Herbie Mann - Memphis Underground (1969) [Vinyl]

Review by Scott Yanow

Herbie Mann has always been open to new trends in his music. For this 1969 studio session, he and three other top soloists (vibraphonist Roy Ayers and guitarists Larry Coryell and Sonny Sharrock) went down to Memphis and combined their talents with a topnotch local rhythm section. The music effectively mixes R&B and country rhythms with the lead jazz voices, although the material, which includes "Memphis Underground," "Hold On! I'm Comin'," and "Chain of Fools," is rather weak.