Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Mel Brown - Chicken Fat (1967)



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 - AMG


01 Chicken Fat
02 Greasy Spoon
03 Home James
04 Slalom
05 Hobo Flats
06 Shanty
07 Sad But True
08 I'm Goin' to Jackson
09 Blues for Big Bob

4 comments:

marram62 said...

http://rapidshare.com/files/422237501/Chicken_Fat.rar

Budd said...

Great album - Nice to listen to something with soul! The drumming is brilliant throughout, Paul Humphries makes great tunes sound even greater! I like the whole album and will need to pick out a favourite! I really dig his tracks 'Good Stuff', 'Love Potion', 'Big Foot Country Girl' and the bluesy 'Dixie' on other albums I've heard.
You my like a couple of my comps - 'It Began in Africa' and 'Crystal Telephone'. Let me know - It's good to get an expert's point of view! (Oh yeah your'e right RS are very annoying!!)

marram62 said...

thanks and i'm sorry it took so long to respond, i'll check out your comps and get back to you on that! thanks again!

Budd said...

Excellent posts! Have a great New Year!!