Jack McDuff – The Heatin' System (Cadet, 1972)

Jack McDuff (org, mel); Dave Young (sax); Donald Myrick (sax); Bobby Alston (tr); Marty Roberts (g); Phil Upchurch (b); Sam Jones (b, 2 trks only); Greg Williams (d); Frederick "Derf" Walker (cga)

Recorded in 1972

Not to be confused with McDuff's 1994 release on the Concord label with the same title.


I have a rhetorical question for everyone: Why do so many Jazz aficionados turn up their noses when it comes to Soul Jazz?  

We all love Miles, Monk, and Trane.  And many of us—maybe even most of us—love James Brown, Isaac Hayes, and Sly Stone.  But, for some reason, the music that lives between those two stylistic worlds somehow doesn't cut it.  It strikes me as oddly arbitrary.  And I don't think it makes sense from a musical or historical point of view.  ... Maybe it makes sense from a marketing point of view.  But we shouldn't ever let that sort of nonsense get in the way of hearing music, should we?!?!

Perhaps I'm overstating my case.  Let me just speak for myself.  I've been a jazz fan since the mid-1980s.  For years, I ignored Soul Jazz.  It wasn't any sort of explicit bias. I never said to myself, "I dislike Soul Jazz."  Nothing like that.  It was something else.  Even though I loved exploring the nooks and crannies in the House of Jazz, I rarely found my way into the Soul Jazz rooms.  And the Soul Jazz rooms are big rooms, important rooms, rooms full of wonderful, vital music.

Let me clarify one thing: I'm NOT saying that you should like Soul Jazz.  I am saying that you should listen for yourself.  What's come to be known as the "historical record" or the "received wisdom" is NOT trustworthy.  Go in one of those Soul Jazz rooms, sit down, and listen a while.  I think you'll find that many of the preconceived notions that many of us have carried around for a long time just don't hold up under the light of the music.  I know that's what happened to me.  And why, why, why should we deny ourselves the enjoyment and pleasure of hearing all that glorious music? 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Exhibit A in my case in favor of this strangely overlooked sub-genre in the House of Jazz: Jack McDuff's Heatin' System.  Is there a good reason that this music has never been reissued on CD?  Is there a good reason that no one talks about this record in the jazz history books?  Does it have anything to do with the quality of the music?  I'm biting my tongue, people!  I'm biting my tongue because I'm not going to say one word about this gloriously ambitious, funky, vital, and joyous music.  There's no need.  You have ears!  All I ask is that you listen!  Listen closely and then decide for yourself.

A peek inside the double-LP gatefold: