LARRY WILLIS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Japanese imprint Ultra Vybe is midway through a seven-inch series focusing on some of the many gems tucked away on albums released by legendary U.S "funky jazz" label Groove Merchant in their early 1970s. Their latest picks are taken from pianist Larry Willis's 1973 set "Inner Crisis". You'll find the album's title track - a warm, mesmerizing and surprisingly melancholic fusion of restless organ lines, jammed-out electric piano solos, classic jazz horns and fussy grooves - on side B, with "Out On The Coast" on the A. This jaunty jazz-funk affair is far more hard-hitting, thanks in no small part to some rousing sax lines, blistering funk drums, razor-sharp jazz guitars and a seriously heavy bassline.