CD Review

In the seventies when Herbie Hancock ventured into the uncharted territory of disco funky jazz it must have seemed incredibly new and modern. This was jazz punctuated by funky organs and thick bassy grooves, but still uniquely jazzy. It was full of tight improvisation and all kinds of swing. Ron Levy’s Wild Kingdom is acid jazz at its best: the future of jazz in the seventies, now gone the way of the platform shoe and the plastic leather jacket.

Thankfully the jam scene has provided a new venue for the resurgence of this interesting style of music and we are lucky to have it back. Ron Levy’s Wild Kingdom is on the cutting edge of 1970, and Voodoo Boogaloo is a triumph of the acid style of jazz that Herbie Hancock gave up on years ago. Everyone that plays here is a real craftsman, but some are standouts. Melvin Sparks, “Sax” Gordon and Karl Denson are absolute virtuoso performers. It’s like listening to Mozart play the harpsichord. Ron Levy provides a fine platform for this soul filled style. The songs feel both modern and retro-cool, and they really swing and groove.

Consider that today we are thirty five years in the future of 1970. In many cases we have the technology we had once only dreamed of yet we employ it in such strange and different ways. Perhaps even stranger: we have great musicians making this amazing funky music and it has found a home in the young jam band scene. Thank you Ron Levy. This stuff makes for great groove.