Chicken feat. The BB Horns
Check out this fabulous 3D video of a recent Visconti Studio session, The Blunter Brothers performing Chicken. Best viewed on a smart phone / tablet – move the device to explore the studio live room.
The Chicken, or simply Chicken, is an instrumental funk tune composed by Pee Wee Ellis that was the B-side to James Brown’s 1969 single The Popcorn. The tune gained greater exposure with versions by jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius.
Notable versions by Ellis or Pastorius include:
- Pee Wee Ellis versions, recorded and renamed as Chicken Soup by Dave Liebman in 1977
- a studio version by Jaco Pastorius, John Scofield and Kenwood Dennard
- Pastorius on the 1983 album Invitation recorded live in Japan with a big band that included Bob Mintzer (sax), Randy Brecker (tpt), Othello Molineaux (steel pans), Peter Erskine (drums), Don Alias (perc)
- Pastorius on the album The Birthday Concert recorded live on his 30th birthday in 1981 but only released posthumously in 1995
Since then it has become a jazz funk standard, with renditions by many great musicians.
This session was recorded by Alistair Beveridge, a Kingston University Masters graduate.
