Mister Magic [Original recording reissued]

Grover Washington Jr. | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 22, 1995)
• Original Release Date: 1987
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Motown
• ASIN: B000001A5Z
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,663 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #8 in Music > Jazz > Soul-Jazz & Boogaloo
  • #17 in Music > Jazz > Smooth Jazz
  • #29 in Music > R&B > Motown

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grover... Have you ever loved a groove so much it hurts?, February 8, 1999

By 

"[e-mail]" (Barcelona, Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mister Magic (Audio CD)

So you've got a summer house right on the shore.

You come back from the beach during the day. You're all alone in a big, airy, sunny beach house. It's so quiet you can't hear anything but the distant waves breaking and your sandy bare feet scraping the old hardwood floor. You hit play on the essential George Benson "Breezin'" and let the magical rhythmic flutes work their way softly into the kitchen as you cut a slice of lime and rhythmically push it into your ice-cold Corona. You don't even have to think twice about what to play. It's perfect.

Just like, when it's time to get the party started late-night, and everyone's overdue to dance, the first thing you do is pop in Earth, Wind and Fire's "Best of Vol 1" or Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall"... OK, no brainer, you're a pro.

But, you are probably thinking, what do I play while we're all sitting around having drinks, playing cards, getting ready to fire up in the early evening? Well, silly, you pop in some of the most fire-up smoothest sax you'll ever hear. Something that will make the guys and girls groove, something that makes you smile and move your body to the funky organ and sax on top of it. That's Grover's "Mister Magic" and "Winelight". You're so close to it.

Just click above and listen to #4, then imagine that groove build for another ten minutes or so. This is just the beginning. The bass is so deep. The groove teases you on and on as it works you there and back until it reaches an epiphany where someone can't help but say out loud, "Oh yeah" - just as you were thinking it.

Everyone just smiles and nods....... enjoy your summer.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The last great soul-jazz album, November 26, 2002

By 

Keith Hayasaka (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mister Magic (Audio CD)

Recorded in late 1974 and released early 1975, this might be the last great soul-jazz album before things went the way of disco. Of Grover Washington's records, this and Inner City Blues are the ones to get, and luckily, they're still available (All the King's Horses and Soul Box are currently out of print). The four extended cuts begin with "Earth Tones", a Bob James penned tune where Washington eases into the pocket with his soprano and then digs WAY deep into the funk with his tenor. "Passion Flower" exhibits Grover's lyrical side before the title track kicks into its uplifting groove. "Black Frost" actually turns out to be a slow-burning funk cut and ends the set. Washington's subsequent Kudu albums, though solid, never found him getting so gritty and souful as he does here. Highly recommended.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 25% unforgettable and 75% enjoyable., April 14, 2000

By 

nicjaytee (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mister Magic (Audio CD)

One great track and three excellent back-up's.

"Earth Tones" has one of the most insiduous jazz riffs ever conceived - up there with Horace Silver's "Song To My Father", Miles Davis' "So What" and Lee Morgan's "Sidewinder"... what goes on throughout the rest of the track is definitely not in keeping with the lounge music sax playing that Grover Washington is best known for... rather an anticipatory, sometimes rambling build-up that keeps you waiting until "that riff" re-appears... brilliant and unforgattable. Worth the price of the album on its own.

"Mister Magic", "Passion Flower" and "Black Frost" are more standard jazz-funk... perfectly enjoyable and imbued with equally insiduous riffs

Don't ask me or my children why... a generation different in musical experience and a world apart in musical preferences but... if you, like we, are into funky jazz then this album hits the "unforgettable" button.

Buy this, lay back and float upstream.