Overton Berry Dingles don't got nothin' on these dudes! This privately pressed live set sends shivers down my spine each listen, and I've yet to see another copy since I nabbed it at a cornfield record store for a paltry $4. It's essentially a trio's venture in to jazz funk and Brazilian music with a quasi-lounge feel. The long play is recorded at the Giraffe cafe in Reading, PA sometime in the 1970s. Although Singer/ Pianist Jim Friedman has the dopey Bob Dorough thing going on with his voice, he reiterates his hipness with a Bob James-like scope on the Fender Rhodes. The real hero on this plate, though, is the funky Brazilian stylings of drummer Dave Santana. His kit work is concise, tight, inventive, and powerfully recorded. Tracks like "Out of Square" demos his jazz funk stylings while "Organdy" is a Brazilian-tinged banger. Flip over to side B and the cheesy blues scat of "Sing, Sing, Sing" makes way for a series of drum breaks that can't be messed with, again Santana steals the show. Finally, the absolute gorgeous track, "Greensleeves", an undeniable lost treasure of spacy jazz funk anchored by a tight marching beat and accented by the inventive atmospheric modes of Friedman.
