Boogaloo Joe Jones: Legends of Acid Jazz: Boogaloo Joe Jones

Legends of Acid Jazz: Boogalo Joe Jones (Prestige, PRCD 24167-2, 73:36) is the second recent collection of the work of the often overlooked soul-jazz guitarist. This disc, which features drummer Bernard Purdie, organist Charles Earland and sax player Rusty Bryant, is culled from Boogaloo Joe and Right On Brother, two Prestige sides cut in mid 1969 and early 1970. Not the most harmonically tricky player , Jones sandbagged buyers of those sides with his backlog of straightforward riffs, all executed in his familiar quick-picking style. His work on “Atlantic City Soul,” and “Dream On Little Dreamer,” which extrapolates on Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” is a good example. The simply titled “Blues” and “Things Ain’t What they Used to Be” (which features some tasteful solo work from Bryant) are, to Boogaloo, the equivalent of a summertime soul food buffet. Lovers of old-school instrumental soul shouldn’t pass on this disc.

Originally Published January 1, 1997