Customer Reviews

Down Home Style (24bt) (Mlps)

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For fans of the funky side of the B-3 (ala Jimmy McGriff, Reuben Wilson and Groove Holmes), this is one of those must have CDs.

Recorded in Memphis (where else ?) in June or 1969, the organ gushes with soul. My favorite tune being THEME FROM ELECTRIC SURFBOARD... With tight (almost early '70s pre-disco) horn arrangements, biting guitar (Charlie Freeman, not Sparks, but could be !) and a funky rhythm section (there is a bass player), in many ways it sounds more like a McGriff or Groove Holmes CD than a McDuff CD... but what's so bad about that ? McDuff gets down and funky on tunes like The Vibrator, Butter for Yo Popcorn and Groovin' - - If you dig this vibe, check out some Charlie Kynard... and/or pray that the Reuben Wilson album with "Got To Get Your Own" and "Stoned Out of My Mind" eventually finds its way back in print.

I first heard this album when a friend of mine bought it at a yard sale. I was hooked right away and had to buy it. If you enjoy a more funky style jazz like Herbie Hancock almost then I definitely reccomend picking this album up.

"Down Home Style" was a party killer in the '70 and I wored out 3 copies in competition with Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears and Traffic (these groups are still great!). Still one the best of the late '60's jazz organ funk albums out there and McDuff greasy r&b grooves is at its peak. The slow blues "Memphis in June" is the highlight on the album with no elbass but pure organbass like the purists wants it. "Vibrator" and "Theme from electric surfboard" are McDuff funk trademarks on various albums, but this stands out! Even with some some ordinary and less memorable tunes, this album is still intoxicating Hammond organ playing from the Brother!

Born Eugene McDuffy in 1926 in Champaign, Illinois, Brother Jack got his start in 1946 with Schoolboy Porter and then, in 1958/59, he worked with Jimmy Coe and Willis Jackson.

His solo recording career began with the Prestige label in 1960, but it wasn't until 1968, at the Cadet label, that he first tasted singles chart success when Let My People Go made it to # 42 R&B b/w Ain't It that October. Both are missing here but are to be found in the equally fine CD Natural Thing [Original Recording Remastered], also available through Amazon.

In fact, if searching for Jack McDuff LPs/CDs, you'll get different listings depending upon whether you search under "Jack McDuff" or "Brother Jack McDuff." Amazon may wish to correct that.

In THIS great compilation you get both sides of his only other charted single, 1969's Theme From Electric Surfboard, which hit # 48 R&B/# 95 Billboard Pop Hot 100 in early 1970 b/w Down Home Style for the Blue Note label.

Brother Jack fans will recognize these, but if you've never sampled his music, and you like the funky sound of R&B/jazz-styled organ, this is as good a place as any to start.