Whereas Stan Getz reluctantly bowed to the inescapable truth that his Bossa Nova repertoire elevated him to international Top 40 crossover status, Herbie Mann sold his soul to Old Nick. Swallowing the whole pop enchilada, Mann unashamedly played to the gallery, producing albums one suspects purchased, in the main, by those who preferred their jazz lite (very lite) and only picked up Mann discs (and a bottle of Blue Nun) so as to appear hip. If there was any weak link, it was Mann himself whose thin-sounding flute appeared bloodless when compared to that of Roland Kirk. However Mann's success was mainly down to the often high-calibre musicians he surrounded himself with. If Today! with its pointless stabs at two Lennon & McCartney compositions ‘Yesterday’, ‘The Night Before’ and a couple of Ducal compositions doesn't quite cut it – doesn't cut it at all. Muscle Shoals Nitty Gritty is a far superior proposition sounding for the most part like the soundtrack to an early 1970s hip US TV cop show.