Shoogie Wanna Boogie

Prior to releasing this, his second solo album, pianist, producer, arranger, and conductor Matthews was James Brown’s bandleader for some of the Godfather’s most heavy duty funk albums, and this collection of Motown covers and self penned songs that exist somewhere between jazz-funk, fusion, and disco, clearly contain some of that JB funk magic in its DNA. And while a disco jazz funk version of the Temptations’ gently exquisite soul stirrer “Just My Imagination” might sound like a potential musical tragedy, it actually works really well. The whole album bounces along on an intricate interlocking mesh of squelchy synth bass, fluid synth leads, auto wah, envelope followers and phasers, slap bass, wah wah guitar, clipped keys and clavinet, like a better organised Parliament/Funkadelic. Add vocals from a killer trio of Patti Austin, Vivian Cherry, and Gwen Guthrie, superior ensemble and solo playing, and you get the Kudu label’s most party-friendly, disco-fied jazz funk album.