Melvin Sparks – Spark Plug

AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger

Sparks used a similar soul-jazz approach as he had on his previous Prestige session (Sparks!), revamping the lineup to put Reggie Roberts on organ and a young Grover Washington, Jr. on tenor sax (Idris Muhammad remained behind the drums). He also introduced some compositions of his own this time around; three of the five numbers are Sparks originals. It's more relaxed, funky, occasionally bluesy jazz with guitar and organ to the fore, very much of a piece with the Prestige soul-jazz "house" sound circa 1970. Pleasant fare, although it does tend to fade into suitable background music instead of attracting attention or intense scrutiny. The entire album is available on the Legends of Acid Jazz CD reissue, which also includes everything from Sparks!.

Release Date
 March 8, 1971
Genre Jazz
Styles Jazz Blues    Soul Jazz
Recording Date March 1, 1971
Recording Location Nj
A1 Who's Gonna Take The Weight? (Gene Redd) A2 Spark Plug 9:24 A3 Conjunction Mars 18:15 B1 Alone Together (Schwartz & Dietz) 26:28 B2 Dig Dis Melvin Sparks (g) Virgil Jones (tp) Grover Washington Jr. (ts) Reggie Roberts (og) Leon Spencer Jr. (og) A1 Idris Muhammad (dr)