dr. lonnie's "mama wailer"

[Guest donald petersen]

this is an interesting album.

i'm not so into the carole king tune, but the use of clavinet on the first track is interesting though i wish it was more prominent. the title track is also maybe a bit boring. not really "groove raga" or whatever doug payne said. the side long take on "stand" gets kind of, dare i say, trippy. especially for a kudu album in 1971.

were these guys high? probably not. but i mean it gets pretty weird. cobham's keeping up a weird hectic beat, ron carter is droning on and smith's organ is doing weird little riffs which seem to be echoe-ed out and panned. and ponder's guitar is kinda wah wah-ed and echoey...

[Guest donald petersen]

hmm in the liner notes, doug payne does call part of stand a "stoned groove"....it's worth hearing.

billy cobham-so underrated as an organ drummer. he rocks with charles earland (and jh smith) too.

[Noj]

I recall being a bit underwhelmed by this one when I got it. I'll have to dust it off and give it another listen with your comments in mind.

[Guy Berger]

I may have to check it out (though I will await Noj's comments). Thom Jurek's review of this album has a cool line:

For anyone who's ever had reservations about Washington's ability to cut loose as an improviser, they need only to give this track a listen and then apologize to his ghost.

[Guest donald petersen]

well i am not saying the album wasn't disappointing...i was expecting more. no i wasn't really, because my expectations were low to begin with. the album isn't great...though in regards to noj, maybe it works better on CD because there are 3 short tracks and then one long track. but this is a pretty good organ funky album...