Monk Higgins – Dance To The Disco Sax Of Monk Higgins (1974/2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Monk Higgins – Dance To The Disco Sax Of Monk Higgins (1974/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 37:11 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: R&B
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Buddah

Milton Bland (October 3, 1930 – July 3, 1986), better known as Monk Higgins, was an American saxophonist born in Menifee, Arkansas.

Higgins’s biggest hits were the instrumental tracks “Who Dun It” (which reached #30 on the US R&B chart in 1966), and “Gotta Be Funky” (#22 on the US R&B chart). His instrumental “Ceatrix Did It” (1967) was the sign-off song for soul DJ Dr Rock on WMPP, East Chicago Heights, Illinois. Higgins worked with a variety of musicians including Gene Harris, Bobby Bland, The Chi-Lites, Junior Wells, Freddy Robinson, Muddy Waters, Cash McCall, Etta James, Blue Mitchell and The Three Sounds. His track “One Man Band (Plays All Alone)” was featured on the breakbeat compilation album, Ultimate Breaks and Beats.

Late in his career, Higgins performed with his band The Specialties as the featured artists at the television actress Marla Gibbs’s Los Angeles, California supper club, known as Marla’s Memory Lane Club.

Dance to the Disco Sax of Monk Higgins isn’t so much a title as it is a desperate plea, and if your feet comply, they deserve some kind of good Samaritan award — subjugating the orchestral soul arrangements and deep funk rhythms that typified the arranger’s previous LPs in favor of slick disco and saccharine smooth jazz, it’s a shameless bid for crossover success that lands with a sickening thud. Even with a stellar backing unit including pianist Joe Sample, bassist Wilton Felder, and drummer Paul Humphrey, the music fails to deliver one single moment of pure, uncut funk, which is about as difficult as falling out of a boat and failing to hit water. Thanks to its long Humphrey drum break, “One Man Band” has long been subject to sampling, but the rhythm functions far better outside of its intended context — here it just goes on and on, as if the drummer is so busy thinking about the new bathroom this session will fund that he forgets where he is and what he’s doing. If only listeners were so lucky. – Jason Ankeny

Tracklist:
1-1. Monk Higgins – Showdown (04:36)
1-2. Monk Higgins – I Believe In Music (03:36)
1-3. Monk Higgins – Until You Come Back To Me ( That’s What I’m Gonna Do) (03:46)
1-4. Monk Higgins – I Found Sunshine (04:23)
1-5. Monk Higgins – Make It Good (03:29)
1-6. Monk Higgins – Love’s Theme (03:26)
1-7. Monk Higgins – Soul Train Theme (03:39)
1-8. Monk Higgins – Me And Baby Brother (03:20)
1-9. Monk Higgins – Space Race (03:26)
1-10. Monk Higgins – One Man Band (Plays All ALone) (03:24)

Download: