Feed Me Your Love / Funky Nassau [7"]

Roy Ayers & The Soulsociety - Feed Me Your Love / Funky Nassau [7'']

Though the mega-ensemble Soul Society didn't make mainstream waves, they did stake a firm flag in the moonstone of jazz-funk with the full-length LP Smiling Faces from 1997, which stood out for its album-length Roy Ayers feature for the recored's en`rety, assuring good vibes throughout. Ayers vibrates quadrophonically beside an otherwise secure, integrated groove and backbeat, resounding firm yet alien, the mix making as much obviousness of his feature as of his comradely fit with the group. Roy Ayers & The Soulciety return with a `ght 7'' instrumental pairing: 'Feed Me Your Love' and 'Funky Nassau'. The grooves lean deep into Ayers' classic vibes-driven funk and soul, legng the melodies breathe without vocals, a nod to the smooth, jazz-inflected surfaces he's been sanding down since the 70s. 'Feed Me Your Love' is a loosely interpreted instrumental version of the post-disco delight that is Sylvia Striplin's vocal original, while 'Funky Nassau' spins the classic Caribbean, Ray Munnings / Tyrone Fitzgerald rhythm into a stripped-back, danceable jam, courtesy of The Soulsociety, in-house band at Soulciety Records. The project revisits both tracks with insa`able hunger for its irresis`ble combo of chord Rhodes, fretless bass, wah-tar, and two-feel drumming, courtest originally of no other session band than the Fatback Band. The flip, meanwhile, 'Funky Nassau', strips down the 1970 funk anthem by 'The Beginning Of The End' and spits out a knohy but thoroughly enjoyable dancing-shoelace-tangler.