LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Black Drops was Charles Earland's followup to Black Talk, the blockbuster album he rode to fame in the soul-jazz organ wave of the late 1960s and early '70s. Earland brought back Virgil Jones on trumpet. He enlisted his fellow Philadelphian Jimmy Heath for the tenor saxophone role so crucial to organ groups. The little-known trombonist Clayton Pruden was another homeboy. Guitarist Maynard Parker and drummer Jimmy Turner were from Earland's road band. The organist demonstrates his ability to generate power in a number of grooves, from the outright funk of a Sly Stone song to a post-bop composition by John Coltrane. Earland's famous walking-bass pedal technique is much in evidence and his enormous energy is everywhere. He slides into tasty single-note lines on "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," a hit of the day that became a standard. Sing a Simple Song, Don't Say Goodbye, Lazy Bird, Letha, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, Buck Green with Virgil Jones, Jimmy Heath, Clayton Pruden, Maynard Parker, Jimmy Turner