Musicology

Brother Jack McDuff - Hot Barbeque 1965

McDuff had an excellent quartet for this mid-1960s soul-jazz outing, also including Red Holloway on saxes, George Benson on guitar, and Joe Dukes on drums. Nothing remarkable, just very enjoyable, high-spirited genre music, particularly on the title track, punctuated by shouts of the title phrase. It's mostly McDuff originals here, though they slow things down to cover "Cry Me a River." Benson gets a chance to unveil his best early jazz chops on "The Three Day Thang." The entire album was reissued as part of the 2001 Prestige CD The Soulful Drums, which also includes the entirety of the album The Soulful Drums, cut in 1964 by the same quartet (and billed to Dukes). That CD also has a 1964 track, "Redwood City," featuring the same quartet plus Tommy Shelvin on Fender bass, that didn't appear on either of those two albums originally (it was first released on the compilation LP The Soul/Jazz Giants). Note, however: although the album The Soulful Drums was billed to Dukes when initially released, the CD reissue that includes both it and Hot Barbecue is billed to McDuff. AMG.

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