(Jazz-Funk) Jay Berliner - Bananas Are Not Created Equal - 1972, MP3, 320 kbps

The track I bring you today is something that has been marinating in my crates for a few years now.
I grabbed a copy of Jay Berliner’s ‘Bananas Are Not Created Equal’ a while back after a friend turned me on to the track you see before you today, ‘Stickball’.
I knew Berliner’s name – he is a prolific studio guitarist with a very long and prestigious resume, including stints with Charles Mingus and Van Morrison (Astral Weeks) – but had no idea he had ever done anything this funky.
Recorded in 1972, under the aegis of arranger Wade Marcus (who also wrote this tune) ‘Bananas…’ featured Berliner and a group of studio heavies working it out on a number of contemporary covers (Temptations, Al Green, Bill Withers) and a couple of excellent, funky originals.
‘Stickball’ opens with Ray Barretto’s congas and Berliner’s guitar, then joined by Cornell Dupree on electric sitar and Paul Griffin on clavinet.
The tune has a thick, jazz-funk groove, with some hot soloing (naturally) by Berliner.
The rest of the album is definitely worth checking out if you happen to find a copy out in the field.
-- Larry