Jerry Washington: "Right Here Is Where You Belong"

Rampaging low-profile funk from Jerry Washington.  This stuff burns like nothing else; the conviction in Washington’s voice and the ferocity of his band are startling.  I have little background to offer on Jerry Washington himself; this is the kind of LP that is almost better left to the imagination in terms of its beginnings and reasons for being distributed, as it’s intriguing to wonder aimlessly while listening to this music what persuaded its creation and release.  Now, not every track is relentless funk—the album actually opens with the mellow Southern soul of the title track, which is lovely—but when “Our Love Is Gonna Last” comes crashing in immediately after, you know you’re in for, as OutKast said, a “funky ride.”  Other heavy funk cuts are “Baby, Don’t Do It To Me,” “In My Life I’ve Loved,” “Baby, Don’t Leave Me” and the “response” tune to Luther Ingram’s “If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Wanna Be Right),” “Let Me Love You Right Or Wrong,” which features an unintentionally hilarious spoken intro by Washington in which he raps to a woman on the street over a hazy, Funkadelic-type slow groove.  This LP is solid, strange, funk-filled fun all the way through, and is well worth some deep digging to locate.