A fun and personable mix of jazz and soul classics plus a couple of originals by guitarist
Rodney Jones,
Houston Person's
The Opening Round: Groove Masters Series, Vol. 1 isn't a jazz album for the ages, but it's start-to-finish entertaining. It's a straight-up groove album, with
Person in front of a four-piece organ combo anchored by the legendary
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on drums next to ex-
Waitresses-bassist-turned-session-star
Tracy Wormworth.
Joey DeFrancesco, a disciple of the late
Jimmy McGriff, adds funky Hammond B-3 throughout, and the song selection seems to have been chosen specifically to highlight his interplay with
Person. Heavy on the '70s soul classics, it features effective though hardly groundbreaking takes on classics like "What's Going On," "Let's Stay Together," and "When a Man Loves a Woman," staying close to the original melody lines but thankfully not replicating the original vocal parts on sax the way that so many smooth jazz lamers do. Moving back a bit,
Person essays both the Showboat standard "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" and, surprisingly, the old folk tune "Shenandoah," which he and the group transform into a bittersweet, elegiac theme. ~ Stewart Mason