Black Talk!

Black Talk!
Studio album by Charles Earland
Released	1970
Recorded	December 15, 1969
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Genre	Jazz
Length	38:26
Label	Prestige PR 7758
Producer	Bob Porter
Charles Earland chronology
Soul Crib (1969) Black Talk! (1970) Black Drops (1970)

Black Talk! is an album by organist Charles Earland which was recorded in 1969 and released on the Prestige label. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[6]

Allmusic awarded the album 5 stars with reviewer Scott Yanow calling it "one of the few successful examples of jazz musicians from the late '60s taking a few rock and pop songs and turning them into creative jazz" and stating "Fans of organ combos are advised to pick up this interesting set". ^[4]

The title track is also featured in the 1972 film and its respective soundtrack Fritz the Cat (film).

Track listing

All compositions by Charles Earland except where noted.

1. "Black Talk" – 7:50
2. "The Mighty Burner" – 3:04
3. "Here Comes Charlie" – 8:15
4. "Aquarius" (James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Galt MacDermot) – 8:00
5. "More Today Than Yesterday" (Pat Upton) – 11:10

Personnel

• Charles Earland – organ
• Virgil Jones – trumpet
• Houston Person – tenor saxophone
• Melvin Sparks – guitar
• Idris Muhammad – drums
• Buddy Caldwell – congas (on tracks 2 & 5)

Sampled

Track 4, "Aquarius", was sampled by Nujabes on the 2005 track "Modal Soul" on the album of the same name. ^[7]

References

1. Prestige Records discography accessed March 8, 2013
2. Jazzlists: Charles Earland discography, accessed November 28, 2017
3. Charles Earland discography, accessed November 30, 2017
4. Yanow, S. Allmusic listing accessed March 8, 2013
5. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 67. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
6. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 414. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
7. Whosampled.com, accessed June 19th 2025