Search - Jimmy McGriff :: Groove Grease

Give the drummer some !

Eddie Landsberg | Tokyo, Japan | 07/29/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have mixed feeling about this album (cover art aside... hubba! hubba!). After the first three opening numbers,

the album sort of fizzes out... despite that, drummer Marion J. Booker really kicks some mean back beats well worth the study... as for McGriff... he was as greasy as you'd expect (especially circa that era), but the production quality of the album falls short... further McGriff isn't kicking bass... the bass player is more than competent studio musician, but if you're used to the mad type of stuff you'd hear on those Groove Holmes albums at the same time (or even other McGriff recordings), you can really feel something missing - - in addition, plenty of musicians are listed under personnel, but actually most tunes are stripped down to McGriff and the rhythm section... and the guitarist and bass player don't seem to have quite caught on to some of the hipper post Boogaloo/JB influenced greased out styles of the era... (Guitarist is kinda trying to a trying REAL hard to sound funky, especially with that wa wa pedal of his, but if you're used to Sparks and Boogaloo Joe Jones, its definitely not the same...) further, I don't understand why the side musicians don't get any solos in (tracks may have been produced with hopes of R&B crossover, so time constraints may have prevented it.) - - Whatever, its ashame, because just when things start to get mean on so many of the grooves, they also get surprisingly lackluster and fall so frustratingly short... two examples include: Mr. Lucky: wow... what a mean beat... but the guitar and horns are just all over the place - - no punch, it just doesn't work, and what a shame!... and There Will Never Be Another You - - McGriff pulls out some really mean licks (stuff that would be delightful for any player to slow down, tear apart and study from dusk to dawn) but guitarist and bass player are just so out of the pocket, it just doesn't work like it should...

all in all though, I still recommend the album, because if you want to hear some great groove organ style back beat drumming and some of McGriff's mean licks and drawbar settings, the album is worth it..."

Mixed bag

Jazz Badger | Canada | 08/14/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The first few cuts are real funky R&B, exactly what the title -- and cover -- promise. But look at the titles that finish it off: off-kilter versions of pop warhorses. McGriff was a vet of playing dance halls, so he had to cover all the bases. In other words, the CD starts great and goes downhill. If you really love this kind of stuff, as I do, you'll probably still want to own it."

Nothing special...

Joseph Williams | Illinois | 09/30/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Its ok. Nothing nobody has heard before. The seller "over-hyped" it. Save your money on something better"