All Categories — All Formats  

Rough and raw grooves – way more than you might guess from the "twist" reference in the title! The sound here is more R&B than anything else – lots of heavy drums, honking sax, burning organ, and riffing guitar – but there's also some echoes of Latin rhythms, rockabilly raunch, and some 60s soul elements too – all percolating together wonderfully in a way that sounds like somebody blew the dust off a gritty pile of 45s, then filled them up to blast away in a decades-old jukebox in a tavern on the other side of the tracks! The CD version of Twistin Rumble Vol 2 collects many of the tracks from Twistin Rumble Volumes 3 & 4 vinyl – with plenty of rare gems – including "Switch Me" by Hector & The Frogmen, "The Frog" by Lonnie Brooks, "Georgia Slop" by Big Al Downing, "Who's Number One" by Ambrose Donald, "Beyond The Shadow Of A Doubt" by Sonny Day, "I'm Gonna Spend My Money" by Poor Boys, "Aunt Molly" by Billy Emerson, "Make Love To Me" by The Royal Premiers, "Do The Whip" by Skip Cole, "Can Your Monkey To The Dog" by The Golden Catalinas, "Stronger Than Dirt" by The Ardels, "Wah Wabble" by The Debelaires, "Madame Bootie Green" by Sonny Forrest, "Black Crack" by The Shardells, "The Ostrich" by The Primitives, "Shake Your Body Girl" by Larry Williams, "Slauson Shuffletime" by Round Robin and "Soul Finger" by Oscar & The Majestics. 29 tracks in all.

Cecil's smoking on the cover, and he's smoking on the record too – really cooking things up in the best old school soul jazz style of his Muse Records years! The album was recorded live in New Jersey, and it's proof that plenty of great jazz was still coming from west of the Hudson in the early 90s – a time not nearly as documented as earlier years on the Jersey scene, but still a time of great players and hip local nightspots like the Trumpets club in which the album was recorded. Brooks' tight work on drums is very firmly at the helm of the set, and other players include Antonio Hart on alto, Ravi Coltrane on tenor, Jack Walrath on trumpet, Stephen Scott on piano, and Lonnie Plaxico on bass – working with Cecil in a set that also includes a fair bit of original numbers by the group. Titles include "Gordon's Maze", "Fried Bananas", "And Another Thang", "2AM In The Village", "The Third", and "Montclair".

Beautiful set of some of the gems to come out of the New York uptown soul sessions from the mid and late 60's – including "My Neighborhood" by Billy Byers, "Sugar" by The Jive Five, "The Hurt" by Freddie North", "Welcome to Dreamsville" by Sammy Ambrose, "In My Tenement" by Roosevelt Grier, and loads of other great tracks by Jimmy Radcliffe, Brooks O'Dell, Lonnie Satin, and other artists slaving away in the uptown studios to create these little gems of lost soul! The sound is crystal-perfect – and the interplay between vocals and arrangements show the counterpoint of the uptown genre working 100%!

Hannibal made some mighty wonderful music in the 70s – and he really carries that tradition strongly forward on this overlooked gem from the early 90s! The album's not as boldly righteous as some of Peterson's dates for MPS, but it's still got a hell of a lot of soul – a well-blown trumpet line right out in front, and a soaring, spiritual undercurrent that makes even familiar tunes sparkle with a subtle sense of power. As always with Hannibal's records, the choice of players is great – Joe Ford on alto and tenor, Michael Cochrane on piano, Lonnie Plaxico on bass, Cecil Brooks III on drums, and Jeff Haynes on percussion – players that fit the Muse Records setting of the date, but seem to rise to new levels in Peterson's company. Titles include "Echoes", "Revelation", "Nile's Song", "One With The Wind", "Change Is Going To Come", and "Glow".