Jimmy McGriff / The Main Squeeze

AllMusic Review by Jason Ankeny

Like so many Jimmy McGriff albums, Main Squeeze percolates but never quite boils over. It's a collection of short, sharp and oh-so-sincere funk workouts performed with both style and skill, the album simply plays its cards too close to the vest, controlling the groove but never giving in to it. Paired with guitarist Jimmy Ponder and altoist Connie Lester, McGriff moves effortlessly from originals ("The Worm Turns") to standards ("Stella by Starlight") to soul-jazz signifiers (Jimmy Smith's "The Sermon"), vamping and wailing but never letting go -- the tracks are more short stories than epic poems, tightly controlled and frustratingly limited in both style and scope.

Jimmy McGriff
The Main Squeeze
Recorded 1974 NYC



Tracklist A1 The Worm Turns A2 The Sermon (Jimmy Smith) 4:22 A3 The Blues Train To Georgia 7:30 A4 Misty (Erroll Garner) 12:36 B1 The Main Squeeze 20:15 B2 GMI 24:02 B3 These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You) (Link, Strachey) 28:54 B4 Stella By Starlight (Young, Washington) 34:25

Jimmy McGriff (og, key) Jimmy Ponder (g) Eddie Gladden (dr) Connie Lester (as) unknown percussion player