Up and away

Comes a time when you need to sweep the chimes across your earspace, sit back luxuriously in a bed of strings, let the bongos percolate, and let Mr. Upchurch's guitar be a feather all over your body, as your mind ascends into dream dimensions. Now, if only I could get my 3-week old into that groove, all would be perfect.

Phil Upchurch — Free

Breezin' on

I have nothing to say in my defense. I'm actually posting George Benson. May as well double down on that. Maybe he was responsible for the CD 101.9-ification of jazz, but in truth, he had a pretty great guitar tone, and his voice wasn't half bad when placed in the right setting. Not that any of that could justify his '80s output. Best to vibe on this pair of classix as we head into the weekend.

George Benson — Breezin'

George Benson — Six to Four

Back to life

It's great to get away. Essential, refreshing, re-energizing, but never enough. Time away just reinforces the reality of what you're getting away from. And so you end up staring down the last few moments before returning to your day-to-day. Not that I'm complaining. I'm happy for the day-to-day I get to have today. But still there is a blueness, telegraphed in a face that stuggles to keep its muscles relaxed while concealing anxiety over rejoining its familiar environment. Which makes this as good a time as any to give oneself fully over to the near-ridiculous nitetime soul jazz cues of Mr. Turrentine. Ten minutes to convince you that you are the suave devil you could never really be.

Stanley Turrentine - Sugar

When I make you mine

Like I said, when Marvin's got you in his web, there's nothing to do but lay back and enjoy the vocal silk. I noted that I most enjoy his lasciviousness when paired with fairly dubious claims of piety and vice versa. There's not much God talk in this one; it's all about getting down to business. And what with me getting married in a mere 2 days (!!), I think the tender lechery of this track makes a fine transition to the tenderness of a wedded life.

In nerdier matters, I still can't decide if I prefer the awesomely basic drum machine and plastic guitar picking of the album version (where he does actually thank Jesus for no particular reason) or this more fleshy one here. Why should a man have to choose?

Marvin Gaye - My Love Is Waiting

Our ESP is so complete

So the thing about booty music is that you can almost never enjoy it in terms of its original intent. I'm a big fan of resisting the temptation toward irony, but if you put this kind of stuff on when you bring your date home, well, you're just leading with your chin. That said, I am so into Leon Ware right now. You probably haven't heard much about him, but he's the one who did the music for Marvin Gaye's I Want You—one of the least subtle records you will encounter. Apparently, he was persuaded to give away a completed album of his own to be the backing music for those songs of depravity. But Leon's got too much talent to be a behind-the-scenes guy. This track comes from his own masterpiece, Musical Massage. And that's pretty much what it is.

Leon Ware - Instant Love

A wool sweater of sound

Anyone else feeling literally sick about the Haitian catastrophe? The thought of deaths reaching into the tens of thousands seems somehow less tragic than the fact that the actual number will never truly be known. Hope everyone's sending what they can. Meanwhile, I'd say some serious musical salving is in order.

I can't imagine why someone awesomely named Francesco Puccioni would flatten it to something as boringly middle American as Mike Francis. Maybe it was some small repayment on the Marshall Plan. He was a smooth operator though. And this Italo pop nugget could have been the "Careless Whisper" of an alternate '80s. With an alternate Boz Skaggs on crooner duty. And, bonus for Friday, here's another piece of specialness to love in the actual present. Youtubing it because it's important to visualize the joy.

Mike Francis - Late Summer Night

Øye vay

Autumn sounds remain the order of the day. Maybe it's because I've gotten to see so little of the autumn daylight lately that I've got to feel it by proxy. This one's funky and minimal. Up close and personal. Feels like it should soundtrack slow dancing in the living room. Or a slow evening walk in someone else's city. Too bad the song's all about possessiveness and jealousy. Hit me, Erlend!

The Whitest Boy Alive - Gravity