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Friday, March 21, 2008

Hard Work

Hard Work John Handy
1976

The biggest moment ever for saxophonist John Handy -- an album that crossed over big, thanks to a tremendously funky title cut! Handy first rose to fame back in the 60s -- playing modernist jazz with Charlies Mingus, and opening up on his own in a stretch of great albums that evolved from hardbop, to modal jazz, to some even freer world jazz experiments in the 70s. Here, though, he's back in very soulful territory -- working in a combo that has keyboards and guitar, and plenty of grooves that are somewhere in a space between early 70s CTI/Kudu and similar dates on Cadet or Prestige Records! The style's a great balance of modes -- and although electric, the album's never too smooth -- thanks to relatively small instrumentation on most numbers, and an approach that still lets most of the energy come from the interaction of the core group members. Players include Hotep Cecil Barnard on keyboards, Mike Hoffman on guitar, Chuck Rainey on bass, and James Gadson on drums -- and Handy plays both alto and tenor, and even sings a bit on a few cuts. Titles include the JBs-styled "Hard Work", plus "Afro Wiggle", "Didn't I Tell You", "Love For Brother Jack", "You Don't Know", and "Young Enough To Dream".

13 comments:

Doctor Okeh said...

http://www.mediafire.com/?9v3vuxptlfn

enjoy!

Burningbluesoul said...

Many thanks for this FINE album. I had it, lost it in a flood,and am one of those people who only buy close to NM LPs. I am very happy to be able too evaluate this baby again. I have some other handy if you are interested good Doctor.

FunkyEarWax said...

Thanks!

I'd love to see Carnival up here in the future. Never managed to rip my copy before losing it.

Keep up the good work!

AMM said...

HEY DOC!!
ANOTHER CLASSIC ALBUM HERE IN ENGLAND WAY BACK!!!!
THANKS!!
GOOD TO GET THIS BABY BACK!

Styles said...

Thanks a lot Doc. Can't wait to bump this one.

Jazzsoulman said...

Oh man, what a nice easter egg. Love this one very much. Thanks a lot for this superbe LP

Simon666 said...

Thanks for this - some good grooves, sounds like a lost Mizells production sometimes!
And many thanks for the invite, got a lot of digging to do here on this great blog :)
simon

Wayne World said...

Gotta check this out. Thanks.

Chubb !! said...

Great..

The Song ' Hard Work "..big Classic Fm's Brazil..

Thx..

Anonymous said...

I only got his Carnival album that came out one year later, don't know this one. Thanks!

Any Means... said...

aww shit! this is Jack Handy's bro!?! from "Deep Thoughts" on SNL...

catacaldos said...

Superb.
Thanx a lot,and it don't stop...

JazzDancer said...

I have a 12" copy of the Hard Work single but am really looking forward to hearing the whole album. Many, many thanks.