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Favorite 1971 Soul Jazz Albums
I spent Saturday working on a birthday mix for my friend and fellow music writer Garnette Cadogan, who was born in 1971. Starting with a jazz focus, I soon honed it down to a more specific style that was at its peak of popularity at the time. These were the best albums entirely in the soul jazz style. All of the Prestige releases (produced by the populist-leaning Bob Porter) were later issued in that great jazz label’s Legends of Acid Jazz two-fer series (two LPs on one CD).
This is certainly a record that transcends the category I’m putting it in today, but soul plays a bigger role here than on any of Kirk’s other LPs. A burning arrangement of the spiritual “The Old Rugged Cross” (complete with witty verbal intro) is the epitome of its type. Soul hits by Bill Withers (“Ain’t No Sunshine”), Marvin Gaye (“What’s Goin’ On”/“Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)”), the Temptations (“My Girl”), and a few other Motown tunes get hard-grooving interpretations. Even Bread’s “Make It with You” comes out sounding great.
Soul jazz organ albums usually have a weak cut or two. Not this one – even the stuff that screams “lame” on the track list (“Theme from Love Story” and the other cover, Jobim’s “Wave”) sounds pretty good. Elsewhere, the grooves are deeper than the Grand Canyon. This album has an unusual sound, with not only Holmes’s organ but also Weldon Irvine’s electric piano, which adds an odd tone reminiscent of the kalimba on the modal groover “Mr. Clean.”
Stitt started as one of the great bebop saxophonists, master of both alto and tenor, and returned to bebop after the popularity of soul jazz faded, and there’s a greater musical depth to his work here than most of the albums lower on this list can boast of. It’s heavy on the blues and mostly feature underrated trumpeter Virgil Jones and organist Leon Spencer (who wrote several of the tracks). Stitt often plays electric sax here and on the live album from a wild night in Baltimore with his working trio with organist Don Patterson and drummer Billy James.
This saxophonist is not as familiar name to jazz fans as most of the others on this list, but he was a monster of this style (he got two Legends of Acid Jazz volumes; this is the second). The title tracks led off their respective LPs and are both burners; the second of them features two good covers. The surprise is the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” – surprising not only because it translates well, but that it was chosen at all. The arrangement of the head for Stevie Wonder’s “If You Really Love Me” is a little too clever for its own good, losing momentum, but once the groove is reestablished, everyone digs in and solos well.
Mostly soul covers, but Horace Ott contributes two fine originals, including the chugging title track. Person is the quintessential soul jazz tenor saxman, and the arrangements here are relatively rich in texture.
A groovy guitarist who often favored a bit of a Latin feel (hence his nickname), Jones here works with organist/electric pianist Sonny Phillips, a Prestige mainstay of the style. A highlight – funny her name comes up twice in this context – is Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.”
Another groovy guitarist, Sparks was a Prestige regular (he’s on the Stitt and Muhammad LPs here). On this, his second album as leader, a cover of Kool & the Gang’s “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight” stands out.
Muhammad is the drummer on several of the other Prestige albums on this list (Stitt, Sparks, Bryant). This disc is mostly originals, but the Wilson Pickett cover “Don’t Knock My Love” stands out.
Purdie is the other great soul jazz drummer here (he’s on the Person, Jones, and Kirk albums). These LPs are half covers, and not big on originality, but funky as hell, including a version of “Cold Sweat” that doesn’t concede an iota to the original.
Reissued on CD by Epic Legacy in its CTI series. Hammond, originally Johnny Smith, named himself after the brand of organ he played, thus differentiating himself from Jimmy Smith. He was a more primal player, but with saxophonists Hank Crawford and Grover Washington and guitarist Eric Gale, there’s more than enough talent here to keep things interesting. The hot title track and a very groovy cover of Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” are the highlights.
