Search - Richard Groove Holmes :: Super Soul

Good But Not "Super Soul"

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 02/04/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been listening to organ jazz for years but until recently the only "Groove" Holmes I owned was courtesy of the classic Beastie Boys shoutout cut from "Check Your Head." All that changed when Fantasy/OJC remaindered half of their catalog last year, and I picked up a few discs by the organist. "Super Soul" combines two LPs originally recorded in 1967 -- the original "Super Soul" is a big band recording made in Chicago on April 26-27, and "Soul Power" was a December 19th sextet date from the studio of Rudy Van Gelder. Aside from crediting arranger and conductor Richard Evans, there are no personnel listings for the Super Big Soul Band, but the sextet is Wally Richardson on lead guitar, Steve Wolfe on rhythm guitar, Jimmy Lewis on electric bass, jazz veteran Ben Dixon on drums, and Dave Blume on conga. There is more emphasis here on funk/soul than on earlier (and better) discs like Soul Message, but we still get a surprising amount of jazz as tracks include "On Green Dolphin Street," "Bluesette" and Horace Silver's "The Preacher." I personally found the big band date to be a bit more predictable, and overall I liked the more intimate, crisp sound of the RVG session. (It's too bad one track from the latter album -- "Gimme Little Sign" -- had to be omitted due to time constraints.) Overall, three stars for the first session and four for the second, rounded up if you too can find it at a closeout price from Oldies as I did."