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".