Charles Kynard - The Soul Brotherhood (1969) [re-rip]

Charles Kynard's name is an obscure one to those not interested or educated enough to be enamored with '60s and '70s organ-driven soul-jazz -- which at the dawn of the 21st century, was being played by generations whose parents were children at best when this music was in its heyday. But he was an essential player and the proof is in the caliber of players he could draw to play on any given session. One of those sessions a real bad-assed soul groove set was released as "The Soul Brotherhood" in 1969. The musicians joining Kynard on Soul Jazz LP were: the enigmatic jazz drummer Mickey Roker, guitarist Grant Green, tenor saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, trumpeter Blue Mitchell, and electric bassist Jimmy Lewis. From the title track, Kynard has the proceedings firmly in hand; his sweeping right hand carries both the middle and the high registers of the instrument in a flighty idiomatic spiral of harmonic invention that never leaves its root in the blues. Lewis is merely a time keeper, but a funky one, and that's all Green needs when it's his turn to solo, with his arpeggios and stinging trills and 16th notes slipping all over Kynard's top-heavy surface. Green glides and slips and flies through the mix as Newman and Mitchell cover the fills with a harmonic front that swings in soft blue. The same goes for "Blue Farouq," which begins as a soul-blues strut by the horns; Green comps, laying back, and Kynard is down in the deep with his left hand seeking to fill the whole thing with enough water for the mosquito -- Mitchell -- to get steamed up and fly. And he does this with as inspired a solo as he ever played. He took the 12-bar blues and caught its tail moving just far enough behind the beat to stretch the whole thing out. Honking lines of feeling and slippery hooks smatter notes all over the palette before Newman straightens it all out with an in-the-pocket groove for three or four choruses. This is, of all the groove records of the late '60s, the one that pushes all the boundaries. ~ Extracts by Thom Jurek, AMG.

Prestige Records, PRST 7630, 1969

Recorded 10^th March, 1969 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Personnel:

Charles Kynard - Organ

Blue Mitchell - Trumpet

David "Fathead" Newman - Tenor Saxophone

Grant Green - Guitar

Jimmy Lewis - Electric Bass

Mickey Roker - Drums

Tracks:

A1. The Soul Brotherhood {Charles Kynard} (6:06)

A2. Big City {Marvin Jenkins} (7:26)

A3. Jealjon {Charles Kynard} (7:46)

B1. Piece O' Pisces {David "Fathead" Newman} (10:07)

B2. Blue Farouq {Blue Mitchell} (9:04)

Credits:

Producer - Bob Porter

Recording Engineer - Rudy van Gelder