Larry Young's Mother Ship: Out of this World Organ Jazz

Mother Ship is easily one of Organist Larry Young's best albums of his career. The music was recorded in 1969, but not released until 1980.

The album was one of the victims of Blue Note's Liberty Records buy out, Liberty shifted away from experimental style jazz and was more about commercialized music.

The track "Visions" seems 5 years ahead of its time, sounding more like something Return to Forever would have done.

Mother Ship is some serious Post bop/ with a light touch of  jazz rock fusion music.

I was first turned on to this music when Blue Note released it in CD form as one of their Connoisseur's series in 2003.

I then purchased a vinyl copy a few years later: Sound-wise, they both are OK, but there is this light distortion/compression in the back ground, or maybe brittleness on the CD version.

When I purchased the vinyl reissue that distorted sound was still there. That pressing plant is known for cheap sounding records though, this vinyl copy is a digital copy to vinyl perhaps?

It is apparent that this budget reissue must have used the same 2003 mastering as on the CD.

 Don't get me wrong, the distortion does not ruin the sound.... but I do wonder if the original 1980 issue has this distortion?

 If anyone has a CD and the original vinyl, please let me know what you think after a comparison?

In closing, I highly recommend the music, if you like free bop and if you haven't heard much Larry Young, you'll need all of his Blue Notes as a good start.

Larry Young Contrasts: A Funky Post Bop Vibe

Larry Young was one of the best organists, and one of the few that didn't sound like Jimmy Smith or Richard Groove Holmes.

Young didn't stick with the tried and true formula of soul jazz & funky beats.

Contrasts features a couple of rarely heard, yet more than competent tenor men Herbert Morgan and Tyrone Washington.

Contrasts from 1967 is unusual in that I get this post bop mixed with funk vibe, with a touch of Latin rhythm.

 The opening track "Majestic Soul" features a bogaloo droned beat with congas played by Stacey Young, the track really does have a funky vibe, but would not bore the modern jazz aficionado.

Contrasts in its entirety is much like that opening track, with its post bop foundation, yet it does have this underlying current of R&B or funk that is right there swirling around the music.

Tenor Saxophonist Tyrone Washington should also get a special mention here, he is always stellar on the few sessions he played on, including his only Blue Note session as a leader Natural Essence.

Larry and his Wife Althea also do a duet "Wild is the Wind" works quite well, and actually is better than you might think. In fact, it turned out to be a real special surprise on this fantastic album. Enjoy that below.