I don't know much about The Pair Extraordinaire, and neither does the interweb. I learned that they once toured with Bill Cosby, opening for him. That's about it. The Pair are Carl Craig on vocals and Marcus Hemphill on bass. Hemphill, if you follow the link, wrote for The Cosby Show and died in the mid-1980s at the age of 56. Don't know anything about Craig. This seems to be the only video of the American duo out there. They're pretty great, judging from this version of the Monkee's I'm a Believer and a couple other audio tracks I heard on-line. Not jazz, but jazzy and soulful. The clip is from the 1968 CBC Vancouver series, Hits A-Poppin', hosted by none other than Mr. Terry David Mulligan. Enjoy.
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AWESOOME VERSION!! i've been looking for some record of the Pair but there's nothing on the net... a tambourine and a bass... pure minimalism!!
ReplyDeletei am trying to find as much as possible from The Pair so thanks for posting this. i saw them perform several times at the Pasadena Ice House. i wore a black and blue tie to one of there shows in 1964 and Carl admired it so I gave it to him. My favorite songs were "Poor Mary McGuire" and "So Round So Firm So Fully Packed"
ReplyDeleteIn the middle '60s Oklahoma City had a jazz station that played THE PAIR....I ordered the album. In 1967 or '68 they opened for Bill Cosby at the University of Oklahoma...I was lucky enough to see them live.....wish they were on CD. Don't remember the name of the album....the cover had just the two men, one playing the bass, the other singing, on a white background.
ReplyDeleteanyone interested in an album by the Pair Extraordinaire? Live.
ReplyDeleteWhat album do you have, and in what condition?
ReplyDeleteDan
I got to see the Pair twice, once opening for Bill Cosby in Duluth, once playing college concert at UW-Superior (WI).
ReplyDeleteThe latter I got a good photo of them. Think I still have it somewhere. Still have an album. So hip, such a great sound.