Search - Hank Crawford & Jimmy Mcgriff :: On the Blue Side

THE UNDISCOVERED INDIGO SOUL

STEPHEN T. McCARTHY | a Mensa-donkey in Phoenix, Airheadzona. | 10/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm shocked and disappointed to find that here in late 2004, I'm the first person to submit a review for this excellent album. I bought ON THE BLUE SIDE shortly after its release and I've probably heard it well over a hundred times. This wasn't the first collaboration between HANK CRAWFORD & JIMMY McGRIFF - just the best!



I'm an inveterate whistler. I catch myself unconsciously whistling all the time, and almost always it's either Sunshine Of Your Love, Keep On Loving You, Bumpin' On Sunset, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, or ANY DAY NOW from this collection. My gosh, I've been whistling ANY DAY NOW for 14 years!



This is an exciting and soulful 4-piece band which features the bluesy, but always swinging alto sax of CRAWFORD which dances over McGRIFF's thick washes of Hammond B-3 Organ chords; chords which suddenly and frequently transform into popping, red-hot, electrically-charged riffing! It is McGRIFF who keeps this music grooving with an addictive, stylistically Jazzy R 'n' B mood. He's a vastly talented musician whose keyboard technique makes him a peer of other notable B-3 masters such as Jimmy Smith, Bill Doggett, and Booker T. Jones.



Not to be overlooked, however, is the much employed Wes Montgomery-influenced guitar work of JIMMY PONDER, whose imaginative playing punctuates the undulating, snake-like rhythms with purple, pinpoint notes that both heighten and release the musical tension. Man this is great stuffs. It gets under the skin and just COMPELS the body to move!



It seems that some people don't have an aural affinity for the organ sound. That's a real puzzlement to me because I don't just HEAR the B-3, I FEEL it! Listen to the song samples provided here and if you entertain even the slightest suspicion that you might enjoy this collection, then don't hesitate to buy it, for these samples don't even begin to hint at the greatness here. These are rhythmically-structured pieces that are danceable, and yet they contain plenty of space for the exciting, improvisational interplay that Jazz fans listen for.



ON THE BLUE SIDE may be one of my more frequently spun discs, but you know....I didn't have to share this treasure with ya. I could'a kept HANK'S and JIMMY'S GROOVE thang all to myself. I could'a taken the attitude that "if you don't already know, that's TUFF for you!" I could'a said to myself, "Stephen" (that's what I occasionally call myself), "only one person is lucky enough to listen to ON THE BLUE SIDE, and YOU'RE THE ONE!" But I couldn't act so selfishly. Instead, I brought you on board with me. I hope you appreciate this review. GEE BABY, AIN'T I GOOD TO YOU?

"