Moon Rappin'

This 1970 release is surprisingly adventurous for the generally gritty and soulful organist Brother Jack McDuff. It features guitarist Jerry Byrd, Bill Phillips on tenor sax and flute, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Joe Dukes, plus a mystery trumpeter and baritone saxophonist. The opening track, “Flat Backin’,” starts out as pure Southern soul, with a deep Davis groove and some swirling organ from McDuff, but the guitar pans all around the stereo field as the music grows more abstract and psychedelic. Things get even weirder after that; “Oblighetto” features an unnamed female vocalist uttering wordless cries, and “Made in Sweden” slides so far sideways it’s almost free jazz. This is a genuinely surprising album by someone as seemingly predictable as Brother Jack McDuff.