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Record Store Day Preview: Jazz Dispensary’s Dank D-Funk Blend, Vol. 2

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Mark Smotroff

I’ve written about the fine Jazz Dispensary sampler series from Craft Recordings in the past. These are thoughtfully curated collections of rare funky soul-jazz sides culled from the label archives of parent company Concord Music which controls the catalogs of Fantasy, Prestige, Milestone, Fania and many other labels.

Why do you need to own these collections? Well as a budding collector of soul-jazz and groove jazz titles from the ‘60s and early ‘70s I can attest to several things:

These albums are often hard to find and if you do they can be pricey in decent condition
If you do find them used, they are often in “well loved” to downright beat up and abused condition. These records were great party albums often played on average to low quality automatic record changers of the day, so people grooving and dancing to the tunes didn’t much think about taking care of their vinyl. and…
Many of these albums are good but usually have one or two standout tracks which is what DJs tend to zero in on, those grooves with the killer beats and drum breaks and a combination of strong songs and good production vibes.

So, the concept underlying Jazz Dispensary’s series is useful. It gives you the intrepid soul-jazz collector a chance to hear some of these great grooves in a form that makes for a fun party album in its own right, without breaking your bank for pricey rarities. On this latest edition, guest curator Doyle Davis (of Grimey’s, a used records and books store in Nashville) offers up a second dose of his Dank D-Funk Blend.

While the first edition focused on the Prestige Records vaults, The Dank D-Funk Blend, Vol. 2 taps into other labels in the company’s roster.

You’ll hear the Afro-Cuban beats of Ray Barretto’s peace love plea “Together,” Charles Earland’s fiery “Letha” and Leon Spencer groovy take on Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me.” Esther Marrow breaks out a funky “Things Ain’t Right.”

I really loved the title track of Pleasure’s 1977 LP Joyous, one of those groups I’ve never heard of before or even seen out in the wilds of crate digging. Cal Tjader surprisingly good cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” gives way to Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers 1968 smoker “Heat!”

There is even a solid Johnny “Guitar” Watson tune here from 1973 — “You’ve Got a Hard Head” — before he descended into the the disappointing DJM Records disco era.

All tracks on The Dank D-Funk Blend, Vol. 2 are reportedly mastered from their original analog tapes. The only one of these I already had in my collection is the Pucho track which sounds very comparable to my original pressing, with perhaps a bit more crisp detail on the high end. It is also mastered a bit more quietly than my original pressing so I had to turn up my amp a bit after switching albums.

The Dank D-Funk Blend, Vol. 2 is pressed on surprisingly quiet and — happily —well centered orange-red swirl, fire-colored vinyl which was made at Memphis Record Pressing. A limited edition of 3800 copies, The Dank D-Funk Blend, Vol. 2 is packaged in a quite stunning jacked featuring embossed artwork by Argentinian artist Mariano Peccinetti, who designed the previous volume’s cover.

The Dank D-Funk Blend, Vol. 2 is a fun jam. Put it on your Record Store Day list and be sure to grab a copy if you can.

World News

The B3’s The Word on WRD’s The Hit

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Mark Smotroff

Some of you might remember a couple months ago when I wrote a review about the new album from The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. There, I discussed the notion that this type of music — organ-driven groove jazz — may be gaining fresh new audiences after many many decades of blues, rock, jazz and jam-band DNA bubbling up through cross pollinating music scenes. Click here if you missed that review.

Well, in that review’s aftermath I was pleasantly surprised to receive in the mail an album (without even a press release attached to it) by a group making new music in that similar space. It was clear someone wanted me to hear this music and I’m glad they sent it.

Something of a supergroup of players from a variety of bands in the jam band universe, WRD features Robert Walter (Greyboy Allstars, 20th Congress) on Hammond B3 Organ, Eddie Roberts (The New Mastersounds) on guitar and Adam Deitch (Lettuce, Break Science) on drums.

Like Delvon Lamarr’s Organ Trio, WRD’s music is fun and frisky, floating over infectious rockin’ improvisational grooves that are great for dancing or driving. The vibe here is a tad different than Lamarr’s somewhat funkier soul-surf vibe, leaning at times more toward the more hybrid psych sounds Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders were mining on the early 1970’s Live at Keystone album (think “Finders Keepers”). Also, for other points of reference, perhaps consider the track “Uncle Martin’s” from Hooteroll, a collaboration between Garcia and organist Howard Wales. At other times WRD’s The Hit reminds me of some early George Benson jams when he was on CTI (“Footin’ It”).

