It's back to 1964 for the music of soul-jazz organist Baby-Face Willette who released Behind the 8 Ball for Chess's Argo imprint. Willette, who hailed from Chicago, never achieved the fame of other jazz organists like Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and Brother Jack McDuff.
Willette recorded just four albums under his own name -- two for Blue Note in 1961 and two more for Argo three years later. After that he pretty much disappeared from the jazz scene and died in obscurity in 1971. He was just 37 years old.
Willette displays his gospel roots on this track from Behind the 8 Ball, a version of the traditional Amen. He's accompanied by guitarist Ben White, saxophonist Gene Barge and drummer Jerold Donovan. The MP3 is taken from a 45 rpm single.
Amen
Also from Behind the 8 Ball is Just a Closer Walk, this time from YouTube. The audio quality is very good and appears to come from a Japanese CD reissue.
Both of Baby-Face Willette's Blue Note albums are readily available on CD but his Argo recordings are almost impossible to obtain on vinyl or CD at a reasonable price. The good news is that all four of his albums are available as digital downloads.
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