Groove Holmes Finds His Voice in Pacific Jazz
Holmes and McCann built something lean and swinging, no tricks, just straight-ahead soul jazz.
Somethin' Special arrived in 1962 as a solid mid-level Pacific Jazz release—the kind of record that worked for the label's core audience without breaking through to mainstream attention. It didn't make waves at the time, and it hasn't become a cult favorite in retrospect. What it is, plainly, is a tight, unpretentious soul-jazz session where Richard "Groove" Holmes the organist is finally given room to stretch. By this point, Holmes was established enough to lead a date, and he used it wisely.
Les McCann on piano and Joe Pass on guitar form a rhythm section that knows how to stay out of the way. The organ is the instrument here, and Holmes plays it with a blues-soaked directness—not the pyrotechnic runs of a showman, but the kind of playing that sounds like it's coming from somewhere real. Clifford Scott on tenor saxophone anchors the harder tracks, and Ron Jefferson on drums keeps everything moving at a pace that feels easy rather than rushed. There's nothing fancy about the arrangements. The whole record is about pocket and feel.
This is the kind of album that matters most to people building a soul-jazz collection or anyone specifically interested in Holmes as a bandleader. It's not a gateway record—start with a Miles Davis or Horace Silver session if you're new to the idiom. But if you already know and like organ-led soul jazz, this is the sort of session worth tracking down precisely because it makes no claims on your attention beyond the music itself.
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More by Richard Groove Holmes
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