The music here is kind of like a cross between The Spencer Davis Group on steroids and the sort of jams Medeski, Martin and Wood (another organ trio jam band) excelled at. I hear echoes of early Chicago, Traffic, and even moments of Georgie Fame. I have an obscure rockin’ blues jam album by Preston Love featuring Shuggie Otis that this reminds me of at times grooves-wise.

I’m sure there are other references going on… I’m offering up these touchstones to give you an idea of what to expect.

WRD switch up things periodically to keep the sound and textures interesting, adding Tenor Saxophone player Nick Gerlach on two tracks and Josh Fairman on bass on another.

WRD’s The Hit has a nice audiophile pedigree in that all the tracks were recorded in live takes, with the band all in the same room. So there is a natural vintage feel to the recording which in part comes from the players “vibing” off of one another in close proximity (no headphones were used apparently during the sessions and everything was recorded straight to tape).

Also since the band was playing together with (likely) minimal isolation, microphones on the instruments capture the “bleed through” from one another, adding to the somewhat more organic sound on this album, a sound that was popular in the 1950’s, ’60s and early ’70s when this style of recording was more the norm.

This vinyl pressing of WRD’s The Hit is happily quite nice sounding with only one audible pressing glitch that lasted probably a 10th of a second. Why does this matter? Well, the album comes pressed on a beautifully trippy white, pink and red opaque splatter vinyl. That type of multi color vinyl can be noisy but this one sounds quite clear even in the quiet spaces between tracks.

You can still order WRD’s The Hit at their website but hurry soon as it looks like the pre-orders are selling out fast (click the WRD anywhere in this review to jump to their page or on the album title to jump to Amazon where it is also available for pre-order). These limited edition, small-batch pressings can go quickly in the indie world but it is worth making the effort to support independent artists who are doing good things.

World News

Grooving With The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio on Vinyl and Qobuz / Tidal Streams

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Mark Smotroff

When considering a new artist in a category that has been arguably played to death over the years, one may give pause to think: do I really need to go there?

However when I first heard The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio on the fine new compilation from Colemine Records that I reviewed earlier this month (click here) I had to check them out. I have to admit, I was initially a bit excited I’d (ahem) discovered something fresh before everyone else.

Well, not quite everyone, it seems… From the band’s website: “Since its humble beginnings in May, 2015, the trio has issued two Billboard-charting albums and a 45; toured nationally and internationally, and performed on live at Upstream Music Festival broadcast by KEXP that garnered over 7 million views.”

Well, I guess I’m better a little late to the party than never!

But seriously folks, the notion of an organ driven instrumental collaboration is not exactly a new thing, echoing back to the ‘60s when artists like Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Richard “Groove” Holmes, Shirley Scott were popular and often collaborated with other musicians such as George Benson and Wes Montgomery.

In more recent times, the great Medeski Martin & Wood collaborated a number of times with John Scofield. And of course there were organ-guitar hits in the rock and soul world, notably Booker T & The MGs (ie. “Green Onions”) and the great grooves of The Meters (“Cissy Strut”). And we can’t forget that James Brown put out several instrumental albums featuring his organ playing.

So, mash all that influence up with a decidedly harder edge (definitely closer to the Meters vibe) and you’ll get an idea of what The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio is cooking up. These folks have found their own sweet little corner of this good vibe instrumental soul jazz / acid jazz niche.

On their new second studio album— called I Told You So — there aren’t really any big surprises but that isn’t a bad thing. It is all about the tunes and the grooves and this album has many greats in that regard.

The album is just so enjoyable I’ve played it over many times already and it only gets better, each spin revealing new layers. They do a sweet cover of Wham’s “Careless Whisper,” but other than that they are crafting their own originals.

Sonically, the album sounds terrific with a rich, earthy vibe to the recording. Guitarist Jimmy James’ sound oozes with big — at times seriously badass overdriven — amplifier tones.

