Calvin

This date followed Calvin Keys' first, Shawn Neeq, by about two years. Hazy, psychedelic, post-bop is the order of the day here as well, but as most soul-jazz collectors will tell you, there's always a chance for some monster funk on a Black Jazz record so, as predictable as these releases may be on the surface, you never really know until you hear them. In this case, the bomb drops at the beginning of Side Two with "Aunt Lovely." While probably a little too 'out there' for most dance floors, "Aunt Lovely" begins like some of the best funky Grant Green of the era. As the track progresses, though, it gets more than a little hectic – especially during Charles Owens' Pharoah Sanders-esque soprano solo. Kirk Lightsey's overdriven and distorted electric piano only serves to add to this tension later.

Calvin Jackson (1961-2015) was an American drummer from north Mississippi. He is considered an innovator in the Hill country blues style of drumming, having incorporated elements of the regional Fife and drum bands style in the blues band setting.
In 1999 he released the only album under his own name, Calvin Jackson & Mississippi Bound's Goin' Down South. For this effort Jackson covered songs by such obvious influences as Mississippi Fred McDowell plus added his original complaints to this whining, fussing genre such as "Hard to Get Along" and "It's Gonna Rain". The album was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category of "Best New Artist Debut".