Doug Johns: Scrumpt

If you're in the mood for some jazz/funk/fusion straight out of the interrelated realms of the Brecker Brothers, Tower of Power, and the Yellowjackets, you won't find anything better than "Scrumpt," the opening track on Cleveland-based Doug Johns's second self-produced CD. Johns is an imaginative electric bassist with a seemingly unlimited arsenal of fresh licks and nuanced grooves, but the large band arrangement of "Scrumpt" also allows the horns to exuberantly expand upon Johns's insistently funky impetus. This CD's title, Pocket Fulla Nasty, couldn't apply more than to what Johns & Co. achieve here.

Swaggering horn vamps initiate the festivities, with Joe Miller's piercing trumpet intensifying the groove. The key soul-saturated theme that follows has punched-out riffs capping its unfettered message. (Kudos to Kenny Anderson, who apparently multitracked his three saxophones.) Johns's meaty basslines during this opening section, as well as his preaching, vocalized wah-wah effects during his solo, are wonderfully realized; and note the delightful sighing horn riffs during his improv. The reappearance of the introductory arrangement is invigorating, and the biting concluding tag is undeniably appropriate and satisfying. "Scrumpt" is a 3:26 miniature masterpiece of the genre. If the title isn't short for "scrumptious," well, it should be.