Wewantsounds continues its collaboration with Bob Shad’s formidable label Mainstream Records, to present a selection of 12 turntable-friendly tracks recorded between 1971 and 1975 and showcasing the label’s superb blend of Spiritual Jazz, Funk and Soul by the likes of Buddy Terry, Sarah Vaughan, LaMont Johnson and Johnny Coles. Most of the tracks are released on vinyl for the first time since their original release in the early 70s.
The comp starts of with a jazzed out reinterpretation of the Marvin Gaye classic Inner City Blues (Makes You Wanna Holler) featuring the vocal stylings of Sarah Vaughan in the latter stages of her career, her powerful robust tone and inherently soulful style of delivery match up well with the musicality of the backing, a beefy Soul-Jazz outing with a romping upright bass, slick electric piano changes and a hard blowing horn section that take no prisoners. Willie Mitchell, a former Horace Silver Quartet bandmember, offers up a fine cover of the Gato Barbieri score Last Tango in Paris taken from his 1973 album Last Tango = Blues, a memorable and highly executed example of the style of funky Soul Jazz that made his stint under Bob Shad’s production such a success. Featuring crooning wah wah guitars, a masterful horn solo and deep in the pocket organ manouevres, it conveys a raw and funky urban energy true to the style of Soul Jazz that emerged in the early seventies on labels such as Kudu, CTI, Groove Merchant and nominally Mainstream. Dave Hubbard’s cover of the Sly and the Family Stone classic Family Affair is another choice cut in which Saxophone substitutes for the vocal lead, underscored by a gritty, funked-out backing. Mike Longo’s Matrix takes things into more obscure, musically sophisticated territory with his fine piano work coming to the fore alongside a fine guitar solo from Al Gafa and Potato Valdez’s melodic conga lines. Johnny Coles’ Betty’s Bossa is possibly the jazziest outing in the set, featuring the stylings of Cedar Walton on Rhodes, Reginald Workman on bass and Gregory Herbert on tenor sax, a gently swaying and melodically rich track where Walton’s superb playing rings cleanly throughout, his changes and voicings telling of his almost clairvoyant musical abilities. Pete Yellin’s It’s The Right Thing, the final track on the album, features some chiming triangular percussion a la Dom um Romao from the outset, a fantastic latin tinged slab of Jazz Dance which gets more frenzied and energetic as the song draws out to it’s ebb, triangle replaced by agogo bells and Laurence Killian’s superb conga playing whipping the rhythm section into shape, while also featuring some tough soprano soloing from Mario Riviera.
Certainly one of the finest Soul-Jazz compilations of the year so far, a great showcase of Mainstream Records’ material and the funkier side of Bob Shad’s productions. Comes highly reccommended.
Buy the LP HERE
Buy the CD HERE
Check out the tracks here
Sarah Vaughan – Inner City Blues
Buddy Terry – Quiet Afternoon
Blue Mitchell – Last Tango In Paris
Lamont Johnson – M’Bassa
Prophecy – Betcha Can’t Guess My Sign
Dave Hubbard – Family Affair
Sugar Billy – Super Duper Love Part 1
John White – Right Off
Mike Longo – Matrix
Barry Miles – Little Heart Of Pieces
Johnny Coles – Betty’s Bossa
Pete Yellin – It’s The Right Thing
Buddy Terry – Quiet Afternoon
Blue Mitchell – Last Tango In Paris
Lamont Johnson – M’Bassa
Prophecy – Betcha Can’t Guess My Sign
Dave Hubbard – Family Affair
Sugar Billy – Super Duper Love Part 1
John White – Right Off
Mike Longo – Matrix
Barry Miles – Little Heart Of Pieces
Johnny Coles – Betty’s Bossa
Pete Yellin – It’s The Right Thing
