Ever since I first acquired a vinyl of TheBlues Message back in the 1960s, I’ve had a warm affection for Texas born/LA-based tenor sax stylist Curtis Amy who, with his wife, singer Merry Clayton, proved to be a most welcome first call fixture around the area’s many studios and night spots. Of the half-dozen excellent albums Amy made for Pacific Jazz, this release is truly an abundance of riches in that it parcels together three of them –Katanga was still in the future, so too was his position as leader of the Ray Charles Orchestra, work at Motown and contributions to Carole King’s Tapestry. Until then Amy surrounded himself with the pick of the finest local talent that included vibes players Ayers and Hutcherson who, along with fellow Texans The Jazz Crusaders plus Harold Land, initiated a particular strand of confident hard bop funk that was distinguishable from that purveyed on the East Coast. Throw in drummer Frank Butler, ex-pat Victor Feldman on piano, trombonist Roy Brewster and a repertoire that for the most part comprised Amy’s own quirky originals (‘Annesome’, ‘Bobbin’’, ‘A Soulful Bee, A Soulful Rose’ etc) and it doesn‘t really get much better.