| Shaft | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Bernard Purdie |
| Cover: | Shaft (Bernard Purdie album).jpg |
| Released: | 1973 |
| Recorded: | October 11, 1971 |
| Studio: | Van Gelder, Englewood Cliffs |
| Genre: | Soul jazz, jazz-funk |
| Length: | 31:13 |
| Label: | Prestige PR 10038 |
| Producer: | Bob Porter |
| Chronology: | Bernard Purdie |
| Prev Title: | Stand By Me (Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get) |
| Prev Year: | 1971 |
| Next Title: | Soul Is... Pretty Purdie |
| Next Year: | 1972 |
Shaft is an album led by jazz drummer Bernard Purdie which was recorded for the Prestige label in 1971.[1] [2]
Stewart Mason of Allmusic states, "these limp retreads, apparently aimed at a middle-of-the-road audience that was reaching for hipness but didn't want to be confronted with anything too out there, are utterly unnecessary. There are a handful of good tunes here; although it's unclear what the genial funk groove "Attica" has to do with the 1971 prison riot of the same name, it's got some hot tenor sax solos and a rollicking electric piano solo by composer Neal Creque. Similarly, the mellow and soulful "Summer Melody" has some exquisite electric piano and trumpet over its gentle conga-led groove. An album' s worth of variations on these two themes would have been a minor soul-jazz classic, but unfortunately, Bernard Purdie's overreaching ends up giving him the, um, Shaft".[3]