Willie Weeks
This album is my favorite album of all time. I discovered it completely by accident back in the early 90's when I was first getting into the sampling thing. I had begun plundering the cheap bins at various second hand and Salvation Army type stores to look for interesting material. I picked up this album along with a couple of dozen others. I think I chose the albums by their covers alone. I had no idea what the music sounded like. When I started to go through the albums to look for samples, I was completely blown away when I put this on. I couldn't believe I had never even heard of Donny Hathaway. Not only is this my favorite album but, in my opinion, I believe it to be one of the best live albums ever made. There are so many things I could say about this album but I will just keep it simple and say this: please, just listen to it. If you enjoy soul, funk, blues, gospel and jazz you will not be disappointed.
By this point, some may be wondering why the title of this post is "Willie Weeks". Willie Weeks is the bass player that played on this album. He is also the bass player that plays my favorite bass solo of all time - on this album! The solo is on the last track on side two. The song is called Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything) and it is an almost fourteen minute long instrumental jam that features solos by most of the musicians in the band. The last solo is left for Willie Weeks. It begins at 8m 6s. He starts really simply and then begins to build and build to an unbelievable climax at the end. This solo is so funky and melodic that it kills me every time I listen to it. Another thing I love about the solo is that, right at the end when the band kicks back in to go through the final changes, Willie Weeks kicks it into overdrive and plays some even crazier lines! Here is the song:
