The Bridge: Overdrive – Jazz/Rock Party (1972)

Sometimes an album just speaks to you. It’s a combination of everything: the cover, the production, the “vibe” if you will. One component might pull you in; the rest tether you for eternity. Such was the case when I first laid eyes on The Bridge, a one-off project from Kristian Schultze, the keyboard/organ whiz who would later go on to join Passport and then with Michael Holm go on to form the new age band Cusco. None of that is important to know, though: just take a look at that cover and that album title. The whole project screams jazz funk rock grooves for a party, and indeed, Overdrive – Jazz/Rock Party is exactly as advertised. Not a lot going on thematically, just some good time funky jams that make your day a little more fun, and just a little brighter.

ChrisNovember 17, 2025Leave a comment

Miles Davis: Agharta (1975)

Where does a listener start when it comes to the “electric period” of Miles Davis? Where does the “electric period” even begin? Miles and the second quintet were using electric instruments as far back as Miles In The Sky (a personal favorite) but it seems like most folks peg it at the ambient, rolling atmosphere of In A Silent Way (another favorite). Where listeners start, though, is another matter. For me it was unfortunately with Pangaea, a live set from Japan that at age 17 I was not prepared for. Had I only started with that same date’s afternoon set, the brilliantly funky Agharta, I might have more quickly embraced this side of Davis’s career instead of retreating back to the early 60s for much of my 20s and 30s.

ChrisOctober 29, 2025October 29, 2025Leave a comment

Les McCann: Invitation to Openness (1972)

I didn’t know who Les McCann was, or what kosmigroov was as a genre, but somehow (I assume from Sea of Tranquility) I picked up a copy of McCann’s Invitation to Openness and haven’t looked back. Or forward, really: I’ve pretty much just stayed with this album, but if this is indicative of what the keyboardist/ composer does on his other albums and I’ll need to rectify that soon. Both meditative and funky, psychedelic and jazzy, it’s a gorgeous record that can match me when I need to send into the clouds or come down from the ledge.

ChrisAugust 18, 20251 Comment

CD, Vinyl

Funkadelic: Hardcore Jollies (1976)

In 1990 I became friends with Dave. Dave had a pair of friends who were brothers – Will (older) and Russ (younger). They were okay, although I don’t think liked me; they tolerated me because I was Dave’s friends. But they’ve remained stuck in my brain cells for two reasons: to fix the intonation problems on my first guitar (a black Epiphone Strat copy) Russ bolted my bride to the body with two massive bolts that did not in fact fix my intonation, and just made the guitar worse. And one day I walked up Dave’s driveway to find the three of in a rough circle, dancing and laughing to the funkiest, sick music I ever heard. The song was “Soul Mate” off Hardcore Jollies, the mighty ninth album from the even mightier Funkadelic. I was never the same.

ChrisJune 11, 2025Leave a comment

Vinyl

Curtis Mayfield: Curtis/Live! (1971)

I struggled to think of what the first live album I wanted to cover this week. What album gets across the thing I want to get out of a live release? I’ve never been one for perfect sonic replication: I can listen to the studio albums for that. I want to be inside the recording; I want to feel like I’m there – in the crowd, in the club. And it hit me: the first live release I bought when I re-kicked off my vinyl collection was Curtis/Live! the intimate, smoke and booze soaked live document from the man himself, Curtis Mayfield soon after leaving The Impressions and starting his solo career. Despite its lukewarm reception at the time (Rolling Stone continuing to prove itself the pulse of nothing), I’ve come to think of it as one of the best live albums ever, and potentially my favorite album from Mayfield.

ChrisMarch 31, 2025March 31, 20251 Comment

Vinyl

George Duke: I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry (1975)

As mentioned in my review for The Aura Will Prevail, I came to George Duke via his work with Frank Zappa, so when I began seeking out his solo material I was searching for music with a likeminded mentality. Not the overt humor so much, but the “eyebrows” as Zappa himself would put it. As the second of two releases Duke put out in 1975, I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry is a gorgeous title, subtly hiding the eyebrows that are in plain sight when you put the actual record on. Featuring huge cast of rotating musicians, including a number of vets from Zappa’s band, this album eases up on the jazz fusion and proggy elements of the previous record just enough to let the rock in. There’s still a whirlwind of influences at play, and out of the trio of records I own from Duke, this is the one I go back to the most.

ChrisFebruary 11, 2025Leave a comment

Consuming the Tangible

We are what we consume

Tag: funk