Hollywood Blues [LP]

Gifted session musician and arranger Johnny Almond played sax in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and worked with Zoot Money, Fleetwood Mac and Martha Velez before arranging the horns on the Rolling Stones' 'Honkey Tonk Woman' in 1969, the same year he formed his own Music Machine band. Hollywood Blues followed on from debut Patent Pending, but this time around Almond assembled a truly stellar cast of American jazz players that included Fats Domino's drummer Earl Palmer, Don Ellis' bassist Ray Neapolitan, Sicilian-American guitarist Joe Pass, soul-jazz organist Charles Kynard, expressive flautist Curtis Amy and Roland Kirk collaborator, VI Redd on additional saxophone, raising the musical bar considerably This LP makes for an intense and diverse listen, beginning with the hard bop of 'It's The Water' and the soulful organ and flute groove of 'Funkyville U.S.A.' and onto more fusion delights such as the beautiful vibraphone piece, 'Agadir Sunset,' the relaxed jazzy blues of 'Slippin Easy,' and the frantic organ jams 'Kwei Ying Fu' and 'Perdido.