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Soul Call

I currently have three Kenny Burrell albums: this one on vinyl and a 2-CD set of the All Night Long and All Day Long records (initially credited to 'The Prestige All-Stars'). I did also recently acquire one of his '70s LPs - When Lights Are Low, but there Burrell's warm & mellow playing seemed to verge on the cloyingly bland, so I didn't keep it. That's not counting albums where he contributes as a sideman, of which I have at least a few more.

Soul Call (1964), on the other hand, I do very much enjoy. It may not be as inspired as his renowned Midnight Blue LP, released the year before, but it holds together very well. As on Midnight Blue, percussionist Ray Barretto augments the rhythm section with his conga-playing, heard to great effect on the title track, and on 'Kenny's Theme', where there's some delightful dialogue between Barretto and drummer Bill English.

Each side comprises three tracks in a slow-fast-slow sequence. Of the slow pieces, three are standards, the other (the title track) a blues by Burrell. All are smooth and languid, and even the upbeat numbers (one by Burrell, the other courtesy of pianist Will Davis) don't have a sharp edge between them. This is ideal music to accompany a late-evening glass of whisky or rum.

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