All the King's Horses

Seven tracks of smooth sailing funky jazz fusion on GWJr.’s second solo album, the funk in this record very much present in the exemplary rhythm section, but it’s a funk that’s already travelled quite far from James Brown’s template. With a band expanded to include woodwind, harps, fugelhorns, strings, and ensemble brass, Washington lays down his silky sax licks and lyrical soloing over the elongated funk vamps, which are sumptuous and opulent rather than JBs-style stark and functional. Special mention has to go to bass boss Ron Carter’s endlessly creative b lines, whether wandering around both the melody and the rhythm on the title track, or effortlessly driving slick funkers like “No Tears in the End” and “Where is the Love”: the technique, the tone, the melodic sense are just exemplary. Finely polished soul jazz and jazz funk, peak Grover Washington Jr.