index page for Delicado Album Details
Sophisticated Lou  - Lou Donaldson - 1972
Label: Blue Note/UA BN-LA024-F (USA)
Format: LP
From: USA
My rating: 6/10

Entered: 06/17/2001
Last updated: 05/03/2003

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Hmm... I bought this because it's Lou Donaldson, who did some great and groovy small combo jazz records on Blue Note in the mid-late 60s. He also did some stuff (which I've never heard or seen) on the Cadet label in the late 60s.
Anyway, this is later, but not so late that you would expect it to be bad. I'm not quite sure if it is bad or not. My initial impression is that everything about this record was ahead of its time. The album cover looks like it's from 1982, not 1973. And while the strings and prominent Harp (is this is former label-mate Dorothy Ashby?) are great, the overall feel is a little too smooth; almost as smooth as 80s jazz. I think that for me, if there's fender rhodes piano on a song, the song has to be funky for it to work. And none of these tracks are funky, so they end up sounding slightly schmalzy. Interesting to hear, but I doubt I'll be spinning this one too often.
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