The best of Ern’s sixties LPs. A lovely bunch of rocksteady instrumentals, featuring a cool and deadly Summertime, bumping versions of Hold Me Tight and Flamingo, a moody Story Book Children, some bluesy honky-tonk, and the far-eastern stylings of Sling Shot, to close.
Unmissable LP from 1973; round about the same time as Coffy.
Murderously pimped versions of Ain’t No Sunshine and Papa Was A Rolling Stone open and close. There is a slinky, bubbling go at Aretha’s gorgeous Day Dreaming, and the classy, tricky jazz-funk of Cocoa Butter. Not to mention the Pan-African title track: stone-cold-killer, energising, utterly essential Roy Ayers funk.
Cornerstone, fully-matured Ubiquity runnings from 1976, with classics like the killer Searching, The Memory, One Sweet Love to Remember, and the laid-back, atmospheric title track. Beloved by the hip hop nation; flipped by luminaries like A Tribe Called Quest, Dilla, Dre, and Common.
The LPs are sky blue vinyl, in an alternative cover.
His swansong, in 1962, setting his warmly bluesy, swooping beseechments within the new jazz bossa sound. With Willie Bobo on drums. Kenny Burrell is superb.