Charles Williams - Stickball (2007)

Full-on funky backings for saxophonist Charles Williams – a set that almost has him in the same territory as Stanley Turrentine during his late 70s years on Fantasy Records, or Hank Crawford over at Kudu! The style here is a bit more lush than some of the other Mainstream Records dates of the time – full backings arranged and conducted by Ernie Wilkins – always plenty darn soulful, and built around a mix of strings and jazzier instrumentation – set up with the care and precision of a hip soul soundtrack, and topped by well-crafted alto sax solos by Williams.