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8/11/2004

Vincent Abbate

Don't let the funereal chords that open The Royal Sessions fool you. Monster drums kick in a moment later and then a funky phat bass, a wah-wah guitar, and finally, some luscious horn lines, and from this point forward you know you're in for a smooth, feel-good ride. Organist Ronnie Williams, trumpeter Marc Franklin, and sax player Jim Spake solo over an infectious rhythm on the nearly six-minute-long "Coming Home Baby," the first cut on perhaps the stone grooviest record to land in my CD player all year.

Who are the Bo-Keys? They're a group of Memphis pros who entered Willie Mitchell's Royal Studios last April with a great batch of (mostly) instrumental originals and carefully chosen covers like Jimmy Smith's "Back At The Chicken Shack" and James Brown's "Doin' It To Death." The core group of Scott Bomar on bass, Willie Hall on drums and percussion, Skip Pitts on guitar, and the aforementioned Williams on Hammond hooked up with horn men Spake and Franklin and percussionist Hector Diaz and what emerged is Memphis Soul heaven. They should be selling this one at the door to that city's Rock and Soul Museum, to visitors who've just been turned on to the rich legacy of Stax and Hi and Booker T. and Isaac Hayes. Like what you heard inside? The Bo-Keys is where Memphis Soul is at today.

I could roll out the impressive list of recording credits the individual members of the Bo-Keys have on their resumés, or tell you where this record is jazzy and where it's at its funkiest and who delivers the finest solos. But The Royal Sessions isn't some classroom exercise; it's a frat house bash in phosphorescent colors. It's a funky good time, as one band member sings on the meaty James Brown cut. It's the Bar-Kays meet Art Blakey meet Willie Bobo at the Hi-Tone and it's dark and sweaty and that cold one in your hand is going down nice as you patch into the sway of the bodies around you. So get your butt off the desk chair, get down to your record store and make this disc a part of your collection. And keep it close to the stereo next time you want to get some fannies moving.