sound.

the soul dynamics original 45 rpm single stay in the groove is without a doubt a holy-grail in the collectors world. it took tramp records owner tobias kirmayer more than two years to secure the rights to officially re-release this beauty in its full glory. as all of the recently released 7" re-issues on tramp this one is also limited to 275 copies. grab it quickly and play it out loud - this is heavy funk at its best
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stay in the groove part 1/2

tramp records' fourth release in the recently established JAZZ DANCE SERIES is the re-issue of a superrare 7" single from the late 1960s.

the iris bell trio was originally from charleston, west virginia and consisted of iris bell (p), derek pierson (b) and butch miles (d). when the trio landed a full-time gig at the rubiyat night club in ann arbor, michigan, they decided to record an album for their fans (the iris bell adventure, rubiyat rec.). after seven years with the trio butch miles left them in 1970 and went on to play with some heavyweights on the jazz scene including the count basie orchestra and dave brubeck. iris bell remained active as a musician until she died in 2008. derek pierson has also passed away.

this 7" re-release is limited to 250 copies to promote the new compilation on tramp entitled movements 3 which will be released on 10th may 2010.
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something else
baby, you've got soul

tramp records' second release in the recent established JAZZ DANCE SERIES is another jewel from the munich jazz scene of the late 1970s.

bhakti jazz has been originally founded by piano player gotz tangerding in the late 1970s. born in a small town in bavaria in 1951, tangerding made the move to the new england conservatory of music in boston in 1976 to study composition and piano. before studying in the USA though, he travelled throughout the east with drummer tudolf roth. the west may have satisfied his question of "how?", but the east as the mother of spirituality knows the answer to his "why?". to really know the effect that afghanistan and india had on tangerding and roth, simply listen to glimpses of truth and eastern moods and you get the perfect answer.

this is, by the way, bhakti jazz's first 45rpm single release, simply because they have never released anything on this format during their existence. another joyous reason to celebrate this wonderful release. limited to 500 copies.
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glimpses of truth
eastern moods

tramp records' newly discovered love for soulful european jazz recordings lead to a new series on the label, the JAZZ DANCE SERIES.
the first release is actually from munich, tramp records' home base. the brainchild of sinto is hannes beckmann who founded the band back in 1971. their concept of playing music in a sophisticated yet danceable way and incorporating salsa and afro-brazilian rhythms into their sets as one of the first bands in europe matched and shaped the musical taste of many teens and twens.

for two and a half years - from 1977 to 1979 - sinto held a residency at "domicile", europe's best known and most respected jazz club at that time. during that period many new musicians, especially horn players, joined the formation. highlight of the domicile-years were several shows with baden powell. in 1978, the band released their second album entitled "sonho negro" on the tiny amayana label from which both songs of this 7" release have been taken.

actually this is Sinto's debut concerning a release on 45rpm single as the band never released anything on 7" before. An even more exciting fact is that the version of Man On The Banks here is a special DJ edit with the same intensity as the original version. limited to 500 copies.
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man on the banks
vamos par georgia