I don’t know if I Told You So was made digitally or in the analog realm but I’m not especially concerned one way or another — I’m not hearing any harshness and overall the album sounds real nice. The lower end and mid range is sweet while the high-end is crisp and natural sounding. Grant Schroff’s drums are full bodied and organic. No gimmickry here.

I got my hands on one of the opaque pink vinyl limited editions of I Told You So and happily it is a great pressing — well centered and quiet. There is a red vinyl version out there as well for those of you who get into the colored vinyl thing.

It’s no accident at the cover for I Told You So seems to mirror the design aesthetics of vintage 1960s Blue Note jazz releases. The bold yellow and black vibe of Colemine’s label on this release echoes the classic early Prestige Records “fireworks” design from the late ’50s and early ’60s.

This is fun stuff, folks: groovy grooves you can dance, walk, drive, work and even just sit and listen to. You can’t beat that sort of flexibility when it comes to a listening experience. The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio albums seem to sell out pretty quickly at stores from what I’ve seen so far, so you should jump on them soon if you want to grab a copy.

You can also find I Told You So streaming on Tidal and Qobuz and both versions sound fine. The Qobuz version is streaming in 24-bit, 44.1 kHz Hi Res form so it has something of an edge over the 16-bit Tidal stream, but both are fine and will let you get an idea of what this fine band sounds like.

I am looking forward to digging down into The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio‘s other releases soon.

World News

Exploring David Axelrod’s Heavy Axe, Colored Vinyl Reissue

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Mark Smotroff

I had high anticipation for this particular album in the new series of high quality reissues from Jazz Dispensary, the boutique-within-a-boutique imprint from Craft Recordings: Heavy Axe by David Axelrod. Prior to last Fall, I’d only “heard of” Mr. Axelrod but never really actually heard his music.

Then I got my hands on a sweet soul-jazz compilation which came out on Record Store Day late last year called Orange Sunset (which I reviewed, click here) which opens up with a track by him called “Everything Counts.” That song knocked me out, a fairly epic production with big horns and a sweeping build that could easily be a final scene in a film (perhaps the next Guardians of the Galaxy?).

It turns out that opening track on Orange Sunset was actually the final song on Axelrod’s Heavy Axe. So when I put the full album on I had some fairly high expectations.

Sonics wise this reissue is just fine. The rich brown “timber” colored vinyl is well centered and quiet, pressed at RTI and mastered by Cohearant Audio (as all of the albums in this series have been). So the physical, technical sound of the album wasn’t of any issue for me — it sounds good for what it is.

As I’ve listened to it a number of times, however, I do wish however this actual recording had been fully remixed, not just remastered. “Why,” you ask? Well, there are some neat bass synthesizer parts which are pretty much buried in the mix (either played by George Duke or Rudy Copeland). I mean, really, there is not a lot of distinctive bass on this album but everything else is quite clear: drums, scratchy funky guitars, punchy horn sections, etc.

Don’t get me wrong. The low end is there but it is very muted, so when they go break out into a solo, it feels a bit like something is missing from the mix. Curiously, when I checked out the album on Tidal and Qobuz, the bass — while still not super satisfying and balanced, especially volume-wise in relation to the kick drum— it is a wee bit more apparent there.

Heavy Axe opens up encouragingly with “Get Up Off Your Knees” (written by producer Julian “Cannonball” Adderly). I could do without the covers of Vince Guaraldi’s “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” and Carly Simon’s “Your So Vain.”

The side one closer is an Axelrod original called “My Family” and it rings much truer. To that — for me at least — Axelrod’s originals are the focus on this album, which comprise about half of the tracks here. “It Ain’t For You” is a groovy little funk swinger but again, the bass parts are sort of buried so … well… its a little hard to get down and boogie (if you will) without a prominent bass line!

That first track I mentioned, “Everything Counts” somehow works, probably because there is so much else going on in the tracks — big shimmering strings, chime-y Fender Rhodes textures and so on.

All that said and given the price point on Heavy Axe, you might want to explore the album first on a CD or stream to see if you like the album enough to want to own it on vinyl. You can find it streaming on Tidal in 192 kHz, 24-bit MQA format (click here) and on Qobuz in Hi Res format (click here). Heavy Axe is a good album. But if you already have Orange Sunset, you have a pretty good idea what this album is about and that might well be all you need.

