The Keys

 

Back in the heady early '90's, I, and a whole heap of other jivers got the bug for Soul Jazz, Rare Groove, or its goofy cousin Acid Jazz. Record Labels were cropping up like mushrooms to deliver every rare gem they could get their hands on: Luv & Haight, Boplicity, Soul Jazz and many other new labels from across the globe as well as old stalwarts of the industry like Charly, Blue Note and ACE, to name a few, who's vaults were now opened to feed this new hungry audience. Music that hadn't seen the light of day for decades except as rare, expensive, collectors items were now up for grabs. I couldn't get enough of it myself, filling my record collection and my DJ bag with the juiciest delights I could find. It became the cornerstone of my DJ sets, along with Soul and Jamaican grooves.

This set celebrates and features some of the finest keyboards players of the '60's to mid '70's Soul Jazz oeuvre, as well as some massive tunes from great groups featuring keyboards. The collection has many fine gems, some, that the enthusiast might find a tad 'obvious', but I'm willing to take that risk in the hope that I'm opening a door for the uninitiated, that will lead them onwards towards more and more exhilarating discoveries. 

I'm using the term 'Soul Jazz' broadly for this mix as I've included other sounds such as Rocksteady, latin and Funk within, but I can assure you that there is a deep essence of Soulful Jazziness throughout.

We begin our trip with the inimitable Jimmy Smith, one of the godfathers of Soul Jazz, with a tune many would have arrived at via those whacky Beastie Boys. This tune was heavily sampled back in the day and is truly a Killer track.

The recently and sadly passed keyboard legend Ramsey Lewis flies with just one of many spectacular grooves. Total Soul.

Ray Bryant, here also on a Chess Cadet side, a swingin' player who joyfully mixed jazz, latin and soul, he takes on Ornette Coleman's 'Ramblin' in beautiful style.

Connecting the dots between the 5 Royales, James Brown and supersonic jazz Lonnie Smith, not to be confused with he with the 'Liston' agnomen brings forth a delicious take on that heart starter 'Think'.

Taking a left turn at Albuquerque we hit land at Jamaica and one of the finest lords of that golden isle, Jackie Mittoo, a former Skatalite, Soul Brother and Soul Bender, Jackie pumped out more killer organ than a body should. Here he's handing you the 'Juice Box'.

Charles Kynyard next is another Soul Jazz legend who pretty much stayed in that field, brilliantly, whereas Junior Mance's career spread across decades and styles from BeBop through to the Hard Bop and as seen here the Soulful Funk groove, featuring Billy Cobham and Chuck Rainey.

The great Herbie Hancock is represented here with 'Cantaloupe Island'. Herbie came to be known through his Soul Jazz anthem 'Watermelon Man', then with his magnificent work with the Miles Davis Quintet and then going on to become one of the leading figures in electronic funk fusion.

We shift gears and head to Memphis to hear one of the greatest instrumental groups of all time Booker T & the MGs. This song features the mighty organ playing of Booker T himself.

Les McCann, Soul Jazz keyboardist and vocalist extraordinaire teams up with fellow Illinois sax player Eddie Harris for this Soul Jazz masterpiece from the album 'Swiss Movement'.

Neal Creque, the Caribbean born organist is next with a tasty piece of oblique groove.

The Meters, next, definite competitors for the top instrumentalist group crown, groove there way into soulful ecstasy with this slice of New Orleans syncopation, featuring Art Neville on the keys.

The Backyard Heavies are as solid as they are obscure.

Bernie Worrell leads this Funkadelic gem, from the album 'America Eats its Young'. Bernie was a major innovator who's offbeat approach to keyboards kept the P-Funk empire beautifully off kilter.

Frank Strazzeri's 'Cloudburst' is one of the later works in this mix, from the album 'After the Rain' from '76, this is a gorgeous slice of L.A. groove.

In 1962 the Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited organisation, aka HARYOU was created to help educate and assist Harlem youth. One offshoot of this was the Haryou Percussion Group, which gathered young (16 to 19 y.o.) talented black and Puerto Rican musicians to create a hybrid groove that explodes on their self titled LP. Nick Kirksey provides the killa piano for this great piece.

The set finishes with gorgeous sounds of Ronnie Foster's 'Cheshire Cat' taken from an album of that name. A hot keyboardist whose resume takes in working with the leading lights of the 70's and 80's, with many Blue Note releases un his belt - pure aceeed!

There are many more Great keyboard gods and keyboard featured delicacies I could have delivered and might well do so in the future, but for you here and now, I wish to give you The Keys.

1. Root Down - Jimmy Smith - Verve

2. Bold and Black - Ramsey Lewis - Cadet

3. Ray Bryant - Ramblin' - Cadet

4. Think - Lonnie Smith

5. Jackie Mittoo - Juice Box - Studio 1

6. Boogalooin' - Charles Kynyard - Prestige

7. Well I'll be White Black - Junior Mance - Atlantic

8. Cantaloupe Island - Herbie Hancock - Blue Note

9. Time is Tight - Booker T & the MGs - Stax

10. Compared to What - Les McCann & Eddie Harris - Atlantic

11. Rafiki - Neal Creque - Cobblestone

12. Here Comes the Meter Man - The Meters - Josie

13. Backyard Heavies - Just Keep on Truckin' - Hotline / Action

14. A Joyful Process - Funkadelic - Westbound

15. Cloudburst - Frank Strazzeri - Catalyst Records 

16. Feed me Good - The Haryou Percussion Group -  Oro / Luv 'N Haight / CuBop

17. Cheshire Cat - Ronnie Foster - Blue Note