Shirley Scott - Drag 'em Out

Shirley Scott - Drag 'em Out - Prestige 7305 - Original Prestige Pressing, Stereo, Black Label, Bergenfield, NJ Address

Shirley Scott - Organ
Major Holley - Bass
Roy Brooks - Drums

Recorded - ? [not listed on sleeve, but according to most widely circulated Prestige discographies: May 27, 1963, RVG Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ)

Supervision - Ozzie Cadena
Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder
Cover Design - [uncredited]

Released - March 21, 1964

Well changing gears for a bit from Argo and Ramsey Lewis, here's a rather rare and obscure Prestige side by my favorite jazz organist and groove artist Shirley Scott! I've been listening to a lot of Shirley lately, especially her numerous Impulse! sides from 1963-66 (which are forthcoming on this blog, stay tuned) and I've really come to appreciate her understated grace and style on the organ - she for the most part avoids the cheesiness of the typical soul jazz organ combo - very nice - not too busy and showy...

This particular side 'Drag 'em Out' is a bit of a black hole in the Shirley Scott discography - the missing link so to speak as it seems to have dropped off the face of the earth after it was first issued in 1964! According to Doug Payne's wonderful Shirley discography, this side was cut in May 1963 at RVG studios in New Jersey just at the end of her Prestige contract and 2 months before she started recording in earnest for Impulse!. I think this accounts for why this side was largely forgotten when all her wonderful Impulse material started to come on to the market. Nevertheless it's a rather pleasant organ trio date typical of the Prestige sound and its low fi rather unrehearsed production style, however side A does gives her the opportunity to stretch out at length and find a nice soul jazz groove. So all in all , nothing spectacular here, but nice to have an opportunity to hear it after being next to impossible to find. Good restored fidelity off the original Prestige stereo vinyl, cover wasn't in good shape though which I didn't mind.

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