Cal Green - Trippin' With Cal Green (1969/2023)

The back cover of Trippin' with Cal Green bears the message "This Album Should Be Titled MONSTER," and it's the absolute truth -- this blissed-out psychedelic jazz opus boasts some of the most extraordinarily funky guitar ever committed to vinyl. Best known for his collaboration with acid jazz pioneer Charles Kynard, who contributes some incendiary organ here, Green deserves mention in the same breath as fellow post-Wes Montgomery greats Grant Green and Eddie Fisher -- his vividly soulful leads are somehow both earthy and otherworldly. His virtuosity even transcends paint-by-numbers originals like "Mellow in Blue" and "Johnny's Gone to Vietnam" -- the album's highlight is nevertheless its hypnotic cover of Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour."