Refined jazz. Well-crafted rock. Finely honed funk. Swallowing everything, a strong groove begins to run.

Since their formation in 1969, Soul Media has advocated a fusion of jazz and rock. This work, ``In the Groove,'' recorded in 1973, took this route to the next step. Bringing the sharpness of jazz to the fore, blending rock to give it an edge, and injecting funk to exude power and elasticity. They created strong, sophisticated, and simply "cool music" that could not be categorized into existing genres such as jazz-rock, jazz-funk, and fusion.

This work is said to be a response to The Crusaders, which Jiro Inagaki was paying attention to at the time. The aim was on point. With this work, Soul Media acquires a "sophisticated black feeling" and heads toward their final destination, "Funky Stuff."



Text by Yusuke Ogawa (UNIVERSOUND/DEEP JAZZ REALITY)