Melvin Sparks ”Sparks!”

Melvin Sparks

”Sparks!”
( LP Prestige Records, 1970 )
Catalog # PR 10001

Tracklisting:
1.Thank You
2.Spill The Win
3.I Didn’t Know What Time It Was
4.Charlie Brown
5.The Stinker

Personnel & Notes:
Virgil Jones (tp)
John Manning (ts)
Houston Person (ts -4,5)
Leon Spencer Jr. (org)
Melvin Sparks (g)
Idris Muhammad (d)
Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ, September 14, 1970
Ripped from original vinyl by Mr.Blax

Review
A solid soul-jazz outing that looks to commercial material for the bulk of the set, but doesn’t unduly compromise itself in a pop direction. Sparks was one of the bluesiest soul-jazz guitarists, and his tart tone shares space here with deep grooves from Leon Spencer on organ. The brass, handled by Virgil Jones (trumpet) Houston Person (tenor sax), and John Manning (tenor sax), is usually secondary to the guitar-organ riffs. Sparks remakes Sly Stone’s “Thank You,” and the Coasters’ “Charlie Brown,” and Eric Burdon & War’s “Spill the Wine” as lengthy instrumentals — commercial choices, to be sure, but executed with relaxed grit. Rounding out the program is a Rodgers-Hart cover and a Leon Spencer original. The entire album is available on the Legends of Acid Jazz set reissue, which also includes his 1971 follow-up, Spark Plug.
By Richie Unterberger (AMG)

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