The very definition of ‘70s soulful jazz, Where I’m Coming From has all the hallmarks of Prestige Records at its finest, with an all-star cast of sidemen (Welcome back, Idris Muhammed! Hello to Madlib’s uncle, Jon Faddis! Greetings to the funky flute of Hubert Laws!) recorded at Van Gelder’s studio and packed with down and dirty grooves top to bottom.
From the opening cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” through to the low-slung original headnodder “Where I’m Coming From,” with stops along the way for dips into the catalogs of Curtis Mayfield (“Give Me Your Love”), Marvin Gaye (“Trouble Man”) and the Four Tops (“Keeper Of The Castle”), Leon Spencer’s rippling organ lines sear this prime example of groove jazz.
First wide reissue since the album’s release in 1973
This 180-gram reissue of Where I’m Coming From! was cut from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI, and comes packaged in a tip-on jacket.
Leon Spencer was an American jazz organist who played with the likes of David Newman Melvin Sparks. Spencer recorded for Prestige in the early 1970s with Buddy Caldwell, Idris Muhammad, and Grover Washington Jr.
His recording career was mercilessly brief (roughly 1968-76), concentrated most heavily in 1970 and 1971, when producer Bob Porter was helping birth that confluence of jazz, R&B and rock that yielded a new kind of funk that wouldn't be appreciated until the 1990s when it was revived and revered as what became known as "rare groove" and "acid jazz."
Track Listing:
Side A
1. Superstition
2. Give Me Your Love
3. Keeper Of the Castle
Side B
1. Trouble Man
2. The Price A Po’ Man’s Got to Pay
3. Where I’m Coming From
