All Categories — All Formats  

A great album from Willis Jackson – a real sleeper, and with a very groovy feel! Willis smokes with an organ combo that has Butch Cornell at the keys, and which also features Vince Corrao on guitar and Franklyn Robinson on trumpet. The tracks are a mix of originals and Beatles covers (believe it or not!), and Willis is in that playful mid-60s mode, where he's working with so much profiency on the tenor that he can take some groovy chances on the solos. The rhythm's got a great Cadet soul jazz vibe to it – and the album fits nicely with some of Jack McDuff's work on the same label. Titles include "Yesterday", "Hard Day's Night", "Goose Pimples", and "Doin' The Mudcat".

A classic set of soul jazz tracks from Gator Tail and Brother Jack McDuff – recorded in a raw grooving style, very similar to that used on some of their live recordings from the same time. The core of the group features Bill Jennings on guitar and Wendell Marshall on bass, but some of the rhythm players change up over the course of the tracks, and Buck Clarke adds some nice conga on side 2! Includes the nice 10 minute groover "This'll Get To Ya", plus "Glad A See Ya", "Three Little Words", and "To' Gether".

Seminal early work from Willis Jackson – two classics back to back on a single CD! Blue Gator is a massive early Prestige set from tenorist Willis – and just the kind of record that set him firmly in the soul jazz camp for the 60s! By the time of the set, Jackson had already won plenty of fame for his R&B-tinged work – but here, he stretches out a bit more, and really gets creative on his solos – working with a very hip group that includes Jack McDuff on organ and Wild Bill Jennings on guitar – both players making a similar shift in their music at the time. The tracks are lively, recorded with a bold, loud tone, and have lots of those great open-mouthed tones from Jackson – quite possibly a good reason for his "Gator" nickname! Tracks include "Blue Gator", "East Breeze", "The Gator Jumps", and "Try A Little Tenderness". Cookin Sherry is solid-sending soul jazz from the great Willis Jackson! The album features Gator blowing in a group that includes Jack McDuff and Wild Bill Jennings on all cuts – plus bass by either Milt Hinton or Wendell Marshall, drums by Bill Elliott or Al Johnson, and some tasty added conga by Buck Clarke on a few cuts! The album's got a tight, yet laidback feel to – perfect kickback jam session material, in that classic Prestige soul jazz mode. Titles include "Contrasts", "Cookin Sherry", "Mellow Blues", and "Sportin".

Seminal early work from Willis Jackson – two classics back to back on a single CD! Blue Gator is a massive early Prestige set from tenorist Willis – and just the kind of record that set him firmly in the soul jazz camp for the 60s! By the time of the set, Jackson had already won plenty of fame for his R&B-tinged work – but here, he stretches out a bit more, and really gets creative on his solos – working with a very hip group that includes Jack McDuff on organ and Wild Bill Jennings on guitar – both players making a similar shift in their music at the time. The tracks are lively, recorded with a bold, loud tone, and have lots of those great open-mouthed tones from Jackson – quite possibly a good reason for his "Gator" nickname! Tracks include "Blue Gator", "East Breeze", "The Gator Jumps", and "Try A Little Tenderness". Cookin Sherry is solid-sending soul jazz from the great Willis Jackson! The album features Gator blowing in a group that includes Jack McDuff and Wild Bill Jennings on all cuts – plus bass by either Milt Hinton or Wendell Marshall, drums by Bill Elliott or Al Johnson, and some tasty added conga by Buck Clarke on a few cuts! The album's got a tight, yet laidback feel to – perfect kickback jam session material, in that classic Prestige soul jazz mode. Titles include "Contrasts", "Cookin Sherry", "Mellow Blues", and "Sportin".

A nice return to the soul jazz style of Willis' years at Prestige – after cutting a few too-smooth albums for bigger labels during the 70s! The style here is nice and easy-going – longish tracks, with a quintet that features Willis' old bandmate Pat Martino on guitar, plus Charles Earland on organ, Grady Tate on drums, and Buddy Caldwell on congas. There's no all-out funky tracks on the set, but the groove is nice and swinging on the best numbers – in a mode that's similar to Earland's own great sides for Muse at the time. Titles include "Hittin & Missin", "Move", "Nuages", and "Nothing Butt".

