01	You Talk That Talk	Gene Ammons w/ Leon Spencer					06:05
	02	Trouble	Stanley Turpentine & Shirley Scott					05:58
	03	The Mighty Burner	Charles Earland					03:07
	04	This'll Get To Ya	Wilus Jackson with Jack McDuff					10:13
	05	Funky Mamma	Lou Donaldson w/ John Patton					09:08
	06	Easy - Don't Hurt	Ike Quebec w/ Freddie Roach					06:06
	07	Jumpin' The Blues	Jimmy Smith					05:28
	08	Troubled Times	Wilus Jackson w/ Carl Wilson					04:53
	09	Blues In Maude's Flat	Grant Green w/ Jack McDuff					15:01

Various Artists
Have You Had Your Vitamin B-3 Today?
(Label M)
US release date: 13 March 2001


by Ben Varkentine

This latest compilation from Joel Dorn and Label M is a collection of organ jazz mostly from the early 1960s. It is not, to my ears, as successful as the label's earlier tribute to the flute in jazz, but it makes a perfectly pleasant accompaniment to your workday. Or play. One strength of the album as a collection is in it's sequencing, a rarely commented on part of album packaging. The idea here is to start slow, build to a climax, and then cool down, just like...ahem...just like...well, let me put it this way: There's a painting of a sexy nurse in heels, stockings and a lace thong on the cover; what do you think they're suggesting for an activity to accompany listening?

Part of the problem is that some of the tracks are as much if not more tenor sax showcases than B-3 organ. Well, that's a not a problem, exactly - the organ-tenor duet was an integral part of the sound, after all - but it does give one pause on an album named after the latter instrument.

Tenor players Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt conduct a conversation in stereo, one to a channel, on "You Talk That Talk" as Leon Spencer Jr. trundles along on organ. Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott, the then-married couple on tenor and organ, respectively, give us the fevered "Trouble". But the first completely successful piece, to my mind, is Charles Earland's "The Mighty Burner", which swings like a club - and hits as hard. Willis Jackson's "This'll Get To Ya" is meant to be a feature for Jackson's tenor and the bluesy organ by Jack McDuff, which it is, especially the latter. But I was also impressed by Bill Jennings's guitar. Lou Donaldson's "Funky Mama" from 1962 reminds me of the horns-and-organ sound Nelson Riddle would refine four years later for Frank Sinatra's Strangers in the Night album. Which ought to remind us that "fusion" need not refer only a mix of jazz and rock. Jackson's second cut on the CD, "Troubled Times", featuring Carl Wilson on the organ, on the other hand, reminds us of the bad side of fusion, that it led to the pointless noodling of "progressive rock". But this is a CD that can truly be said to have saved the best for last; the blend of Grant Green's guitar, Yusef Lateef's sax, and McDuff's organ on Green's "Blues In Maude's Flat" excels all others.

Organ Jazz, some 30-odd years after it's heyday, stands as a precursor to the fusion that would change both rock and roll and jazz beginning in the 1970s. As a generation came up both of jazz players who liked a little funk, too, and rock and roll players who were beginning to see the limitations of their genre, furtive agreements and exchanges were made. Hammond organ and congas, meet the tenor sax and trumpet. You can't do all of this, and you can't do all of that, but lets us see what you can do, they said.


Reviewed by Jeff Morris

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Various Artists
Have You Had Your Vitamin B-3 Today?
Label M
1960-1971 Time: 66
Musicians: Performances by Gene Ammons & Leon Spencer, Stanley Turrentine & Shirley Scott, Charles Earland, Willis Jackson & Jack McDuff, Lou Donaldson & Big John Patton, Ike Quebec & Freddie Roach, Jimmy Smith, Willis Jackson & Carl Wilson, Grant Green & Jack McDuff.

Songs: You Talk That Talk, Trouble, The Mighty Burner, This'll Get to Ya, Funky Mama, Easy - Don't Hurt, Jumpin' the Blues, Troubled Times, Blues in Maude's Flat.

Rating:

Sometimes it just isn't possible to separate a magnate and his music. I have written probably dozens of reviews of recordings and reissues put out by former 32 Jazz brains and current Label M brawn Joel Dorn and I don't think I've been able to get through a single one without invoking his name.

Jazz needs characters like Joel Dorn, and Have You Had Your Vitamin B-3 Today? is classic Dorn indeed: from the ridiculous title to the tacky cover art--a Raymond Labato pin-up of a barely clad nurse--to the producer's own Hunter S. Thompson-style anecdotes in the liners. (Imagine a prim lady at her local Tower, turning this baby over: "I didn't know Esquire started making CDs!") It's all in extremely poor taste, of course, but it's Dorn's hubris that makes him such an asset. Maybe the ballsiest thing he's done here is release a CD of good 'n' groovy B-3 sounds bereft of any sort of ill-advised and incredibly lame "acid jazz" tie-in. For that alone, jazz needs characters like Joel Dorn. Oh yes.

