Reuben Wilson - Blue Mode (1969) [2014 Japan SHM-CD 24-192 Remaster]

Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. Heavy funk from the mighty Reuben Wilson - one of his first few albums for Blue Note, and a solid soulful groover that's right up there with Lou Donaldson's work for the label at the time! Tracks are nice and long, and pretty open - often with that kicking drum sound at the bottom that you'd normally associate with Idris Muhammad, but which is handled here by Tommy Derrick on drums. Melvin Sparks plays some mighty mean guitar - in that great lean early style of his - and the group's completed by John Manning on tenor, a player we don't know at all - but whose lines here are a great counterpart to Wilson's heavy Hammond! Titles include "Orange Peel", "Blue Mode", "Bambu", "Knock On Wood", "Twenty Five Miles", and "Bus Ride".