This 11-song compilation of material from the Prestige vaults, recorded between 1969 and 1974, captures the time at which soul-jazz was turning into funk-jazz and fusion, emphasizing the role of tenor saxophonists. Some of these players are quite well known (
Gene Ammons,
Sonny Stitt,
Rusty Bryant); some famous tenors, like
David "Fathead" Newman,
Grover Washington, Jr., and
Joe Henderson, are heard as sidemen to leaders; and others, be they the saxophonists (
Wilton Felder,
Eddie Pazant,
Jerome Richardson) or their non-sax-playing leaders (Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers,
Boogaloo Joe Jones,
Billy Butler) are more in the cult or relatively unknown category. Whether or not you're a tenor sax specialist, if you're into soul-jazz this is a fine anthology of the music as it entered its late phase, clocking in at a generous 78 minutes and yielding a good amount of variety within the genre. Sometimes it gets close to psychedelic funk (
Funk Inc.'s cover of
Curtis Mayfield's "Give Me Your Love"), sometimes to more traditional soul-jazz-with-organ (
Charles Kynard's "Slow Burn,"
Sonny Stitt's "Them Funky Changes"), sometimes to fusion (
Patrice Rushen's "How Right Now"), sometimes to
James Brown-ish boogaloo (Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers' cover of "Cloud Nine").