Rusty Bryant - Fire Eater (2017) [Hi-Res]

A must have – and one of the best jazz funk albums ever on Prestige! The first-ever audiophile-quality release of this unsung monster in the pantheon of exceptional soul-jazz outings from the Prestige catalog, Fire Eater finds Rusty Bryant grooving hard in a combo that featured Idris Muhammad on drums, Wilbert Longmire on guitar, and both Bill Mason and Leon Spencer Jr. on organ.

„Fire-Eater features just four long cuts, all between seven and ten minutes in length, on a session that has Bryant stretching out his meaty tone and improvisations a bit further than usual. This is respectable soul-jazz with a lot of funk, but no fusion, employing the tenor sax-organ-guitar-drums lineup. All of the material was written by Bryant or members of the quartet, and favors a laid-back groove that's on the slow side, except for "Mister S.," on which guitarist Wilbert Longmire has a particularly engaging solo.“ (Richie Unterberger, AMG)

Rusty Bryant, tenor saxophone
Bill Mason, organ (tracks 1, 2)
Leon Spencer, organ (tracks 3, 4)
Wilbert Longmire, guitar
Idris Muhammad, drums

Recorded February 22, 1971 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs
Engineered by Rudy Van Gelder
Produced by Bob Porter

Digitally remastered