Think!, organist
Lonnie Smith's 1968 sophomore effort (and first for
Blue Note), is easily one of the strongest dates the Hammond B-3 master would produce for the label. Featuring a stellar group of musicians including trumpeter
Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist
David Newman, guitarist
Melvin Sparks, and drummer
Marion Booker, Jr., as well as a three-member Afro-
Latin percussion unit led by
Henry "Pucho" Brown,
Think! is a perfect mix of funky
soul and forward-thinking
jazz. Kicking things off with
Hugh Masekela's instantly memorable
"Son of Ice Bag," both
Sparks and
Newman take searching
funk-flow solos while
Morgan seems to be remembering a certain
Masekela lick he dug. Similarly expansive is the epic and frenetic Afro bliss-out
"The Call of the Wild," which finds
Newman in a heady, bluesy organ jam freak-out set against
"Pucho" Brown's torrid
Latin rhythms and
Sparks' nasty repeto-
funk guitar riff. By the time you get to the title track and realize "Oh, it's that
"Think," all you can do is laugh at the utter hipness of it all and take pleasure in the notion that the album is only half over. [The
Rudy Van Gelder Edition of
Think! features remastered sound by original producer
Van Gelder, significantly improving the overall sound quality over the original release.] ~ Matt Collar
