Richard "Groove" Holmes - Soul Message

Holmes burst onto the music scene in the early 1960s. His sound was immediately recognizable in the upper register, but even more so because of his virtuosity in creating, undoubtedly, the most rapid, punctuating, and pulsating basslines of all the jazz organists.


His breakout album, though, was Soul Message recorded back in Jersey at the incomparable studios of Rudy Van Gelder. Soul Message provided the major crossover hit of Misty, as well as the first cover version of Horace Silver's classic, Song for My Father. The CD opens with the Holmes theme, Groove's Groove, which can be found on at least three or four other Holmes' issues, but done first here and getting the session off to a relaxing toe tapping start. Holmes then tackles Clifford Brown's Daahoud, done in a different key signature. Errol Garner's timeless Misty is given a more upbeat reading than Garner's version. It caught on in a big way launching big sales for the original issue of this album. Horace Silver's Song for My Father is given a Latin treatment and Gene Edwards on electric guitar takes center stage.

The one true ballad on Soul Message is the gorgeous 1946 penned The Things We Did Last Summer, and Homes brings out the sweet sentiment of this tune. Concluding this CD is the title track done gospel style. Groove's Soul Message may be the one essential Holmes CD to own.

Personnel
Gene Edwards -Guitar
Richard Holmes - Hammond B-3
Jimmie Smith - Drums

Tracks
01 Groove's Groove
02 Daahoud
03 Misty
04 Song For Father
05 The Things We Did Last Summer
06 Soul Message

Richard "Groove" Holmes - Soul Message