Stump Juice

Stump Juice reunites Jimmy McGriff with producer Sonny Lester, who earlier helmed the organist's classic The Worm. Picking up right where their previous collaboration left off, this Groove Merchant date boasts all the hallmarks of McGriff's most potent work, serving up a series of lean, mean solos delivered via Hammond B-3 and keyboards. Unlike the majority of Groove Merchant dates from the mid-'70s, Stump Juice forgoes warhorse pop and soul covers in favor of original tunes -- these tabulas rasa are the ideal canvas for Lester's bare-essentials production and McGriff's sinuous grooves, eschewing fusion and disco influences in favor of raw, unadulterated jazz-funk.