Eddie Henderson - Mahal 1978
An excellent document of how the rawer soul jazz spiritualism of the early 70s smoothed out to become the spacey mellow fusion of the late 70s. The players all have their jazz funk chops -- and include Paul Humphrey, Herbie Hancock, Bennie Maupin, and Bill Summers -- and they've taken years at their craft to perfect their interplay in a subtle fashion, without the heavier full-on message of earlier days. Skip Drinkwater's producing the set -- and as on some of his best work from the time, he manages to give the whole thing a smooth sound, yet still retain a lot of the soul. Lots of nice grooves, with almost a Larry Mizell feeling to them.
Bennie Maupin - reeds
Herbie Hancock - keyboards
Mtume - percussion
Hubert Laws - flute
Julian Priester - trombone
Paul Jackson - bass
Bill Summers - drums
Ray Obiedo - guitar
Howard King - drums
John Bowen - keyboards (less info)