Message From the Godfather

James Taylor Quartet | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ubiquity
• ASIN: B00005NBWO
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,237 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Upbeat Acid Jazz at its best, December 16, 2005

By 

Gary W. Rice (Fenton, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Message From the Godfather (Audio CD)

Wow! I came across this by accident while looking at some other artists. Of course, you see the James Taylor name and you think of something quite different than Acid Jazz.

At any rate, if you like upbeat, driving, B-3 organ-driven instrumental acid jazz, you will absolutely love this album. I like every one of these cuts and that is a real rarity in my extended music collection. If you are like me, a high percentage of albums will have some selections that you just skip over or you edit your CDs (like I do) by burning just the cuts you like onto a compilation.

However, this album is excellent throughout and their best overall in my book. I tried to listen to some of the selections from their other projects and they did not spark my interest.

Also, if you want some other outstanding B-3 organ jazz music like this, please get yourself some Charles Earland music...like Intensity, Black Talk or Slammin and Jammin....great stuff.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Have Mercy!, October 24, 2001

By 

Dee Sharp "Cruzanson" (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Message From the Godfather (Audio CD)

This is quite possibly the best album that the JTQ has even made. They're loose but tight, free flowing and in the groove. It's the product of a group of musicians who have worked together so long that they all know instinctively where each of the others is going. This is the record they hoped 1989's 'Wait a Minute' would be, but in comparison that album sounds stiff and uncertain. 'Godfather' is the JTQ at their most relaxed and natural. To be sure there's no new territoty here - there are a lot of motifs you've heard before. What's new is their approach - never has the JTQ played with this much soul, swing and verve. Sonically, the album is warm and welcoming, the benefits of an all-analog recording (save the press to CD, of course). The best song on the album is "Chalkpit": a stanky New Orleans workout like The Meters used to kick, yet with just a touch of London allnighter amphetamine edginess. The perfect album for the die-hard fan who yearns for the JTQ of over a decade ago (when you used to play the "Blow Up" single until you thought the grooves would wear out), and for the newcomer who wants to discover the true soul of modern souljazz.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JTQ have brought the funk back, October 3, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (Ipswich, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Message From the Godfather (Audio CD)

I have all of JTQs' British released albums, and was only ever marginely disapointed with the last, "A few Tips about Living Underground" which lacked the usual hard groove attached to any JTQ album. The best thing about "Godfather" is its live appeal, recorded in analogue, it gives the air of its contemporarys ie Jimmy Smith, Reuben Wilson et al. The opening track sets the mood with mind blowing organ and sax solos by James and the amazing John Wilmot. Another track "Tough Chicken" pays homage to Lonnie Liston Smith's "Expansions" crossed with the illicit "Burning Spear" by S.O.U.L. If you want an album with no real suprises but containing all that is good about Jazz/Funk/Soul I suggest you order this now and wait by the mailbox until it arives!
I can't wait to see these tracks played live when I next go to see JTQ, now they've got the funk back!