The Big Payback

This exhilarating blues recording was captured at the historic Lionel Hampton Jazz Club in Paris. James and the band perform with an infectious enthusiasm and verve, and the crowd responds in kind. In addition to three of James's blues-tinged original tunes, the program ranges from the killer James Brown groove of the title cut to the soul classic "Trying To Live My Life Without You," a couple of Magic Sam gems, George Clinton's "I'll Stay," to the funky, set closing instrumental version of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water." "The Big Payback" is an unalloyed pleasure, a joyous celebration of the great tradition of horn-based blues ensembles that leaves the listener - much like the Parisian audience - wanting more.

Fred Wesley is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s.