The Dave Davani Four

Davani's solo 1960s album (billed to "the Dave Davani Four) was a very respectable instrumental soul-jazz effort, with Davani's Hammond organ backed by the sort of sleek electric guitar and sturdy rhythm section one would have expected from mid-'60s Prestige soul-jazz sessions. Davani was a little (but not much) more pop-slanted than the average such Prestige act, particularly on the cover of "Big Boss Man," which with its harmonica and tambourine shows the influence of mid-'60s British R&B-rock.

For the most part, however, the album presents covers of American jazz tunes by Miles Davis (an especially dynamite version of "Milestones"), Big John Patton, Cannonball Adderley ("Sack O' Woe," also covered by Manfred Mann around this time), Nat Adderley ("Jive Samba"), and Dizzy Gillespie ("The Champ"). Davani also covered "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and James Brown's "Night Train," and penned a couple of his own tunes, including the title track, which has a more taut and urgent beat than most of the soul-jazz done by his American counterparts. The entire album is contained on the 2002 CD Fused!: The Swinging Soul Sound of Dave Davani, which adds a couple of 1965-1966 singles and four previously unreleased outtakes from the same era.