World News

Drummers Drumming: Bernard Purdie’s Purple Vinyl “Purdie Good!”

Posted on January 11, 2021 by Mark Smotroff

It is kind of amazing to stop and think how a drummer who has played on an enormous amount of hit recordings over the past 50 years is not really a household word. I mean, a quick look at the Wikipedia page for Bernard Purdie lists albums he’s played on by Nina Simone, James Brown, Al Cooper, Shirley Scott, Yusef Lateeef, Eddie Harris & Les McCann, Miles Davis, King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Hall & Oates, Jimmy McGriff, Wilson Pickett, Larry Coryell, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Cocker, Cat Stevens, Steely Dan, Gato Barbieri and so many more.

Chances are you have a recording in your collection featuring this legendary pulse-maker of popular music. Heck, even on his website he is touted as “the world’s most recorded drummer” (a role he may share with Hal Blaine or Earl Palmer, just sayin’).

It’s undeniable that he is a session drumming legend. Musicians and deeper collectors of jazz and soul grooves are into him, for sure. But I suspect that not many average folk know of his albums from the late 1960s and early ’70s, many of which are much sought after collector’s items.

Thankfully, the good folks at Craft Recordings have reissued a real solid Bernard Purdie album —Purdie Good! — via its Jazz Dispensary subsidiary in conjunction with Vinyl Me Please (subscription club) which might help to open some new ears to this man and his music. The results are excellent.

Issued in limited colored vinyl editions of 1,000, these albums were all mastered AAA from original tapes, with 180-gram colored vinyl pressing done at the respected RTI (Record Technology Incorporated) plant.

What makes Purdie Good! stand out is the quality of his group and the material Mr. Purdie lays down. Right from the start of his driving cover of James Brown’s “Cold Sweat” through to rollicking originals like the title track, it is apparent that Purdie is out to deliver some memorable fun. The grooves are thick, tight and swingin’…

It is worth noting that pulling off a James Brown cover credibly isn’t easy and Purdie delivers that rich stuttering first-funk groove in a way that hits a bit harder than the original in many ways — the rhythm is the central focus on Purdie Good! and this funky drummer takes it out into territories where the percussion can own the spotlight.

While there is no denying the beatific stride of James Brown’s band The Famous Flames on the original recording, the focus there is pretty much always the vocal until James lets his drummer (I think it was Clyde Stubblefield, if the internet is accurate) take the lead for a bit.`

Just listen for Purdie’s interaction with Conga player Norman Pride during the breakdown in the middle of his version of “Cold Sweat.” While there may be no Maceo Parker firing up the horn section, Purdie more than makes up for the heat with his rhythms… and his band members are no slouches either.

In general, I think this Jazz Dispensary / Vinyl Me Please reissue of Purdie Good! is pretty great. The recording by Rudy Van Gelder is excellent and the album pressing at RTI is dead quiet and well centered. And it is on lovely opaque purple vinyl with some slight swirls of red and blue.

Probably the only issue at hand here is the price on this reissue which feels a little high (and some readers on Facebook have asked me about VMP’s pricing in general). There is no doubt its a premium priced platter.

However, finding a pristine original copy would no doubt cost a lot more and probably wouldn’t sound quite as quiet as this one. There are only a handful of VG+ plus copies on Discogs at present, each costing more than $60 per album. It is no wonder that this purple vinyl edition is already getting some high priced listings (also on Discogs). There is a less costly UK edition out there, but that seems to be a direct metal mastered version from a digital source so it probably won’t sound as nice as this. Food for thought…

If you aren’t quite ready to plunk down the cash for the reissue just yet, you can listen to Purdie Good! streaming in high 24-bit, 192 kHz resolution on Tidal/MQA (click here) and on Qobuz (click here). This might be a good place to start until you can find a vinyl copy. Both streaming versions sound good but don’t deliver quite the same warm vibe I was hearing on the Vinyl Me Please reissue. Of the two, this time ‘round I am leaning toward the Qobuz version which seems to have a little less hard edge to it, but I’m admittedly splitting audiophile hairs here – both sound fine and about the same ultimately.

Either way, check out Purdie Good! Sweet grooves live here.

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