Earl Klugh — Finger Paintings,Heart String, & Wishful Thinking

Here from BGO Records is a two-CD set bringing together three late 70’s/ early 80’s albums from lite-Jazz fusion/ smooth jazz guitarist Earl Klugh. Over the two-disc set we get a great selection of mellow 'n' tuneful jazz-pop- which features touches of disco, funk, soul and occasional world music flavours.

The two-CD set is presented in BGO's house style jewel case and card slip packaging. This takes in a glossy twenty-page booklet, which features full album tracklisting/ credits, and a ten-page write-up about the albums and Klugh by Jazz journalist Charles Waring.

African American guitarist Earl Klugh released his first self-titled album LP on EMI in 1976 , and has since gone onto release around thirty albums- with twenty-three of these appearing in the jazz charts. The three albums here are 1977’s Finger Paintings,  1979’s Heart String, and 1984’s Wishful Thinking- and it’s fair to say it’s a largely mellow, smooth and lulling ride- with Klugh elegant and accomplished playing blending perfectly with the lite fusion/ pop-jazz backing.

First up on disc one we have Finger Paintings- this was Klugh third album, and it appeared in March of 1977 on Blue Note. The album takes in nine tracks in all, with a total runtime of just over thirty-six minutes. We kick-off with jiving Latin fuelled funk-meets-urgent Spanish guitar tones of “Dr Macumba”. As we move on we come to the wonderful mellow and lush instrumental balladeering of “Catherine” with its blend of soothing 70’s pop strings, warming piano twinkling, and of course Klugh guitar playing which is both harmonically and emotionally charged.  We have the light jiving vibes and lulling grooving strings of “Summer Song” featuring some wonderful smooth-yet-energetic pop-jazz playing from Klugh.

Coming up next on disc two we have 1979’s Heart String- this was Klugh firth album, and it once again appeared on Blue Note. The album moves from funk-meets-jazz guitar grooving guitar of “I’ll See You Again”, onto smoothly bounding bass lines and elegantly Latin guitar smoothness of “Spanish Night”. There’s the cascading strums meet warming harmonic darts of “Waiting For Cathy”,  or the soothing soul-pop groove meets warming jazz guitar of “Rayna”.

Moving onto disc number two and we 1984’s Wishful Thinking, and this album saw him moving back to EMI once more. The album brings together eight tracks, and it’s a wonderfully mellow and lightly grooving selection of pop-jazz/ lite fusion. We go from the wonderfully titled  "Tropical Legs” with its blend of light soul, pop, & rock favours, and Klugh’s guitar- which goes from jazz-funk to sassy blues rock bound. We have richly cascading jazz guitar meets swooning- yet- playful pop strings of “ A Natural Thing”. There’s the upbeat big band meets rich twanging jazz guitar tones of “Take It From The Top”, or lightly jaunting and jiving vibes of “The Only One For Me” with rising pop bass, lifting key work,  sassy sax touches, and of course Klugh’s harmonically bright-yet-vibrate guitar tones.

If you enjoy wonderful played-yet- always tuneful, and largely very mellow lite fusion/ pop-jazz- then I do believe you will find a lot to like here. Once again, another nicely presented reissue from BGO, and if you want to pick up some more of Mr Klugh work- the label has released another two double-disc sets, each taking in another three albums from his back catalogue.