Virgo Red

VINYL FORMAT. Exact repro reissue, originally released in 1973. Amazing cover art from Push Pin Graphic designer Haruo Miyauchi. Despite contributions from an abundance of soul-jazz greats including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Owens, and Garnett Brown, Virgo Red is the most stripped-down and nuanced of Roy Ayers's Ubiquity LPs. Its sinuous funk grooves are first and foremost a showcase for the intuitive interplay of Ayers and electric keyboardist Harry Whitaker, whose Fender Rhodes fill-ins orbit Ayers's vibes solos like a planet circling the sun. The material is a crazy quilt of righteously soulful originals and deeply funky covers spanning Leroy Hutson's soul classic 'Giving Love' to Stories' soft-pop smash 'Brother Louie' to absolute treacle like The Poseidon Adventure's 'The Morning After' - by all rights it shouldn't work, but as the astrological overtones winding through Virgo Red attest, sometimes the stars align.