Vitamin B-3 is one of those cross-label affairs that usually require darn near heroic effort on the producer's part to hack through the red tape, but it pays off. The greatest purveyors of the greasy, barroom organ quartets that enjoyed so much popularity in the sixties were Prestige and Blue Note, and the compilation recognizes them with four and five tracks, respectively. Of particular interest are two cuts by the nearly forgotten, down and dirty tenor Willis "Gator" Jackson (who's been 'rescued' by Dorn before) with "This'll Get to Ya" and "Troubled Times," and Ike Quebec and his slow, understated blues "Easy - Don't Hurt" with Freddie Roach manning the organ. Roach is another one whose name is seldom brought up anymore, despite a spate of top-notch Blue Note LPs under his leadership between '62 and '64. "Easy - Don't Hurt" comes from the 1961 Quebec date It Might as Well Be Spring, not currently in print.

The rest of Vitamin B-3 takes fewer chances--a couple of Stanley Turrentine tracks, one with then-wife Shirley Scott ("Trouble"), and the fleet cover of Arnett Cobb's "Jumpin' the Blues" from Jimmy Smith's well-known Midnight Special. A lot of this stuff ought to be in most collections anyway--you don't get serious about the B-3 without Charles Earland's Black Talk (and "The Mighty Burner," with its rousing trumpet solo by Virgil Jones). But that's okay, because Vitamin B-3's just a tidy little package with a simple goal, not so much a tribute to the B-3 as a broad, blunt survey of the sound of the era. The Gene Ammons-George Freeman duel on "You Talk That Talk" (with an affected echo that only somewhat diminishes the fire) might bear scarcely a note from organist Leon Spencer, for example, and Carl Wilson is rightfully a non-entity on the Grant Green closer, "Blues in Maude's Flat," even when the spotlight's right on him.

It would be a mistake to call this music unsophisticated, but it is uncomplicated. There are those who still believe the tenor-and-organ genre to be dated and crassly commercial, but at its heart it was and remains as pure as anything. All blues. Dorn knows this, and Vitamin B-3, with all its naked women and breathless liner notes, is the result; unfettered by posturing or PC, just an ecstatic, charismatic, slick-as-all-hell little Joel Dorn of a CD.

JM





Have You Had Your Vitamin B-3 Today?
Various | Label M


At the height of the soul jazz movement heavy hitter independent labels like Prestige and Blue Note were scrambling to cash in on the craze. Turned out in cookie cutter batches organ combo records only the relative skills and tastes of the musicians to differentiate them. The inevitable critical backlash that ensued swindled Soul Jazz out of its potential reputation as a true art form. Hindsight has leavened some of the stigma, but there are still many listeners who balk at the idea that groove-driven music deserves a serious place in the jazz canon. Even so soul jazz (and the B-3 sound that spawned it) is still a popular idiom. The high profile careers of groups like Soulive and Medeski, Martin and Wood and the wealth of reissued albums from the 1960s and 70s offer easily accessible evidence. This recent collection curated by Label M guru Joel Dorn is a beautiful cross-section of those kinds of classic dates.

What better way to start off a first rate groove feast than with the iron chef of soulful souffles himself Brother Jug in close collusion with his most famous foil Sonny Stitt. The two tenors hit the ground running on the call and response changes of "You Talk That Talk" though there's a strange echo that clings doggedly to Stitt's lines. Fellow Chicagoan George Freeman takes a concise solo and the tune dutifully disperses. Husband and wife team Turrentine and Scott ring in next with a well-roasted chestnut from their seminal Blue Note summitNever Let Me Go. Major Holley's supple upright handles the bass line freeing up Ms. Scott to fill in with chain of greasy flourishes. Later disc highlights include Quebec's "Easy- Don't Hurt" a lush vamp driven burner equipped with a title that doesn't mince words and the concluding organ jam to end all jams Grant Green's quarter hour "Blues In Maude's Flat."

Joel Dorn's successful ploy to plunder both Prestige and Blue Note vaults for this selection of cuts virtually guarantees the caliber of grooves on hand. Cherry picked and hand sequenced there isn't a single one that disappoints. Anemic organ comps may abound, but this one has some real meat on the bones and is perfect for freeway listening with the windows rolled down and the speakers cranked up.

~ Derek Taylor




Track Listing: Gene Ammons & Leon Spencer- You Talk That Talk/ Stanley Turrentine & Shirley Scott- Trouble/ Charles Earland- The Mighty Burner/ Willis Jackson & Jack McDuff- This'll Get To Ya/ Lou Donaldson & John Patton- Funky Mama/ Ike Quebec & Freddie Roach- Easy-Don't Hurt/ Jimmy Simth- Jumpin' the Blues/ Willis Jackson & Carl Wilson- Troubled Times/ Grant Green & Jack McDuff- Blues In Maude's Flat.

