The "commercialization" of jazz during the 60s and the 70s was reflected in three major labels: Blue Note, Prestige & Verve. These labels had managed to sign a bunch of great jazz musicians who, in turn, made albums that promoted a new style in jazz, more bluesy, soul and "poppy" to appeal to a wider audience. That was a good move, guys! Along with the eclectic bop genre, those new jazz approaches made their way to a less musically-inclined audience, thus making jazz less elitistic and more understandable. Above all, the "soul-jazz" genre brought back the dance element that jazz had been deprived of by the eclecticism of be-bop and hard-bop.
Houston Person was one of those cats, a straight-forward sax player who had recorded for Prestige and later began his 30-year collaboration with the late Etta James. His Prestige albums contain all those elements that led to the emergence of the term "acid-jazz": passionate bluesy solos, dancefloor aesthetics and electric instruments. "Goodness!" was his most successful album.
Overall, the six tracks featured in this release are simple yet soulful cuts and straight-forward enough to be enjoyable to everybody, regardless of their musical knowledge. And this is how music should be, IMHO.
Let the music fly you away!!!
(vinyl rip-320kbps)
