Soul jazz/funk/pop: “Bus Ride”

John Manning (tenor sax), Reuben Wilson (organ), Melvin Sparks (guitar) and Tommy Derrick (drums). From the album Blue Mode (1970) by Reuben Wilson.

Reuben Wilson is an American jazz organist who plays soul jazz, funk and pop, and has been an acid jazz pioneer. Of the many organists who arose in the late 1960s, he was one of the few lucky ones to sign with Blue Note Records. From 1968 to 1971 he recorded five albums that, although didn’t have much acceptance at the time, showed a funk mastery that helped redefine conventional soul jazz, and which were later rediscovered during the resurgence of soul jazz and the arrival of acid jazz. Born in the town of Mounds, his family moved to Pasadena when he was five years old, where he shared studies with future jazz musicians Herb Ellis and Bobby Hutcherson.

Wilson started playing piano, but when he saw a Hammond organ he changed instruments. His main influence was Jimmy Smith, who during the 1950s and 1960s translated the language of jazz for the Hammond B-3 and created soul jazz. For some time he was interested in boxing, but when he was seventeen he travelled to Los Angeles and married a nightclub singer, who introduced him to several professional musicians. So he decided to return to music, playing in quartet with saxophonist Clifford Scott, guitarist George Freeman and drummer Eddie Williams at the Caribbean club.

He continued working in Los Angeles for several years until he left for Las Vegas, but was unlucky, turned back and befriended organist Richard “Groove” Holmes, from whom he learned to improve his style. In 1966 he went to New York, where he founded the soul jazz trio Wildare Express, with which he performed on the East Coast and in Detroit for six months. Then he started using bebop and hard bop elements, which attracted more important musicians, such as guitarists Grant Green and Sam Rivers or drummer Roy Haynes.