Different Rooms
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He’s best known for running the sharpest horn section in soul behind James Brown, but he has also directed musical operations for Van Morrison. Here, Ellis is joined by a young German team to breeze through some “smunk” (as he terms smooth funk).
Slippery grooves propel Marvin Gaye’s I Heard it through the Grapevine and Stevie Wonder’s Boogie on Reggae Woman. Just when you think it’s all getting too Smooth FM, the brass injects some muscle or Ellis’s soloing takes an oblique turn. In nostalgic mood, the saxophonist ends with some trenchant blasts on On a Slow Boat to China, aided by the beefy trombone of Joe Gallardo. They could give easy listening a good name.
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JOHN BUNGEY