Lou Donaldson had been a Blue Note stalwart since his earliest recordings in 1952 and over the following 15 years produced numerous classic dates spanning bebop, hard bop, and soul jazz. But when the alto saxophonist hooked up with the funky drummer Leo Morris (aka Idris Muhammad) for 1967’s Alligator Bogaloo it began a run of great groove-oriented albums including Mr. Shing-A-Ling, Midnight Creeper, and 1968’s Say It Loud. Filling out the band were Donaldson’s fellow Blue Note labelmate trumpeter Blue Mitchell, organist Charles Earland, and guitarist Jimmy Ponder on this emphatic session which opens with a firmly in-the-pocket version of James Brown’s “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud).” Side 1 also includes deeply soulful versions of Gershwin’s “Summertime” and Ellington’s “Caravan” followed by the hard-grooving numbers “Snake Bone” and “Brother Soul” which fill out Side 2.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.