Boogaloo Joe Jones

The Soundwaves Vinyl Of The Week is No Way! by Boogaloo Joe Jones.

 

I picked up this Vinyl Me Please vinyl edition reissue a little while ago. If you like jazzy instrumental guitar music with a blues twist as much as I do, you can’t pass this one up. It’s got pocket, grit and groove!

 

Originally released in 1971 and recorded by the master, Rudy Van Gelder, the band kicks off the album by tearing through the upbeat title track, “No Way” in which all members take turns rippin’ before covering the Ray Charles ballad “If You Were Mine”. Side A finishes off with a sentimental down tempo bluesy cover of the classic track “Georgia On My Mind”.

 

“Sunshine Alley” has some killer organ by way of Sonny Phillips and danceable tenor sax lines featuring Grover Washington, Jr. The rhythm section featuring Jimmy Lewis on bass and Bernard Purdie on drums provides a relentless, "stanky" foundation that makes it impossible to sit still.

 

Boogaloo Joe’s guitar takes the vocal lines to the popular Jackson 5 track, “I’ll Be There” before closing out the album with "Holdin' Back”, a standout example of how to blend bluesy improvisation with a groovy backbeat.