Bobbi Humphrey
Fancy Dancer (Blue Note LA550-G)

Anyone who is familiar with Bobbi Humphrey's mid-70s work with the Mizell Brothers will not be surprised by this one – lots of smooth grooves and deep washes of sound that carry you away into a parallel dimension with no hard edges and lots of comfy harmonies to just settle into like a waterbed.

As with most Mizell productions, Fancy Dancer subjugates the leader to an overall sound, so Humphrey is in the passenger seat while Larry and Fonce drive. And it's a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, turning due "sky high" at San Francisco and straight on to Pluto.

"Uno Está" has a deep funk bounce that gets you dancing straight off, then into "The Trip" which rings of a blaxploitation sex scene, and of course I mean that in a good way. Onward toward Side 2, with a bit darker edge in some places, but nothing to take your buzz off. "Sweeter Than Sugar" and the splendid, slow-loping get-busy groove of "Please Set Me at Ease" return the car from outer space, park it next to the pool house, and take you inside for some seriously intimate boot-knockin'.

Bobbi's flute and occasional vocal coast atop the Mizell thick orchestral bed of pleasurous sound, which is helped along by players such as Harvey Mason on drums, Dorothy Ashby on harp, and Chuck Rainey on bass. Smooooth, and not in the Kenny G sort of way, but in the "What planet have I landed on, and why are all these beautiful aliens caressing me, no wait, I don't mind this at all" sort of way.

Those Mizell Brothers were truly in their own world, but man, what a world.

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by Dana Delirious