Personnel: Gene Ammons- tenor saxphone; George Freeman- guitar; Sonny Stitt- tenor saxophone; Leon Spencer- organ; Idris Muhammad- drums; Stanley Turrentine- tenor saxphone; Shirley Scott- organ; Major Holly- bass; Al Harewood- drums; Ray Barretto- conga, tambourine; Charles Earland- organ; Virgil Jones- trumpet; Houston Person- tenor saxophone; Melvin Sparks- guitar; Buddy Caldwell- conga; Willis Jackson- tenor saxophone; Jack McDuff- organ; Milt Hinton- bass; Buck Clarke- conga; Alvin Johnson- drums; Lou Donaldson- alto saxophone; John Patton- organ; Tommy Turrentine- trumpet; Grant Green- guitar; Ben Dixon- drums; Ike Quebec- tenor saxophone; Freddie Roach- organ; Al Harewood- drums; Jimmy Smith- organ; Kenny Burrell- guitar; Donald Bailey- drums; Carl Wilson- organ; Frank Robinson- trumpet; Leonard Gaskin- bass; Joe Hadrick- drums.

Style: Funk/Groove

Review Published: April 2001





Have You Had Your Vitamin B-3 Today?
Various | Label M

It's too bad thatHave You Had Your Vitamin B-3 Today?wasn't made on vinyl. Then it could be featured in John Corbett's "Vinyl Freak" column inDown Beat,wherein he rediscovers quirky platters with offbeat, outrageous or abstruse cover art.

Label M realizes the value of that long-lost art form--the album cover--and has gone to great creative lengths to revive the ability of album packaging to grab potential customers' attention in the stores. Obviously, the cover ofHave You Had Your Vitamin B-3 Today?was designed to visually shout at shoppers as they walk by. The CD's case showcases the drawing of a seductive "nurse" in white thong panties, thigh-high hose and red high heels. The music within the CD coincides with the creative peak of vinyl album covers and with the heyday of suchPlayboytypes of fantasies.

Once you're past the cover, what do you find?

Well, it turns out that producer Joel Dorn has put together his own brand of vitamin B-3 that involves the irresistible appeal of the Hammond B-3 with the sax-and-guitar funk that accompanied it.

Attaining remarkable cooperation among record labels, Dorn was given permission to reissue some of the best jazz organ recordings of the 1960's (plus one in 1971). B-3 experts Bob Porter and Pete Fallico made the recommendations. All of the tracks were recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's famous Englewood Cliffs studio, where he offered keyboard players exceptional instruments for use. (Hank Jones raves about Van Gelder's Steinway grand piano.)

Encompassed in this appreciation of a decreasingly recorded jazz form is a virtual who's who of top saxophonists and organ players. And the tracks include memorable performances by some of the masters of the genre.

The opener is a perfect example of that. Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt create statement and response from the very beginning of "You Talk That Talk" before they get into a tenor sax battle of the titans. The next burner is just as remarkable: the unforgettable teaming of then-husband-and-wife Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott. Each with their distinctive voices, the two of them belie the mistaken impression that sometimes organ-and-sax groups forever connoted loudness and overstatement. Quite the opposite is true on Turrentine/Scott's "Trouble," whose theme is reminiscent of "Fever."

Saxophonists who haven't remained in the public consciousness, such as Ike Quebec, fall squarely within the tradition as well. Milt Hinton's bass lines introducing Quebec's "Easy - Don't Hurt" provide an unaccustomed acoustical presence in the group, even though organ quartets often rely on the bass pedals to walk the music.

Lou Donaldson's "Funky Mama" is absolutely consistent with the synthesis of funk and humor that became his trademark a few years before his boogaloo sound took off. And Jimmy Smith's version of "Jumpin' The Blues" with Kenny Burrell and Stanley Turrentine on Smith's Blue NoteMidnight Specialalbum remains a classic.

TheVitamin B-3album issoinspiring that the mind wanders to think of other great pairings that could appear onVitamin B-3, Part 2:Rahsaan Roland Kirk with Rahn Burton, Mel Rhyne with Johnny Griffin, Hank Marr with Rusty Bryant, Johnny "Hammond" Smith with Oliver Nelson, Jimmy McGriff with Bill Easley, Richard "Groove" Holmes with Teddy Edwards, Wild Bill Davis with Johnny Hodges, Don Patterson with Sonny Stitt, and Dr. Lonnie Smith with Lou Donaldson or a young Joe Lovano.

Therealquestion for hoped-for Part 2 would be: What will the nurse administering the vitamins look like?

~ Don Williamson




Track Listing: You Talk That Talk, Trouble, The Mighty Burner, This'll Get To Ya, Funky Mama, Easy-Don't Hurt, Jumpin' The Blues, Troubled Times, Blues In Maude's Flat

Personnel: Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Stanley Turrentine, Houston Person, Willis Jackson, Ike Quebec, Yusef Lateef, tenor sax; Lou Donaldson, alto sax; George Freeman, Melvin Sparks, Bill Jennings, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, guitar; Leon Spencer, Shirley Scott, Charles Earland, Jack McDuff, John Patton, Freddie Roach, Jimmy Smith, Carl Wilson, B-3 organ; Virgil Jones, Tommy Turrentine, Frank Robinson, trumpet; Major Holley, Milt Hinton, Leonard Gaskin, bass; Al Harewood, Alvin Johnson, Ben Dixon, Donald Bailey, Joe Hadrick, drums; Idris Muhammad, drums, vocals; Ray Barretto, conga, tambourine; Buddy Caldwell, Buck Clarke, conga

Style: Mainstream

Review Published: April 2001



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