2025 reissue on red vinyl - Starting in the late 60s, jazz music started to take an interesting, and very soulful turn. Influenced by the funk of the day – from James Brown to Sly & The Family Stone – the art form, generally not considered a funky musical genre, started to stretch out and fit into the times. It was a fertile era, and to reciprocate, funk, soul and groovy rock fans started to discover accomplished, open-minded jazz artists like Les McCann, whose tunes made sense to their ears, even if bebop hadn’t grabbed them.
This incredible album – long a favorite of forward-thinking hip-hop producers and DJs – washes over listeners from the first chords of the incredible album opener, “Sometimes I Cry,” led by McCann’s array of analog synthesizers and backed by an excellent rhythm section (Donald Dean on drums; Ralph McDonald on percussion and Jimmy Rowser on bass).
Truth be told, highlights are hard to pick out, but fans never go long without returning to the fuzzed-out funk of “The Harlem Buck Strut Dance,” “Let’s Play (Til Mom Calls)” and “It Never Stopped In My Hometown.” These keyboard-drenched grooves sat alongside record stacks brimming with Stevie Wonder, Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye’s 70s soul and, of course, Miles Davis’ space funk experiments of the era (like Bitches Brew).
| Songs From Boston |
| A1 | Sometimes I Cry |
| A2 | Let's Gather |
| A3 | Anticipation |
| A4 | The Dunbar High School Marching Band |
| A5 | Soaring (At Dawn) Part 1 |
| Songs From My Childhood |
| B1 | The Harlem Buck Strut Dance |
| B2 | Interlude |
| B3 | Before I Rest |
| B4 | Let's Play (Til Mom Calls) |
| B5 | It Never Stopped In My Home Town |
| B6 | Soaring (At Sunset) Part 2 |
