The highlight of this latest trawl through Axelrod’s finest work between 1967 and now is Cannonball Adderley’s “Tensity”, which, apart from inventing trip hop, features Adderley’s most impassioned alto solo on record. Elsewhere, we hear subtly uneasy orchestral pieces (“The Sick Rose,” “The Divine Image”), some fine pop-soul from Lou Rawls (“Dead End Street”), a beyond-bizarre silence-filled cover of “Good Day Sunshine” by one Ray Brown, and a couple of ominous pieces conducted by The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’s David McCallum, one of which, “The Edge”, turns out to be the basis for Dr Dre’s “The Next Episode”. Anxious but compelling music.
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