Monk Higgins

Monk Higgins
Higgins c. 1967
Background information
Birth name	Milton Bland
Born	(1936-10-03)October 3, 1936 Menifee, Arkansas, U.S.
Died	July 3, 1986(1986-07-03) (aged 49) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	R&B, blues, crossover, jazz
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Saxophone
Years active	1962–1986
Labels	One-derful, Satellite, St. Lawrence, Chess, Canyon, Blue Note, UA, Solid State, Buddah

Milton Bland (October 3, 1936 – July 3, 1986), better known as Monk Higgins, was an American composer, producer, arranger, tenor saxophonist, keyboardist, and music executive born in Menifee, Arkansas.

Biography

Milton Bland was 6'3" and played football. Later in life, he turned down an offer to coach football at his alma mater Arkansas State University.

While at ASU, Bland majored in music theory and orchestration. He taught high school music in Hayti, Missouri before he continued his studies at the Chicago School of Music. He also earned a living as a social worker and a school teacher. In 1962, he joined the Artists and repertoire department of One-derful Records.

In 1965, Bland moved to Dick Simon's Satellite Record Company where he was the director of A&R and the principal producer. Chess Records was their distributor. He also wrote arrangements with Burgess Gardner and became one of the architects of Chicago's hard-soul sound. He worked briefly at Chess Records in 1967. He worked with Holly Maxwell at Star Records and Junior Wells at Bright Star. In the mid 60s, Milton Bland adopted the moniker "Monk Higgins". He would use it for the bulk of his career; although, he did resume use of his birth name towards the end of his life.

Higgins's biggest hits were the instrumental tracks "Who-Dun-It?" (which reached #30 on the US R&B chart in 1966), and "Gotta Be Funky" (#22 on the US R&B chart in 1972). His instrumental "Ceatrix Did It" (1966) was the sign-off song for soul-DJ 'Dr. Rock' on WMPP, East Chicago Heights, Illinois. Higgins worked with a variety of musicians including Gene Harris, Bobby Bland, The Chi-Lites, Junior Wells, Freddy Robinson, Muddy Waters, Cash McCall, Etta James, Blue Mitchell and The 3 Sounds.

Higgins' 1968 move to Los Angeles was prompted by the offer to orchestrate strings for Nina Simone's Gifted & Black. He soon began working on other projects like Stanley Turrentine's Flipped-Flipped Out and The 3 Sounds' Elegant Soul. He wrote most of the material for Blue Mitchell's Collision in Black and also released a solo album, Monk Higgins in Macarthur Park.

In 1970, Higgins formed his own label named Stonegood. In 1975, he composed the music for the Pam Grier film Sheba, Baby. In the 70s, he worked extensively in television advertising. Higgins wrote jingles for Toyota and Mogen David. In 1976, he joined Al Bell's newly formed label Independent Corp. of America.

In the 80s, his band 'The Specialties' were the featured artists at Marla Gibb's jazz club in Los Angeles.

His wife, Virgina P. Bland, was also a composer. She was often credited as "Vee Pea" on his records. They had three daughters: Joan, June, and Janesse. On July 3, 1986, Higgins died from a respiratory ailment at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California.

Discography

As leader

45 rpm singles

• "Sawdust" / "The Fat Man" (Earth 500, 1965)
• "Mister Luckee" / "Ain't That Hateful" (Satellite 2010, 1966)
• "Who-Dun-It?" / "These Days Are Filled With You" (St. Lawrence 1013, 1966)
• "Now That's Sayin' Sumpin'" / "Easy Does It" (St. Lawrence 1016, 1966)
• "What Fah" / "Ceatrix Did It" (St. Lawrence 1022, 1966)
• "Different Strokes (For Different Folks)" / "How Come?" (Chess 1998, 1967)
• "Comin' Up The Middle" / "Monkin' Around" (Chess 2025, 1967)
• "Yesterday" / "The Look Of Love" (Chess 2034, 1967)
• "Mac Arthur Park" / "Vee Pea" (Dunhill 4139, 1968)
• "Watermelon Man" / "Extra Soul Perception" (Solid State 2525, 1968)
• "I'll Still Be There" / "Baby You're Right" (Sack 711, 1970)
• "Arkansas Yard Bird" / "I'll Still Be There" (Sundi 317, 1971)
• "Gotta Be Funky" / "Big Water Bed" (United Artists 50897, 1972)
• "Treat Her Like A Lady" / "Two In One" (United Artists 50936, 1972)

LP albums

• Mac Arthur Park (Dunhill 50036, 1968)
• Extra Soul Perception (Solid State 18046, 1968)
• Heavyweight (United Artists 5592, 1972)
• Little Mama (United Artists LA005, 1972)
• Dance to the Disco Sax of Monk Higgins (Buddah 5619, 1974)
• Sheba, Baby (Buddah 5634, 1975) with Alex Brown
• Live in Mac Arthur Park (Buddah, 1975)

As producer and sideman

• Etta James. Call My Name (1967); producer.
• Blue Mitchell. Collision in Black (1968); producer, composer, arranger, tenor saxophone, piano, organ.
• The Three Sounds. Elegant Soul (1968); producer, composer, arranger, conductor.
• Jimmy McCracklin. The Stinger Man (1969); producer, composer, arranger, conductor, piano, organ.
• Blue Mitchell. Bantu Village (1969); composer, arranger, conductor, piano, percussion.
• Freddy Robinson. The Coming Atlantis (1969); producer, conductor, arranger, organ.
• The 3 Sounds. Soul Symphony (1969); producer, composer, arranger, conductor.
• Freddy Robinson. Hot Fun In The Summertime (1970); producer, conductor, arranger.
• Gene Harris. The 3 Sounds (1971); composer, arranger, organ.
• Freddy Robinson. Off the Cuff (1973); producer, arranger, conductor, electric piano.
• Bobby Bland, Come Fly With Me (1978); producer, arranger.
• Bobby Bland, I Feel Good, I Feel Fine (1979); producer, conductor, arranger.
• Bobby Bland, Sweet Vibrations (1980); producer, conductor, arranger, piano.
• Bobby Bland, Try Me, I'm Real (1981); producer, piano.
• Bobby Bland, Tell Mr. Bland (1983); producer, conductor, arranger, percussion.‡
• Who-Dun-It, You're a Winner (1985); producer, conductor, tenor saxophone.+

+As Milton Bland ‡As both Milton Bland and Monk Higgins

In popular culture

In 1987, "One Man Band (Plays All Alone)", from Higgins' 1974 LP Dance to the Disco Sax, was featured on the breakbeat series Ultimate Breaks and Beats (SBR 517).

Higgin's 1968 cover of "Little Green Apples" on Extra Soul Perception was sampled in Gang Starr's "Code of the Streets" (1994).

For "Bad Boy No Go a Jail" on the Clockers soundtrack, Mega Banton sampled Higgins' "Sittin' Duck" from Elegant Soul by The 3 Sounds.

Higgins received renewed attention in 2024 after his recordings of Ray Charles' "I Believe to My Soul" and Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park", both from Higgins' 1968 Mac Arthur Park LP, were sampled in rapper Kendrick Lamar's hit songs "Not Like Us" and "TV Off", respectively.

See also

• Jazz
• Jazz funk
• R&B