Charles Earland - Leaving This Planet (1973) [2014 Rare Groove Funk Best Collection 1000] CD-Rip

One of the greatest albums ever from organist Charles Earland – a double-length set that's filled with spiritual, soaring grooves! The style here is a perfect blend of the rougher soul jazz of Earland's roots with some of the spacier styles of his later recordings – served up in a sound that's majestic and powerful, almost with an indie soul jazz sort of vibe overall! There's an immediate urgency to most numbers that's totally undeniable – a lesson learned from the electric experiments of Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis, but fused down into a core essence – then let loose on a soaring journey to the heavens.

Earland plays Hammond, moog, clavinet, and Arp on the set – and other players include Joe Henderson on tenor, Dave Hubbard on alto and soprano sax, Eddie Henderson and Freddie Hubbard on trumpets, Marc Elf on guitar, Harvey Mason on drums, and the incredible Patrick Gleeson on synthesizers – bringing in a spacey edge to the record that's really amazing! Rudy Copeland sings a wonderful vocal on the title cut, "Leaving This Planet" – and all other instrumental cuts include "Red Clay", "Warp Factor 9", "Tyner", "Van Jay", "Never Ending Melody", "Mason's Galaxy", and "Asteroid".


Tracks:

01 - Leaving This Planet
02 - Red Clay
03 - Warp Factor 8
04 - Brown Eyes
05 - Asteroid
06 - Mason's Galaxy
07 - No Me Esqueca (Don't Forget Me)
08 - Tyner
09 - Van Jay
10 - Never Ending Melody

Personnel:

Charles Earland - organ, electric piano, soprano saxophone
Eddie Henderson - trumpet
Freddie Hubbard - trumpet, flugelhorn
Dave Hubbard - soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute
Joe Henderson - tenor saxophone
Patrick Gleeson - synthesizer
Eddie Arkin, Greg Crockett, Mark Elf - guitar
Brian Brake, Harvey Mason - drums
Larry Killian - percussion
Rudy Copeland - vocals