3:33⅓ - Lonnie Smith - Apex

When I bought this record I had been looking for out and out funky Lou Donaldson boogaloo type energy and when I didn’t get it I didn’t really go back to the record. Since that time I’ve developed a much bigger appetite for straight ahead feels. I believe I always skew towards the backbeat, towards that funk foundation. It was that groove that first connected my mind to my body musically. But I can now feel more of the body, more of the spirit, more of the energy in a faster swinging selection. I think I spent so long being intimidated about how hard it was for me to understand how to swing as a musician. It meant I couldn’t lean back and just enjoy the music, I was putting myself in it in a fruitless way. Now I feel differently. I can listen to the majesty of the music, the rhythmic variety of the music and most importantly the groove of that setting and connect with it not cerebrally, but with my whole ass. I’ve found a new connection to these feels and these sounds and I love when I can still hear the groove. When it’s Ben Riley behind the kit, you can definitely still hear the whole groove. I played it today on Jazz88.