More Soul is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Crawford. Atlantic Records released the album in 1961. More Soul is Crawford's first album as a leader, recorded on October 7, 1960 while he was the music director in Ray Charles' group. Charles provided the arrangement for the track "The Story."
Critical reception
Thom Jurek of allmusic gives the album a three-and-a-half star rating (of a possible five), noting that "[t]he material is swinging, front-ended, soul-inflected hard bop with tunes arranged by Crawford" and that "Crawford's tone as a soloist is sweet yet edgy and raw, full of emotion and warmth." The Penguin Guide to Jazz describes the album as "sonorous and churchy in the Brother Ray mode…" and gives the album a three-star rating (of a possible four).
In his five-star 1961 review for DownBeat, Ralph J. Gleason praised the album, saying, "I played it more than 20 times in the first 48 hours it was in my possession." He called it "one of the very best small-band albums in years and by all odds the best one this year."
Track listing All titles arranged by Hank Crawford, except where indicated.
Personnel Hank Crawford – alto saxophone, piano David "Fathead" Newman – tenor saxophone Leroy "Hog" Cooper – baritone saxophone Phillip Guilbeau – trumpet John Hunt – flugelhorn, trumpet Edgar Willis – bass Milt Turner – drums
Production Nesuhi Ertegun – producer Tom Dowd – engineer Phil Iehle – engineer Gary Kramer – liner notes Lee Friedlander – photography Loring Eutemey – cover design
References