Reuben Wilson - Blue Mode (1969) [2014 SHM-CD Blue Note 24-192 Remaster]

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. Heavy funk from the mighty Reuben Wilson – one of his first few albums for Blue Note, and a solid soulful groover that's right up there with Lou Donaldson's work for the label at the time! Tracks are nice and long, and pretty open – often with that kicking drum sound at the bottom that you'd normally associate with Idris Muhammad, but which is handled here by Tommy Derrick on drums. Melvin Sparks plays some mighty mean guitar – in that great lean early style of his – and the group's completed by John Manning on tenor, a player we don't know at all – but whose lines here are a great counterpart to Wilson's heavy Hammond! Titles include "Orange Peel", "Blue Mode", "Bambu", "Knock On Wood", "Twenty Five Miles", and "Bus Ride".

If Love Bug skirted the edges of free jazz and black power, Blue Mode embraces soul-jazz and Memphis funk in no uncertain terms. Opening with the cinematic, stuttering "Bambu" and running through a set of relaxed, funky grooves – including covers of Eddie Floyd's "Knock on Wood" and Edwin Starr's "Twenty-Five Miles" – Blue Mode isn't strictly a jazz album, but its gritty, jazzy vamps and urban soul-blues make it highly enjoyable. Reuben Wilson has a laid-back, friendly style and his supporting band – tenor saxophonist John Manning, guitarist Melvin Sparks, and drummer Tommy Derrick – demonstrate a similarly warm sense of tone. While none of them break through with any improvisations that would satiate hardcore jazz purists, they know how to work a groove, and that's what makes Blue Mode a winner.


Tracks:

01 - Bambu
02 - Knock On Wood
03 - Bus Ride
04 - Orange Peel
05 - Twenty-Five Miles
06 - Blue Mode

Personnel:

Reuben Wilson - organ
John Manning - tenor saxophone
Melvin Sparks - guitar
Tommy Derrick - drums