Smoking tenor work from the legendary Willis Jackson – and a key record in Jackson's transition from 50s R&B to 60s soul jazz! Willis gets some great help on the session from Jack McDuff on organ and Wild Bill Jennings on guitar – both of whom craft some rootsy grooves that further enforce the strength of Jackson's tenor lead, and which also allow for a bit more improvisation alongside the tight grooves of the set. McDuff's got his organ in that full-on early mode – lots of vibrato to fill up the space – and Jennings' guitar comes across with that wonderfully raspy tone that was a good precursor to the work of George Freeman. Titles include "Cool Grits", "Dinky's Mood", "Please Mr. Jackson", and "633 Knock".

Hard grooving with Willis – recorded during his incredible mid 60s years, when he had a great tone, a crack band, and an approach to the grooves that blew away most of his other work! Willis at this point is like Jack McDuff with his classic quartet – totally capable, working with all pros, and hitting on burners that other players didn't even know existed! Pat Azzara's on guitar, Carl Wilson is on organ, and Frank Robinson is on trumpet. Tracks include "All Soul", "The Man I Love", "Thunderbird", and "Flamingo".

The soulful sax of Willis Jackson meets the Philly Soul mecca of Sigma Sound – and the result is a surprisingly wonderful album! Willis blows in the lead on all tracks, supported by legendary Sigma players – and the sound is a lush and sweetly soulful one, almost an instrumental version of the Philly work that had been coming out from some of the mellower soul groups on Atlantic at the time. Phil Hurtt co-produced the album with Tony Bell – and Phil also sings on the set, mostly working in background chorus modes, but occasionally speaking in a warm, romantic mode that's really nice. Titles include a nice remake of "Pick Up The Pieces", plus "Lady Marmalade", "Fire", "Love's Theme", "Brown Eyed Girl", and "Sideshow".

A repackaged version of the album Shuckin – titled this way in the mid 60s to cash in on the bossa craze! The early 60's session takes Willis' mean tenor sound, and adds a nice bossa groove to it – in a style that's similar to Ike Quebec's Samba Soul LP. There's lots of extra percussion, thanks to Montego Joe and Juan Amalbert of the Latin Jazz Quintet, and Kenny Burrell lays down some sprightly guitar that provides a nice counterpoint to Willis' deep deep tenor. Tracks include "Cachita", "Shuckin", "Amor, Amor, Amor", and "Mama Inez".

A classic set of soul jazz tracks from Gator Tail and Brother Jack McDuff – recorded in a raw grooving style, very similar to that used on some of their live recordings at the time! The tracks on the disc are lifted from the first Together Again album cut by the pair, and the second set – appropriately titled Together Again, Again! All tracks were recorded between the years 1959 and 1961, and feature Jackson and McDuff at the height of their early soul jazz powers – grooving in a tenor/organ style that's clearly linked to raw grooves of earlier R&B work, but which also has a much stronger approach to jazz soloing. Tracks include the great 10 minute groover "This'll Get To Ya", plus "Glad A See Ya", "Three Little Words", "Snake Crawl", "Backtrack", "Gil's Pills", and "To' Gether".

A collection of Willis Jackson ballad work pulled from early 60s Prestige albums that include Neapolitan Nights, Really Groovin, Shuckin, and In My Solitude – not really as "gentle" as the title might imply, and instead some great soulful tenor numbers, done in the laidback late nite mode of the time! Willis is working here in a number of different groups – with a piano trio led by Richard Wyands on about half the numbers (all of the album In My Solitude), and in other small groups that include Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Gildo Mahones – plus a fair bit of gentle conga. Titles include "Estrellita", "Girl Of My Dreams", "Careless Love", "Al Di La", "Amor", "Again", "Nancy", "Home", and "Solitude".

A legendary album – and for good reason too – a set that's as mysterious as it is funky, and a record that's stayed at the top of our crates for years! The album features a really unusual collective of musicians, pulled together under the guidance of producer Paul Winley – a group that features George Benson on guitar, Dave Baby Cortez on organ, Willis Jackson on tenor sax, and Earl Williams on some massively funky drums! The music's a mix of funky jazz and gritty soul – put together with some really weird studio touches – including an uncredited male voice that comes in and out of the tracks, bad-rapping along with some very hip commentary. Ann Winley sings the female vocals on the set – often egged on by the dude – but the real charm of the record lies at the bottom – the wicked drums, funky basslines, and choppy instrumental bits that have gotten the set sampled plenty over the years. Titles include the classic "Smokin Cheeba Cheeba" alone, the groovy "Finger In It", a great breakbeat version of "Ain't No Sunshine" with a tenor solo by Willis Jackson, and the slow bluesy talking cut "Fed Up", a baaaad rap about a couple splitting up – done here in both vocal and instrumental versions.

