Texan guitarist Melvin Sparks made three albums for Prestige Records in the early 70s. Sparks was the first and maybe the funkiest, with drum warrior Idris Muhammad providing a solid but agile rhythmic backbone to four funk jazz tracks and one deftly swinging soul-jazz track, I Didn’t Know What Time It Was. The choice of material — pop songs Spill The Wine and Charlie Brown along with Rodgers and Harts’ I Didn’t Know What Time It Was — are all given a thorough drenching in church-flavoured Hammond organ and the jazziest of funky drumming over which Sparks and his band happily exchange solos.

– Harold Heath