Brian Auger and Julie Tippetts Encore 1978

Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll Tippetts made some great music together in the late sixties on two records by Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger and the Trinity, Open in 1967 and Streetnoise in 1969. Much of the best of those records (and a bunch of fine Auger singles from the sixties) can be had on Get Auger-Nized (The Mod Years) released in 2004 on vinyl. A two-CD set of Get-Auger-Nized The Mod Years/The Jazz Years includes The Mod Years on one CD and a second CD with Auger's Trinity and Oblivion Express bands featured. 

In 1978, they got back together for this delightful one-off. Some of the quirky-ness of their earlier work is smoothed out on this one, but they sound great together again. A fine reading of Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood showcases Tippett's stellar vocals, as do Jack Bruce's Rope Ladder To The Moon, Steve Winwood's No Time To Live, and two Al Jarreau penned tunes, Spirit and Lock All The Gates.Auger's own Git Up and Future Pilot are strong, and Julie gets soulful with the Staples' Freedom Highway.

No one sounds quite like Julie Driscoll Tippetts. I read a description of her as mid-way between Annie Lennox and Nina Simone, and that's probably as close as I could come. Her idiosyncratic styling reminds of Simone, and her clear, forceful voice rivals Lennox. But comparisons inevitably fail, because Julie is such a unique, soulful talent.

Brian Auger's Hammond B3 work is as hot as anyone's and his penchant for jazz-rock fusion makes him a singular force. I reviewed the Oblivion Express classic Closer To It! here.

Encore is one of those great finds in a used record bin.

Brian Auger's Oblivion Express Closer To It! 1973

Smack dab on top of it is more like it. Driving rhythms powered by drums and congas almost a la Santana, solid bass and rhythm guitar, Auger's smoking hot organ, multitracked vocals; it all adds up to some fine jazz-soul-rock fusion.

Whenever You're Ready kicks things off with hippy vibe lyrics, multiple hot organ solos, and a spooky percussion and moog break. Happiness Is Just Around The Bend follows with spritely pop-jazz featuring Auger on electric piano. Light On The Path is a driving jazz-rock instrumental that cooks.

On Gene McDaniels' Compared To What the funk serves this band well and they jam it out for eight minutes. Auger's vocals work especially well. Marvin Gaye's Inner City Voices is soulful and funky again, and Voices Of Other Times, featuring a spacey vocal and at long last, a lead guitar break, closes out the record.

As jazz-rock fusion goes, it is both smoother and better than most. Auger was always closer to jazz than most rock organ players, and forty years later he's still touring, playing this material live with his most recent incarnation of the Oblivion Express.