Rusty Bryant: Fire Eater
From Fire Eater (Prestige, 1971). Also on Best of Pulp Fusion
Ah, “Fire Eater.” This hellafied monster jam is perhaps the consensus favorite of all the funky Prestige cuts (though, “Kool is Back,” by Funk Inc. is pretty kick ass too). Hard, hard, driving rhythms brought to you by Bill Mason on organ, Wilbert Longmire on guitar, Bryant himself on sax and the incomporable Idris Muhammed (who recorded a few titles on Prestige) on drums. The whole song cooks as hot as the title suggests but the real money shot comes at the end when Idris busts out a blistering 16 (or is it 24?) bar drum solo that closes with an 8 bar killer break. Top 10 all-time funky drum solos, evah.
Tomorrow: Bernard Purdie takes us down the way back home.
chatter