VA – This Is Funky Jazz – BGP UK LP

What it is, is funky! When the acid jazz scene ruled the world it looked for its inspiration in places that other jazz fans tended to overlook. The soul jazz of the late 60s and early 70s. The music of lounge bars and small clubs that fuelled the night life of black America. This compilation brings together ten examples of the sound and is a high quality listen from start to finish.

In the post-bebop world jazz was often condemned as an intellectual music aimed at the head not the feet, but a strain of the music was always for dancing, coming straight from the legacy of the big bands, and always tipping its head to what was going on in the R&B charts. The tracks included here all stay true to that legacy.

So whether we have Lonnie Liston Smith’s plea for ‘Peace & Love’ with its Bob Marley echoing horn lines, or Joe Bataan as band leader covering Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme From the Men’, this is music allied with the contemporary sounds of the day. Oliver Nelson’s synth heavy ‘Skull Session’ or his TV hit ‘Theme From The Six Million Dollar Man’ covered by Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes show this. At the heart of these recordings are the rhythms − and as such Bernard Purdie is the star either as a solo artist or simply as the man behind the kit with Harold Alexander.

This is Funky Jazz is an entry ticket to a party that everyone should want to be invited to.

tracklist:

A01 Six Million Dollar Man Theme – Richard “Groove” Holmes
A02 Super Strut – Cookin’ Bag
A03 Work Song – The Pazant Brothers
A04 Peace & Love – Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes
A05 Skull Session – Oliver Nelson

B01 Mama Soul – Harold Alexander
B02 head Start – Bob Thiele Emergency
B03 Theme From The Men – Joe Bataan
B04 Put It Where You Want It – Pretty Purdie
B05 Drifting – Chucky Thurmon & Pharris Wheel