Obscure organ jazz record by the player who's probably best known to people from the good records he made with Willis Jackson on Prestige. This set's a nice stripped down set of tracks, with Ivory on organ, Paul Renfro on tenor, and Bill Nicks on drums. Good spare organ and tenor lines, with a mix of originals and jazz standards. Tracks include "The Monkey Woman", "Thank Heaven", "Do It To Death", "So What", and "Lonely Avenue".

A wild and weird one! Jerry Jerome looks stately on the front cover – but he plays a strange shaped "straight alto" sax – one that basically looks like a regular horn, with the kink pushed out of it! The instrument has a raspy blown-out tone that's more tenor than anything else – and Jerry's playing here in small group setting with R&B touches that include vibes by Tyree Glenn, organ by Samson Horton, guitar by Al Caiola, and some occasional vocals by The Honeydreamers. The feel is a lot like Willis Jackson's "gator horn" – and the record's a lively batch of groovers that feels more like jukebox tonk than the usual staid ABC jazz side from the 50s. Titles include "Thou Swell", "The Lady is A Tramp", "Slaughter On Tenth Ave", "Nevertheless", and "This Can't Be Love" – all done at a nice romping clip!

One of the most soul jazz-styled sets ever cut by German clarinetist Rolf Kuhn – a very groovy record that features work from tenorist Klaus Doldinger and organist Ingfried Hoffmann! On their own albums of the 60s, Doldinger and Hoffmann are quite a pair – swinging almost as perfectly as Willis Jackson and Jack McDuff on Prestige, in the US at the same time. So you can imagine the effect they have on Kuhn – a player who can sometimes be a lot more modern, but who here really takes off in an easygoing groove – swinging soulfully on a set of short and groovy tracks, with great rhythm work from Hermann Schoonderwalt on bass and Cees See on drums. Titles include "Rainbow In My Tears", "Opus 90", "Combo Swing", "Scottish", "Swing For Sale", "The Snake", and "L'Amour Sans Espoir".

Nice obscure one by this lost girl soul group from the 70's! The Jackson 5 wrote and produced "What's Your Game", and it's got a very tight mellow 70's soul groove, with almost a Curtom sound, and a feel that's surprisingly deep for The Jacksons at the time. Gene Page arranged the flip side, and it's also got a nice 70's feel, in keeping with his strongest work from the time.

A mix of older numbers from the Savoy and Muse Records catalogs – strung together to make a package of soul jazz numbers that jumps nicely between the 50s and the 70s and 80s! Most of the work here is from the latter two decades, recorded in that great back to basics mode that made Muse the key heir to Prestige Records at a time when few folks were cutting straight soul jazz. Titles include "Minor Inconvenience" by Richard Groove Holmes, "Dat Dere" by Woody Shaw, "Please Send Me Someone To Love" by Red Garland, "The Dozens" by Charles Earland, "At Last" by Sonny Stitt, "Another Real Good Un" by Jack McDuff, "Work Song" by Grant Green, "Blues In My Heart" by Sonny Criss, "Twelve Inch" by Curtis Fuller, "Whisper Not" by Bobby Hutcherson, "Road Song" by Pat Martino, and "The Breeze & I" by Willis Jackson.

A very groovy selection of tracks from the New York scene of the 60s – mostly tunes pulled from the Prestige and Milestone labels, and a mixture of soul jazz, modal jazz, and early funky jazz! The package features 13 tracks in all – with plenty rare numbers – and titles that include "Cantaloupe Woman" by George Braith, "The Village Caller" by Johnny Lytle, "Ca'Purange (Jungle Soul)" by Gene Ammons, "Love Theme From Spartacus" by Yusef Lateef, "Brother John" by Cannonball Adderley, "Muscle Soul" by Phil Upchurch, "Eastern Blues" by Gary Bartz, and the completely fantastic "Nuther'n Like Thuther'n" by Willis Jackson – worth the price of the CD alone!

A key European appearance for saxophonist Oliver Lake – captured here at the tail end of a strong rise on the US scene in the 70s! The music here is almost a fair bit freer than some of Lake's other sides from the time – long tracks played by a trio that includes Michael Gregory Jackson on guitar and Pheeroan AkLaff on drums – alongside Lake's own tenor, alto, and soprano sax. Jackson's guitar lines have a mind of their own – often running out in frenetic ways that diverge strongly from Lake's own solo inspirations – but in a way that further adds to the energy of the set. Titles include "5/1", "Zaki", "Clicker", and "Shine".