The Soulful Strings - The Soulful Strings Play Gamble-Huff (1970) LP

The Soulful Strings Play Gamble-Huff is the final album from soul-jazz group The Soulful Strings, a Chicago based instrumental group who released six studio albums and one live album from 1966-1970, One of the grooviest albums ever cut by Richard Evans’ Soulful Strings, and a tasty batch of tracks written by Gamble & Huff.
“Soulful Strings Play Gamble-Huff” may not sound like the most exciting concept; ‘don’t Gamble and Huff normally have string sections?’ you may sardonically ask yourself. Well prepare to be “Evansed” (somewhat similar to being “Stepneyed”, incidentally) because this album is an absolute gem.
“Play Gamble-Huff” is a huge leap over the early, exciting Soulful Strings albums. The covers are so much more than delete-one-string-section-substitute-another predictable tropes. The songs are pushed so far into baroque pop territory they barely resemble soul or jazz anymore, the only reminders being Morris Jennings’ “I can’t be anything but funky” drums and the occasional blasts of fuzz guitar.