.jpg)
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 10th 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
.jpg)
