“Mama Wailer” was the second release on Creed Taylor’s Kudu imprint and is a funky soul-jazz classic. Lonnie Smith is joined by a group of like-minded players (including an in-the-groove Grover Washington, Jr. on tenor) and the music is dirty low down jazz-funk that never strays too far from it’s improvisational roots. The group’s take on Sly and The Family Stone’s Stand is the centerpiece of the album and took up all of Side 2 on the original LP. After this recording, Lonnie Smith disappeared from the scene for awhile, he wouldn’t make another record until “Afrodesia” showed up on the Groove Merchant label in 1975.
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Released 1971 : Kudu Records : Catalog # KU-02
Players:
Lonnie Smith – Organ, Clavinet
Grover Washington, Jr. – Tenor Sax
Danny Moore – Trumpet
George Davis – Guitar
Jimmy Ponder – Guitar
Ron Carter – Bass
Billy Cobham – Drums