Turn This Mutha Out

Home to blissed-out celestial disco/rare groove dancefloor classic “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This,” and heavy-duty funker “Crab Apple,” Idris Muhammad’s fifth solo album was another excellent outing from the New Orleans drum maestro and bandleader. Released in 1977 as the disco sound was on the rise, TTMO is largely an exercise in uniting the rigid 4/4 beat and single-minded dancefloor focus of disco with jazz funk’s sophisticated arrangements and top-level playing. The result is an album of supple, subtle, sinuous, sensuous jazzfunkdisco. It’s mostly dancefloor material, but the brand range of tempo, mood, and feel, along with a  smattering of quality solos, and the inclusion of gorgeous jazz ballad “Moon Hymn” and Afro Brazilian percussion work-out “Camby Bolongo,” all make for a rich and involving album. And of course, it features some of the very finest powerhouse, dead-eye, soul jazz breakbeat drums too.