I don’t recall where I picked this gem up but I know it was about fifteen years ago and I paid under ten dollars for it; I’m cheap. Every now and then my frugal lifestyle pays off when getting dusty in the crates. I had no idea who Weldon Irvine was but I have a soulful connection with certain album art. This is one of those covers that upon seeing leaped directly into the keep pile. I didn’t listen to it for quite awhile after buying it. I go through digging binges. Records are my ice cream on the bad days. There was a record show years later and a friend of mine who was digging within ears reach said, “Yo, you got this?” – holding up a copy of Cosmic Vortex – “Yes” I do. “Wow! I’ve never seen this record anywhere else.” When I got home I dug through where I thought it was to make sure I hadn’t given it away in a purge but the back of my mind was calm knowing you’d have to rip that album art from my dead fingers. I found it and put it on while placing sleeves on all my new digs. None of it sounded familiar and I wasn’t sure I’d ever listened to it. How? The intro track, Love your Brother, is miles away from the space jazz I expected. It’s funky with a soul-jazz undercurrent. The second track, Walk that Walk Talk that Talk, starts off with bass and Rhodes, my two favorites. The drums strike and bounce along for another funky tune. How did I sleep on this? Listening on, the entire album maintains a very funk first momentum with just enough soul and jazz living in the shadows that you can get up and dance or sip a whiskey neat being completely content doing either. Another must-have in my opinion.
• Released 1974 on RCA Victor
Review by: Def Wax
Def Wax 