Live at Baker's

Thanks to Funk Brother Dennis Coffey's personal archive, we now have three volumes of the Detroit guitar master's gigs on Motor City nightclub stages. The first and second, Hot Coffey in the D: Burnin' at Morey Baker's Showplace Lounge (Resonance) and One Night at Morey's: 1968 (Omnivore) showcased his work in Lyman Woodard's trio with drummer Melvin Davis (from different sets on the same evening). Live at Baker's (Omnivore) finds the guitarist leading his own quartet at Detroit's oldest jazz venue, Baker's Keyboard Lounge, in 2006. Without edits or overdubs this "as-it-happened" set leans heavily on jazz tunes but allows room for his brand of funky psychedelic soul and blues. Coffey seldom plays any tune straight; he is groove-centric and a supreme melodist, and leaves plenty of room for tunes to develop spontaneously on the bandstand. With this group -- Grammy-nominated drummer Gaelyn McKinney, keyboardist Demetrius Nabors, and bassist Damon Warmack -- the guitarist allows his approach to interpret canonical jazz tunes and standards. A sultry, summery read of Freddie Hubbard's "Little Sunflower" has more of a bossa vibe than the original. Coffey's lead line is sumptuous and open, creating space for Nabors and Warmack to accent and vamp on his silvery, humid lines as they slip and slither through the mix while McKinney builds on kept time with subtle breaks. Coffey's equanimous view of music is audible in the performance of his own legendary psych-funk hit "Scorpio" that was completely revisoned for jazz quartet; however, as it unfolds, a dynamic force emerges. The interplay between Coffey's wah-wah vamps, Nabors' Rhodes work, Warmack's massive funk, and McKinney's rim shots and snare breaks are breathtaking. Coffey reworks his recorded performance on the Temptations hit "Just My Imagination," where he claims and takes chances with the melody -- like a singer would -- as the band dreamily flows around him. Two jazz classics fall in immediately afterward: a swinging, bluesy post-bop read of Jimmy Smith's "The Sermon" (with startling, inventive soloing from Coffey) and Miles Davis' "All Blues," delivered with his simmering "tonal center" approach in encountering modalism. The end result is a spacious, texturally elegant jazz-blues. He leads the band back to soul with the Jazz Crusader's stellar "Way Back Home" that retains its balance between melancholic nostalgia and feel-good, down-home gospelized soul. Coffey's heartfelt solo finds tenderness and joy in the reverie with gorgeous comping from Nabors. Closer "Dink's Blues" finds the guitarist paying homage to Jack McDuff and the guitarist who played on it: Grant Green, who Coffey knew and who also spent time in Detroit. Nabors reinvigorates the reading by using Rhodes instead of organ, while Coffey comps and delivers tight, tasty guitar breaks; everybody gets room to solo and delivers big. With their energy, inventiveness, and loose vibe, the 1968 recordings are wonderful and necessary. Live at Baker's reveals the mature artist at a creative peak, still interested in the discovery of any tune's hidden self -- it is also more intimate, spontaneous, and better recorded. This is essential Coffey.