Les McCann Layers (Red Smoke Vinyl)

Starting in the late 60s, jazz music started to take an interesting, and very soulful turn. Influenced by the funk of the day - from James Brown to Sly & The Family Stone - the art form, generally not considered a funky musical genre, started to stretch out and fit into the times. It was a fertile era, and to reciprocate, funk, soul and groovy rock fans started to discover accomplished, open-minded jazz artists like Les McCann, whose tunes made sense to their ears, even if bebop hadn’t grabbed them.

This incredible album - long a favorite of forward-thinking hip-hop producers and DJs - washes over listeners from the first chords of the incredible album opener, “Sometimes I Cry,” led by McCann’s array of analog synthesizers and backed by an excellent rhythm section (Donald Dean on drums; Ralph McDonald on percussion and Jimmy Rowser on bass).

Truth be told, highlights are hard to pick out, but fans never go long without returning to the fuzzed-out funk of “The Harlem Buck Strut Dance,” “Let’s Play (Til Mom Calls)” and “It Never Stopped In My Hometown.” These keyboard-drenched grooves sat alongside record stacks brimming with Stevie Wonder, Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye’s 70s soul and, of course, Miles Davis’ space funk experiments of the era (like Bitches Brew).