Houston Person never gets mentioned with the all time greats, it's a shame because Person is a fine Soul Jazz player in the vein of Stanley Turrentine.
Person has a sweet tone, but he does tend to harden it up some, so you never would confuse him with the sugar man.
I think one of the problems soul jazz artists like Person had, was the hard ass jazz critics of the day, they just couldn't stand anything that didn't fit into that "other musicians playing for other musicians box".
Soul Jazz was about connecting with the people, and these records sold very well, and you could have very likely heard a track like "Cissy Strut" in a rib joint in the deep south, they probably wasn't hearing to much free jazz in those venues.
You get danceable boogaloo's and medium blues, and sentimental ballads, and all played top notch. Sonny Phillips on Hammand organ plays flawlessly if not anonymously, but who cares.
I like the guitar, organ, and sax sound, this is up beat happy music, that anybody should enjoy adding to their collection. "If I Ruled the World"turned out to be a pretty nice ballad, if just a tad over done, it only lasted 3 minutes and then it's back to cookin'."On the Avenue" is a nice upbeat blues, and the side 2 opener "Wadin" struts its self along perfectly in a medium tempo blues way.
This vinyl copy cost me only $4.99, beat that! for a 40 year old classic soul jazz record? If you can't get into this album, you might not have a soul, and that's the Truth!
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