Harvey Mandel – Righteous (1969)

Harvey Mandel (born March 11, 1945, in Detroit, Michigan, United States) is an American guitarist known for his innovative approach to electric guitar playing. A professional at twenty, he played with Charlie Musselwhite, Canned Heat, The Rolling Stones, and John Mayall before starting a solo career. Mandel is one of the first rock guitarists to use two-handed fretboard tapping. Mandel was born in Detroit, Michigan but grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

His first record was the album Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite’s Southside Band in 1966 with Charlie Musselwhite. Described in 1997’s Legends of Rock Guitar as a “legendary” album, it was influential in bridging the gap between blues and rock and roll, with Mandel’s “relentless fuzztone, feedback-edged solos, and unusual syncopated phrasing.”

He relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, performing often at a club called The Matrix, where local favorites like Jerry Garcia or Elvin Bishop would sit in and jam. He then met up with pioneering San Francisco disc jockey and producer Abe ‘Voco’ Kesh (Abe Keshishian), who signed Mandel to Philips Records and produced his first solo album, Cristo Redentor in 1968. Mandel recorded with Barry Goldberg on a bootleg from Cherry Records and recorded with Graham Bond. He cut two more solo LPs for Philips, Righteous (1969) and Games Guitars Play (1970), followed by three more solo albums for the independent record label Janus in the early 1970s, which included Baby Batter. (by Wikipedia)

And this is his second solo-album for Philips Records:

Not as consistent as his debut, due to the presence of a few pedestrian blues-rock numbers. The better tracks, though, show Mandel continuing to expand his horizons with imagination, particularly on the cuts with string and horn arrangements by noted jazz arranger Shorty Rogers. Harvey’s workout on Nat Adderley’s “Jive Samba” is probably his best solo performance, and an obvious touchstone for the Latin-rock hybrid of Carlos Santana (whose own debut came out the same year); on the other side of the coin, “Boo-Bee-Doo” is one of his sharpest and snazziest straight blues-rockers. (by Richie Unterberger)

As Mr. Ärmel wrote in this blog a year ago: “One of the most underrated guitar players ever.” …

Harvey Mandel with Bob Hite (Canned Heat), 1970

Personnel:
Duane Hitchings (organ)
Eddie Hoh (drums)
Harvey Mandel (guitar)
Art Stavro (bass)
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John Audino (trumpet on 07.)
Mike Barone (trombone on 07.)
Buddy Childers (trumpet on 07.)
Gene Cipriano (saxophone on 07.)
Stan Fishelson (trumpet on 07.)
Victor Feldman (vibraphone on 07.)
Plas Johnson (saxophone on 07.)
Pete Jolly (piano)
Bob Jones (guitar on 02., 05. drums, vocals on 04. + 09.)
Richard Leith (trombone on 07.)
Lew McCreary (trombone on 07.)
Ollie Mitchell (trumpet on 07.)
Pete Myers (trombone on 07.)
Jack Nimitz (saxophone on 07.)
Earl Palmer (percussion on 02., drums on 07.)
Bill Perkins (saxophone on 07.)
Howard Roberts (guitar on 07.)
Ernie Watts (saxophone on 07.)
Bob West (bass on 07.)

Tracklist:

01. Righteous (Mandel) 3.22
02. Jive Samba (Adderley) 5.56
03. Love Of Life (Mandel/Jones) 3.14
04. Poontang (Jones) 3.54
05. Just A Hair More (Mandel) 3.39
06. Summer Sequence (Burns) 4.12
07. Short’s Stuff (Rogers) 7.19
08. Boo-Bee-Doo (Hitchings) 3.55
09. Campus Blues (Mandel) 4.43

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