Coffey's on at the Horseshoe Friday

Unless you happened to be watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night and saw Dennis Coffey knocking out nasty guitar licks with the Roots, the well-dressed bearded bloke could easily be mistaken for a real estate agent or financial advisor. However, if you've heard the Temptations' Ball Of Confusion, Cloud Nine or Edwin Starr's War, you're already familiar with the scorching wah-wah work that is Coffey's signature guitar sound. Part of Motown's superb studio crew known as the "Funk Brothers," Coffey was the first-call guitarist in the late 60s whenever one of Berry Gordy Jr.'s recording projects needed a heavy guitar boost.
Beyond Coffey's psychedelicized sessions for the Temptations, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes and Edwin Starr, the go-to guitar great can also be heard on unforgettable tracks like Freda Payne's Band Of Gold, The Spinners' It's A Shame, Chairman of the Board's Give Me Just A Little More Time, Johnny Taylor's Who's Makin' Love, Honey Cone's Want Ads, The Sylvers' Boogie Fever, CJ & Co's Devil's Gun, Darrell Banks' Open The Door To Your Heart, J.J. Barnes' Real Humdinger, Little Carl Carlton's Competition Ain't Nothin' and many others. That's not even counting the amazing instrumental joints he cut under his own name like the million-selling breakbeat stunner Scorpio, the hard-hustlin' soundtrack to Black Belt Jones and the super dope Hair and Thangs album. Check out the podcast Constellations – The A To Z of Dennis Coffey below put together by Detroit's DJ House Shoes.

Coffey's new self-titled studio album which the UK-based Strut label released at the end of April picks up where he left off with 1969's Hair And Thangs, updating a well-chosen selection of Detroit productions past  with an impressive cast of guest collaborators.
Fanny Franklin from Cali-funk combo Orgone sweetly overhauls Wilson Pickett’s psych-soul gem Don’t Knock My Love and no doubt even Steve Mancha would approve of the way Lisa Kekaula of The Bellrays belts out 100 Proof Aged In Soul's house-wrecker Somebody’s Been Sleeping In My Bed. Coffey's fellow D-Towners Mick Collins (of the Dirtbombs) and the Detroit Cobras’ Rachel Nagy show up for darkly demented swing at Funkadelic’s I Bet You and the largely overlooked Rodriguez number Only Good For Conversation is competently handled by Scots upstart Paolo Nutini. Even Stones Throw's resident crooner Mayer Hawthowrne doesn't do too badly with Parliament's All Your Goodies Are Gone.
What impressed me most were the surprisingly solid new compositions like Miss Millie built around a pounding groove laid down by Milwaukee's Kings Go Forth and the mighty instrumentals which recall Coffey's work with the Detroit Guitar Band, namely the opener 7th Galaxy,  Knockabout and the cosmically twerked Space Traveller.
There's no telling who might be joining Coffey on stage for his Toronto return slated for the Horseshoe on Friday (July 8) but it's sure to be a memorable event. Tickets are $22.50 advance or $25 at the door but you can win one of two free pairs we're giving away if you're among the first to tell us Coffey's astrological sign. Email your answer on the double to the theperlichpost@gmail..com with "Dennis Coffey Contest" in the subject line. Only the winners will be notified.
NOTE: Winners must be 19 or over and present valid ID when picking up their tickets in person at the Horseshoe on Friday.

When the promotion-savvy folks at Strut come up with the concept of putting together a Dennis Coffey retrospective refresher to show off his considerable contributions to the world of soul, funk, and hip-hop as a prelude to his impressive comeback album, they wisely went to Detroit's House Shoes. Sometimes called "Detroit's musical ambassador," House Shoes is not only well aware of Coffey's extensive back catalogue and how it has been used by hip hop producers,  he also happens to be a better than average mix DJ. On the resulting Constellations - The A to Z of Dennis Coffey, House Shoes covers all the bases, moving from the psychedelic b-boy soul of Coffey's 70's solo material, to the classic recordings he played on as a session ace, the joints sampled for hip-hop tracks, and he even snuck in a couple of pieces (*) from the new album which fit in seamlessly alongside with his old school faves.

Constellations – The A To Z of Dennis Coffey

01. Scorpio Intro - (ft. Dennis Coffey, Jazzy Jeff, Jake One, & Q-Tip)
02. LL Cool J - Jinglin' Baby
03. Dennis Coffey - Main Theme (Black Belt Jones OST)
04. Dennis Coffey - 7th Galaxy *
05. Dennis Coffey - Ride Sally Ride
06. The Temptations - Cloud Nine
07. Rodriguez - Sugar Man
08. Marvin Gaye - I Want You
09. Dennis Coffey - Garden Of The Moon
10. The Spinners - It's A Shame
11. Dennis Coffey - Never Can Say Goodbye
12. Dennis Coffey - Whole Lotta Love
13. Diamond D - No Wonduh
14. Isley Brothers / Dennis Coffey & Lyman Woodward - It's Your Thing
15. The Floaters - Float On
16. The Dramatics - In The Rain
17. The Dramatics - Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get
18. Dennis Coffey feat. Mick Collins (Dirtbombs) & Rachel Nagy (Detroit Cobras) - I Bet You *
19. Edwin Starr - Easin' In (Hell Up In Harlem) / Digable Planets (Nickle Bags)
20. The Temptations - I Can't Get Next To You
21. The Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes
22. Dennis Coffey feat. Mayer Hawthorne - All Your Goodies Are Gone *
23. Outro

  Constellations - The A to Z of Dennis Coffey: A Mix By House Shoes by Strut