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Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Manfred Mann - "Soul of Mann (Instrumentals)" Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Reissue (Umbrella)


This past year I have been going through an ongoing appreciation for the band Manfred Mann.  Both Paul Jones and Mike D'Abo years.  During the Paul Jones era and in between the two lead singers, the band recorded a series of instrumentals as b-sides and album cuts.  What I find fascinating about the group is that they are jazz players playing pop as well as blues or rhythm n' blues, but I get their very essence is jazz.   Manfred Mann recorded pop music, but it is the tension between the commercial music and their jazz leanings, which gives them an intensity.

"Soul of Mann" is a fantastic compilation of their instrumentals, which are mostly based on pop songs.  Done with excellent jazz arrangements, as well as some originals and their take on jazz artists/composers as Milt Jackson and Nat Adderley.   The album is very "Mod" orientated, and the cool here is essential.   The album fits very much into Milt Jackson world as well as the Mod planet of The Who, The Small Faces, and Graham Bond Organization.  

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