Quincy Jones - Talkin' Verve: Quincy Jones (2001)

The Talkin' Verve series was a huge set of recordings by individuals who had recorded for the label and were responsible for the funky, jazzy lounge music that was so revered again in the '90s, as well as the pioneers of the soul-jazz movement of the '60s. This volume, with Quincy Jones leading a big band, has all the elements of cool, sophisticated swagger, but liner note author Billy Vera has it all wrong when he claims that these were the blues without the edges. Nonsense. Check the cats who played in these bands: Harry "Sweets" Edison, Roland Kirk, Paul Gonsalves, Budd Johnson, Grady Tate, Ray Barretto, Freddie Hubbard, Ray Charles, Urbie Green, and more, In other words, this is some hard swingin', brass blasting, rhythm driven soul-jazz on a big-band budget and these cats sweat. Whether it's on the "Soul Bossa Nova" that's most known from the Austin Powers soundtrack, or Lamont Dozier's "Somethin' About You," or "Hang on Sloopy," with its Latin retro-fit, or Charles Mingus' "Boogie Stop Shuffle," or Dallas Frazier's "Mohair Sam," it's all gutbucket though ultra-sophisticated in terms of the charts Jones wrote. His career with Verve was a stellar one and these 16 cuts prove it.