The Mean Machine (album)

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The Mean Machine
The Mean Machine (album).jpg
Studio album by
Jimmy McGriff
Released1976
Recorded1976
StudioNew York City, NY
Genre Jazz
Length34:09
Label Groove Merchant
GM 3311
Producer Sonny Lester
Jimmy McGriff chronology
Stump Juice
(1975)		The Mean Machine
(1976)		 Red Beans
(1976)

The Mean Machine is an album by American jazz organist Jimmy McGriff recorded in 1976 and released on the Groove Merchant label. [1] [2] [3]

Jimmy McGriff American organist

James Harrell McGriff was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist and organ trio bandleader.

Groove Merchant was an American jazz and R&B record label during the 1970s. It was run by producer Sonny Lester and distributed by Pickwick Records. Notable artists included Chick Corea, O'Donel Levy, Buddy Rich, Jimmy McGriff, and Lionel Hampton. Lester would later close Groove Merchant and restructure it as Lester Radio Corporation, or LRC, and have it distributed for a time by TK Records. Lester still retains the rights to the Groove Merchant/LRC back catalog and independently distributes them on compact disc.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]

Allmusic's Jason Ankeny said: "Ironically enough, Mean Machine captures Jimmy McGriff at his sweetest. Employing electric piano as much as his signature organ, its grooves are disappointingly tepid, favoring a CTI-inspired smooth jazz approach at odds with McGriff's essential funkiness. Brad Baker's lush arrangements are largely to blame here, evoking the sound but not the kinetic energy of blaxploitation cinema". [4]

Track listing

  1. "It Feels So Nice (Do It Again)" (Brad Baker, Lance Quinn) − 6:04
  2. "The Mean Machine" (Baker, Joe Thomas) − 5:54
  3. "Please Don't Take Me Out" (Baker) − 6:05
  4. "Get Back' (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) − 5:30
  5. "Overweight Shark Bait" (Robert Kriener) − 4:41
  6. "Pogo's Stick" (Quinn) − 5:55

Personnel

Electric piano musical instrument used by many of the great musicians such as Ray Charles

An electric piano is an electric musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of the piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations which are converted into electrical signals by magnetic pickups, which are then connected to an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to make a sound loud enough for the performer and audience to hear. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument. Instead, it is an electro-mechanical instrument. Some early electric pianos used lengths of wire to produce the tone, like a traditional piano. Smaller electric pianos used short slivers of steel to produce the tone. The earliest electric pianos were invented in the late 1920s; the 1929 Neo-Bechstein electric grand piano was among the first. Probably the earliest stringless model was Lloyd Loar's Vivi-Tone Clavier. A few other noteworthy producers of electric pianos include Baldwin Piano and Organ Company and the Wurlitzer Company.

Clavinet musical instrument

The clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord that was invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany from 1964 to the early 1980s. Hohner produced seven models over the years, designated I, II, L, C, D6, E7 and Duo. Its distinctive bright staccato sound has featured most prominently in funk, jazz-funk, reggae, rock, and soul songs.

Synthesizer electronic instrument capable of producing a wide range of sounds

A synthesizer or synthesiser is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals that may be converted to sound. Synthesizers may imitate traditional musical instruments such as piano, flute, vocals, or natural sounds such as ocean waves; or generate novel electronic timbres. They are often played with a musical keyboard, but they can be controlled via a variety of other devices, including music sequencers, instrument controllers, fingerboards, guitar synthesizers, wind controllers, and electronic drums. Synthesizers without built-in controllers are often called sound modules, and are controlled via USB, MIDI or CV/gate using a controller device, often a MIDI keyboard or other controller.

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References

  1. ↑ Payne, D. Jimmy McGriff Discography, accessed April 16, 2018
  2. ↑ Jazzlists: Groove Merchant Records 3300 Series, accessed April 16, 2018
  3. ↑ Jazzlists: Album details, accessed April 16, 2018
  4. 1 2 Ankeny, Jason. Mean Machine – Review at AllMusic . Retrieved April 16, 2018.
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