Like Blue Note sessions or Impulse sessions, producer Creed Taylor's sessions for his CTI and Kudu labels have a very distinct sound, with many records having one foot in jazz and the other in soul. That mix doesn't always work for me, but there's something about Johnny "Hammond" Smith's 1972 release "Wild Horses Rock Steady" that I find irresistible. I want to turn away, but I just can't.
The grooves teeter between badass and second deck cruise ship lounge act and that is not a bad thing.
The band here is stellar. Bernard Purdie, Billy Cobham, George Benson, Melvin Sparks, Eric Gale, Harold Vick, Grover Washington Jr. and Ron Carter. The song selections read like a 70's jukebox with covers of hits by Cat Stevens, Aretha Franklin, Yvonne Elliman and my two absolute favorites, the Stones and, of course, Perry Como.
Check out what AllMusic had to stay about the cover of "Wild Horses":
But nothing can prepare the listener for the closing cover of Jagger and Richard's "Wild Horses," with a military snare beat providing an unlikely intro to an "All Along the Watchtower"-like progression that transforms itself seamlessly into a darkly minor reading of the original melody, with beautiful fills by Benson and Sparks. When the horns kick in during the refrain with plenty of fuzz guitar and bass over the top, the listener falls headlong into the magic of dirty groove and roll.
It really works.
This entire session is a blast and it's a record I only just discovered last week.
Give it a go.
5 comments:
"Who is Sylvia?" is the killer cut for me. So 70's cop show.
I think you wrote once that electric pianos were an instant turn-off for you, and that's how I felt about CTI/KUDU for a long time. That they tried too hard to popularize jazz by making it easier to listen to. now I know better, but you still have to sift among the Joe Farrells, Ron Carters and Airtos to find the really good ones. Deodato 2 is my personal about-face album that I would have dragged my younger self for playing.
@Anon,
Yes. The Fender Rhodes and I don't agree, but I guess it also depends on what else is going on.
Wow. That is a great Wild Horses. I'm really into I Don't Know How To Love Him on a second listen. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the tip, Sal! The horns and guitar are great.
- Paul
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