A Black Man's Soul in Bloomington, MN

When he was out on tour in 1969 with his regular gig,
the Ike & Tina Turner Revue
,
Ike Turner
found the time to cut the instrumental album
A Black Man's Soul
. Whenever he had some spare time he would drag the band into a local studio and lay down tracks, resulting in these 12 funky
soul
jams that sound like they were lifted from the
soundtrack
to a
blaxploitation
film. The band is tight and laid-back at once, with horns at the forefront most of the time.
Turner
came up with some fine grooves like
"Thinking Black,"
"Getting Nasty"
(with
Billy Preston
on piano),
"Scotty Souling,"
"Nuttin' Up,"
and the monumental
"Funky Mule."
However, the record lacks
's usual fire and flair and ultimately is too polite and slick to be very memorable (
"Funky Mule"
aside). ~ Tim Sendra