Description
The Analog Vault // Essential Listening
Idris Muhammad recorded this classic jazz-funk album in 1977 – with the opening track Could Heaven Ever Be Like This becoming an undisputed classic. Idris Muhammad may have begun in R&B playing for Curtis Mayfield and Sam Cooke, and established himself in jazz as sideman for Kenny Dorham and Horace Silver – but the acclaimed drummer and composer truly turned heads when he shifted towards funk in the 1970s.
The highlight of that shift has to be his dynamic third album on Creed Taylors Kudu label entitled Turn This Mutha Out. Released in 1977, this immensely groovy album brimmed with boisterous and blissful floor-fillers with tracks sampled by various artists including Drake and Jamiroquai. Driven by disco, funk, jazz, psychedelic rock, R&B and pop – Turn This Mutha Out feels like the most playful jam session one has ever heard, powered by big horn sections, exuberant synth solos, sexy guitar licks, irresistible tom-toms and Afro flute lines. A perfect workout for the mirror-ball disco crowd. The Analog Vault
Accompanied byHiram Bullock(guitar),Cliff Carter(keyboards),Wilber Bascomb(bass),Jeremy Steig(flute), and others, Idris Muhammad ventures into the world of pop and R&B, annoying die-hard jazz fans. Limp and uninspired vocals hurt “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This,” but the track is good and could have stood alone with instrument(s) replacing the vocal parts. If you like African rhythms underneath a haunting flute, then you’ll love “Camby Bolongo” —Sue Evanssupplies percussions andRandy Breckerprovides a searing trumpet solo.
“Turn this Mutha Out” offers some dynamic interplay betweenBascomb’s funky bass vamp andBullock’s compelling guitar work. The tune landed on the R&B chart in the States and got considerable airplay in Britain. “Tasty Cakes” uses the same lineup including complementary musicians as “Mutha.” “Crab Apple,” aided byMichael Brecker’s tenor sax, jams; the midtempo strut is nasty, particularly whenCarterworks his synthesizer. “Moon Hymn” is a duo tempo head tune that nods atWar’s “Slipping Into Darkness.”Eric Galeis the guitarist on “Say What,” a fusion of jazz and funk. Muhammad never solos, he didn’t write any of the songs, he didn’t arrange any, and he didn’t produce, but that eternally funky, break-heavy drumming makes this an album only he could have recorded. (via AllMusic)
Label: Soul Brother
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo
Reissued: 2017 / Original: 1977
Genre: Jazz, Funk / Soul
Style: Jazz-Funk, Disco
File under: Funk / Soul
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