After Dark

Coming off his two-volume tribute to Jimi Hendrix, Electric Chubbyland, Popa Chubby is still high on rock & roll. While his love of the blues remains strong and dominates a handful of the tracks here, Deliveries After Dark features more heavy metal thunder and hard rocking than usual. The furious "Sally Likes to Run" captures that arena rock feel with enough cowbell to keep Christopher Walken happy while the title track crunches like Deep Purple in "Highway Star" mode. The epic "Man of the Blues" should easily satisfy longtime fans with its classic Chubby sound, but "Grown Man Crying Blues" and "I'll Piss on Your Grave" sound like the blues by way of a rock band.

Taking cues from Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane at their most delicate, renowned Welsh harpist Amanda Whiting’s mesmerising Jazzman full-length LP After Dark arrives as soft as moonlight to gladden the soul and delight the ear—without forgetting to bring the swing.

Recorded when he was 63, After Dark finds Hank Crawford excelling by sticking to what he does so well: uncomplicated, blues-drenched, gospel-minded soul-jazz. Warmth and accessibility continued to define the veteran alto saxophonist, who sounds like he's still very much in his prime on everything from "Amazing Grace" to W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" and the standard "T'aint Nobody's Business If I Do." Crawford reminds us how appealing and sentimental a ballad player can be on "That's All," and he demonstrates that Ruby & The Romantics' early-1960s soul-pop gem "Our Day Will Come" can work quite well in a jazz setting. The saxman's noteworthy support includes producer Bob Porter (who, true to form, is smart enough to step aside and let Crawford do his thing), guitarist Melvin Sparks and drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. It's been said that Crawford is jazz's equivalent of a charismatic soul singer like Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye or his former employer Ray Charles, and After Dark makes it very hard to disagree with that assertion.