Lou Donaldson: Midnight Creeper LP (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)

Blue Note, 1968

Alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson hadn’t recorded for Blue Note since 1963 when he returned to the label in 1967 and began a new chapter in his lengthy career. Sweet Papa Lou had helped lay Blue Note’s soul jazz foundation alongside Hammond B3 organists including Jimmy Smith, Baby Face Willette, and Big John Patton going back to the late-1950s thru the early-60s on standout dates including his own Here ‘Tis, Good Gracious!, and The Natural Soul. Upon his return Donaldson pushed ahead with a new hard-grooving sound on 1967’s Alligator Bogaloowhich was the first of his many collaborations with organ virtuoso Lonnie Smith and also featured the young guitar star George Benson and the impossibly funky drummer Leo Morris (aka Idris Muhammad). On Mr. Shing-A-Ling he added the bluesy trumpeter Blue Mitchell to the mix, and for 1968’s soul jazz manifesto Midnight Creeper he got the whole gang back together for a greasy 6-song set including the jaunty title track, “Love Power,” “Bag of Jewels,” and “Dapper Dan.”