Search - Lou Donaldson :: Alligator Bogallo

This is FUNKY great! Excellent Recording!

JoeyD | los gatos, ca | 03/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I really dug this one, it is mellow and soulful and bluesy and funky all at the same time. Dr. Lonnie is something else on that church instrument of his and he and Lou always seem to make such a great team. And don't get me started on the performance of George Benson (just a young buck at the time) on guitar. Just listening to him on "One Cylinder", it blows me away every time.



This is a fantastic recording and a whole lot of fun. I enjoyed every song and every performance on the album. Besides Donaldson, Smith, and Benson the rest of the quintet is comprised of Melvin Laste, Sr. (cornet), and Leo Morris (drums). Morris does a great job and compliments the Dr. and Lou perfectly. Most Jazz fans will enjoy this one if not love it like I did. It is not hard bop, it's not light jazz, it's somewhere in the middle and it works to perfection in my humble opinion."

Funky alto / organ reissue

Terje Biringvad | Oslo, Norway | 02/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The alto / organ relationship between Lou Donaldson and Dr.Lonnie Smith is a particular interesting one in the history of jazz organ combos. The funkiness of the two gentleme playing together is outstanding on the late '60s Blue Note recordings of Lou. The deep blues feeling drenched in funky (r&b) rhythms is more present in Smiths B3 playing than Lou's recordings with Charles Earland and John Patton. Cornet in a jazz organ combo is more than rare but Melvin Lastie does his job very well (no jazz organ combo recordings registered with known cornet/trumpet players like Ruby Braff, Nat Adderly and Thad Jones. Braff with Heyman on theatre organ recordings don't count in the jazz organ genre). George Benson is a young George on this album and surprisingly fresh in his playing, like his first solo album with Lonnie Smith recorded a year before this recording on Columbia Records (It's Uptown With The George Benson Quartet). With originals both from Donaldson and Smith's pen and Freddy McCoy's "On cylinder", this album is a most welcome reissue and important for organ combo collectors.

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