Guitarist
Mel Brown is hailed as "An
Impulse! Discovery" on
Chicken Fat, his debut for the label, and this album does feature a fantastic unique sound.
Brown played in the bands of
T-Bone Walker and
John Lee Hooker, and has an aggressive (though not harsh) single-string picking style. For this date he is paired with either
Herb Ellis or
Arthur Wright on guitar,
Gerald Wiggins on organ, and
Brown's regular rhythm section of
Paul Humphrey on drums and
Ronald Brown on electric bass. There are a couple tracks that are played as pretty straight
blues, but this is a hoppin'
soul-jazz date. The tunes are bouncy and funky, and
Brown's playing is a real treat. His bluesy, almost reckless soloing gives a vastly different flavor that the playing of guys like
Grant Green or
Melvin Sparks.
Gerald Wiggins' organ playing is cool and swinging, and the electric bass of
Ronald Brown makes this album about as funky as
Impulse ever got. Both
Herb Ellis and
Arthur Wright get some solo space as well, with
Ellis sounding quite interesting playing an unamplified 12-string on a couple cuts.
Brown gets some nice tones as well, and on
"Hobo Flats" plays "an electronic guitar with Wah-Wah distortion" (remember, this is 1967
jazz) "that gives a weird shimmering sound," according to the liner notes. Leave it to
Impulse! to put a new spin on the guitar/organ sound. This is hot stuff. ~ Sean Westergaard
