Martin Sasse a Groovy Affair

Reuben Wilson - A Groovy Situation (1970) {2014 Japan SHM-CD Blue Note 24-192 Remaster TYCJ-81097}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 235 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 92 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 325 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit 192 kHz remaster
© 1970, 2014 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | TYCJ-81097
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Hammond Organ

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. Reuben Wilson changes up the groove from his previous Blue Note sets – and the result is one of his greatest albums to date! This smoking little set has an edge that you really wouldn't expect – rhythms that move past the simple Blue Funk mode – into a more complicated style of funky jazz that really has Reuben hitting the Hammond in a fresh new way – of the sort he'd explore on his later albums for the Groove Merchant label. The group's a simple quartet – with the unusual lineup of Earl Turbington on alto, Eddie Diehl on guitar, and Harold White on drums – but the sound is a lot fuller and richer, thanks to a free-spirited approach to the rhythms of the tunes.

The Mindbenders in their post-Wayne Fontana configuration were a hot little British pub trio specializing in a kind of jazzy rock similar in a lot of ways to the Zombies or Traffic, and they amount to one of the great lost groups of the 1960s. Although they had two strong songwriters in Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman (together they would go on to form one half of 10cc), the Mindbenders were also one hell of a cover band, and their recorded legacy is surprisingly diverse because of it. This two-disc, 37-track set, which collects the two LPs, six EPs, and ten singles the group released between 1966 and 1968, is a revelation in that regard - it includes imaginatively done garage soul covers of “Shotgun,” “Mystery Train,” and “The Seventh Son” alongside the pipe dream psychedelia of “Yellow Brick Road” and the hazy sunshine pop of “A Groovy Kind of Love”…

Various pop songs given the Saxophone treatment in Smooth jazz style.

Richard "Groove" Holmes - Workin' On A Groovy Thing (1968) {Pacific Jazz-Universal Japan UCCU-90032 rel 2014}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 249 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 83 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 21 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968, 2014 Pacific Jazz / Universal Japan | UCCU-90032
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Groove / Organ

Groove Holmes and Gerald Wilson – a wonderful combination on this late 60s session – in a style that's everything great about mainstream LA jazz at the time! Wilson really has a way with the charts on the session – and although the group is large, they've got a lean, clean sound that bounces along nicely – slightly funky at times, always soulful at others – a perfect backdrop for the well-played Hammond lines that Groove brings to the set! The album's not as much of an all-out organ wailer as some of Holmes' albums for Prestige – but that's a-ok with us, because Wilson's group features some other great players too – including Dennis Budimir on guitar, Tony Ortega and Arnie Watts on saxes, and Paul Humphrey on drums!