Candy Girl

That's because, while his photo is on the cover and he wrote and arranged all the material, he is not listed in the credits as pianist, though Frank Abel is (he also plays clavinet and MOOG). Finally setting the record straight for the masses, critic Francis Gooding's brilliant critical liner essay lets us know that Able played Rhodes and clavinet and Waldron played electric Wurlitzer piano as well as Rhodes; it was only the second time in his career he had done so: the first was on 1971's The Call.

Opener "Home Again" commences with a slinky, snaky vamp. Waldron's piano sets out the vamp that is framed by clavinet (sounding like a guitar), a bumping Lafayette Hudson bassline, and hypnotic drumming with funky breaks. Waldron's solo meanders inside the vamp before winding out while digging deep into jazz-funk groove science. The alternate take is more than ten minutes long but offers dazzling drum and percussion breaks that Waldron interacts with flawlessly; his idiosyncratic approach to generating and integrating rhythm remains singular. "Red Match Box" commences with Donny Donable's double-time drumming introduces a whomping funk vamp with Waldron playing lyrically in the upper middle and high registers. Hudson matches the drummer in creating a whirlwind jam that is grounded in blues. When Waldron solos atop the clavinet and up-mixed bassline, he channels everything from modal jazz and soul to rock and mutant hard bop. "Bits and Things" uses a blues cadence atop a flowing funky vamp. Waldron's chord voicings are fat, dirty, and sultry; he solos with intensity and sometimes uses the piano's middle C as a telegraph key. Virtually everything else on this track serves the piano as Able expands the foundation with fat chords and shapes under the solo.

The title track emerges from Waldron's Rhodes as a bluesy, modal midtempo ballad continually washed by whispering cymbals. It's a stunning showcase for the pianist. "Dedication to Brahms," the shortest and final track, weaves together an intro from "My Favorite Things" and Piano Concerto No. 2, closing the set with a Viennese jazz waltz. Source: All MUsic