Sean Trane Fourth (or fifth, not sure) CTI album for Grover, Secret Place certainly has better aesthetics than All The King’s Horses, partly because the cast is much more restrained and featuring less stars - if you’ll except Steve Khan on guitar for one track. Ok, in the meantime, there were the outstanding Mister Magic and Feel So Good albums, which the present tries to emulate; only partly succeeding so. One of the heroes of this album is Dave Grusin on piano, and he sometimes steals the spotlight from Grover.

Opening on the mildly exciting 8-mins+ title track, not that far away from a good type of fusion, but the following Hancock cover of Dolphin Dance is relatively boring. OK, it gradually picks up speed and energy. The album’s better track is the funky and slightly brassy Not Yet with some good energetic soloing from Gale, then Grover. The closing track’s title Love Makes It Better gives you an idea about the music’s mushiness, but it’s still acceptable (read, not scandalous), despite overstaying its welcome halfway through.

ASP is a relatively short album with only two tracks per side, none reaching above 9-mins. In theory, it’s the kind of instrumental JR/F album I’d have expected to like, but the lack of energy and its studio slickness kind of disservice it. Not Grover’s best CTI album, Go for Mister Magic or Feel So Good instead.

Sean Trane After the excellent MM release, Feel So Good is another brilliant JR/F album and might even be a tad superior to its predecessor, because it’s more even, as it doesn’t bear a weak track. You’ll find almost the same list of usual-CTI-suspects, including arranger Bob James,but as opposed to albums like MM, Grover hogs the songwriting, only allowing BJ and RMcD one credit each.

Opening on the Bob James-penned Sea Lion, FSG still has a mid-70’s fusion stamina, one that keeps going on the slow but excellent Moonstreams, where McDonald’s guitar and Grover’s sax dominate the wind-blows throughout the track. The following Knucklehead keeps the funk-fusion aesthetics rather high, with again a sold guitar solo. On the flipside, the title track is a smoking hot piece with killer brass section interventions and for once BJ’s string arrangements are discreet enough. The closing album-lengthiest Hydra is probably the weaker track on FSG because it remains within the strict groove boundaries, thus already somewhat overstaying its welcome halfway through. As said above, FSG is a pleasant JR/F album. I’ve seen the album coupled on a 2on1 with his other best work, Mister Magic, so you might want to cast two strikes from one stone.

Sean Trane Second or third (not sure) Grover CTI album, MM is much more aesthetical that it’s King’s Horse predecessor, and can be sometimes a tad demanding. You’ll still find the usual CTI suspects, all gathering at the Van Gelder studios. Long-standing friends and collabs like Bob James and Ralph McDonald are not only playing (keys and percussions respectively) on every track, but they are also writing most of the pieces, with Grover Jr only getting a half-credit.

Opening on the excellent Bob James-penned 12-mins+ Earth Tones, which sometimes approach (didn’t say “got close to”) the experimental dissonance and energy of a Mwandishi album. However, the (thankfully-short) cheesy string arrangements of Passion Flower ruins the mood. On the flipside, the 9-mins title track tilts the balance back on the positive end of the scale, but the soundscapes are not quite as experimental than Earth Tone, and by its end, you’re somewhat happy it segues into the album closer Bob-James-penned Black Frost, another enthralling track that moves funkily into fusion-land.

Clearly Grover’s better CTI album, Mister Magic redeems Washington’s image after the previous King’s Horse album. If you must own only one Grover album, make sure it’s this one, because the upcoming Secret Place will try to take things were MM left things at, but will mostly fail. Easily Grover’s 70’s peak.

Sean Trane First Grover album (as far as I know) on Creed Taylor’s label, and it is a fairly typical CTI product, somewhere close to its often-instrumental smooth jazz reputation. With the usual CTI suspects, like Bob James, Carter, Airto, Gale, etc. you’ll find as well Cobham, Purdie (both on drums), Pepper Adams, Spinozza and quite a bit more lesser-known guests.

To be honest, I never understood how the present album got its reputation as Grover’s best, because it’s often soft jazzy schmaltz, and its title (taken after Aretha’s song covered in second position) is quite misleading as to its contents. Don’t get me wrong, the music in itself is flawlessly played – how could it have possibly been otherwise with such a cast – but the soundscapes coming from the album is more like an insipid soup than a tasty and daring treat. The level of energy simply doesn’t rise above the lethargic (Where Is The Love) and often hovers with the soporific (Body And Soul) and at best/worse with the plain boring (the instrumental cover of Lean On Me). Tracks like Lover Man, despite its Interlude n°2 middle-section, which happens to be the album’s peak of excitement (read mildly interesting). The closing Love Song 1700 quickly ruins the momentum gained, despite gaining a tad of interest with some medieval-baroque folk sequences evolving into a solid fusion in the middle section.

Definitely not essential (CTI Records products are very rarely so). It’s kind of two bad that Grover and the gang waited until the last two tracks to get going. Too little too late to save the album.

js Its interesting how some music ages better than others. Back in the mid-70s, this sort of commercial jazz-funk seemed like a sell-out in the wake of more adventurous fusion from the likes of Miles Davis and Billy Cobham. Going back and re-visiting this music on its own terms today reveals some great funky grooves topped by hot solos, and like a good wine, a lot of this music has somehow improved with age. “Feels so Good” was Grover Washington’s sixth album and it came hot on the heels of his hugely popular “Mister Magic” album with its hit crossover single of the same name. If you are thinking this was a quick knockoff to capitalize on his new found popularity, there might be some truth to that, but they at least took the time to craft a great timeless RnB/jazz album.

If you aren’t expecting some sort of tribute/extension of his “Mr Magic” single on here, then you don’t know the world of RnB. Artists in this genre are encouraged and even expected to reference their previous hits and even build on them with endless variations. Think of how many “Popcorns” James Brown has out there for a good example. The title song, “It Feels so Good”, is Washington’s ‘remake’ of “Mr Magic” and it has very similar verses, choruses and horn breaks, but in typical RnB fashion it also shows off some new tricks with more complicated breaks and a more extended chorus structure. It’s a great song and satisfies his audience’s craving for another “Mr Magic”, only better.

There’s a lot of nice surprises on here. “Moonstreams” is a spacey fusion ballad, almost psychedelic, with a very nice melody and no pop sugar-coating. With a song title like “Knucklehead” you expect some hard funk, and you get it, plus a great screaming electric guitar solo from the usually mellow Eric Gale. All through this album the funk beats are hard and real and unhampered with slick production or compression. Grover plays many excellent solos and shows why he is one of the best in modern tenor players and not too bad on the soprano as well. Some of the choruses have the strings and other discoisms of the day, but its all good once they get back on the verse and ride for another great solo.