Reuben Wilson (April 9, 1935 – May 26, 2023) – Got To Get Your Own (1974)
An ultra-funky, bona fide jazz-funk-soul masterpiece that featured a stellar backing lineup including Pee Wee Ellis, Seldon Powell, Richard Tee, and Bernard Purdie.
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Reuben Wilson is a Hammond organist and songwriter whose late 60s/early 70s Blue Note albums were soul jazz classics.
Wilson was born in Oklahoma, but moved to Pasadena, CA as a child and was raised there. He began to teach himself to play the piano during high school, where his fellow classmates included future vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson.
When he was only 17, Wilson relocated to Los Angeles and married a nightclub singer. He eventually took up the organ, and played L.A. clubs for several years. In late 1966, he split for New York, and played with heavyweights like Grant Green, Roy Haynes, and Sam Rivers before being signed to Blue Note on the strength of a demo he sent them.
He cut five albums for Blue Note from 1968 through 1971. Grant Green and trumpet player Lee Morgan appeared on Love Bug, his second LP, released in March, 1969. The title track from his fourth studio album Set Us Free (1971) was an Eddie Harris composition, and “We’re In Love” was notably sampled by DJ Premier for Nas’ “Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park)” off his debut LP Illmatic (1994).
After his Blue Note contract expired, Wilson switched to Groove Merchant, where he released two more soul-jazz records, The Sweet Life (1972) and The Cisco Kid (1973). Both contained mostly covers, but also a few Wilson-penned originals like “Creampuff,” “Snaps,” and “Groove Grease.”
By the following year, Wilson had again changed labels. Chess released his new single “Got To Get Your Own” (1974), an ultra-funky, bona fide jazz-funk masterpiece that featured a stellar backing lineup. It included James Brown collaborator Pee Wee Ellis on sax, who co-wrote and arranged “Cold Sweat” (1967) and “Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" (1968), Seldon Powell on flute, Richard Tee on keyboards, Garnett Brown on trombone, and the legendary Bernard Purdie on drums.
“Got To Get Your Own” became his biggest-ever single, and 1975 was featured as the title track to his final LP release of the 70s. It was issued on Chess’ sub-label Cadet and he and his backing band were billed as Reuben Wilson and The Cost Of Living.
The entire record was an eargasmic jazz-funk-soul experience, with other highlights like the sexy jam “Back Rub,” and the killer funky “Tight Money” (released as the B-side to “Got To Get Your Own”). It should have been huge. But Chess was in poor financial shape at the time and went out of business later in 1975.
The album was consigned to the cut-out bins until the late 80s, when it was re-discovered by DJ’s and beat junkies. The acid jazz movement also brought renewed attention to Wilson’s earlier soul-jazz records.
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