Black Coffee

While at Berklee, Al Kooper assembled a new band comprised entirely of fellow instructors. Appropriately dubbing them The Funky Faculty, Al began to perform regularly with his scholarly pals, both in the U.S. and abroad. The Funky Faculty appears on several of the studio recordings on Black Coffee, Al cutting the band live without overdubs to preserve the spontaneity of their intuitive interactions. For Black Coffee, Al selected nine originals and five cover songs to include on the album, reworking those covers in his own inimitable style. Together, the 14 tracks flawlessly represent the state of his musicality in 2005. The harsh realities of life are all dealt with lyrically here, hence the album title. “My Hands Are Tied” “Keep It To Yourself.” “Going, Going Gone,” “Imaginary Lover,” “Another Man’s Prize” and “(I Want You To) Tell Me The Truth” all deal with neo-dark situations that many can relate to. Al’s choice of cover songs also opens a window into the world of sounds that have touched him throughout his long, storied career, from Motown legends the Temptations (“Get Ready”) to the classy blues revivalist Keb’ Mo’ (“Am I Wrong”) to the genius himself, Ray Charles (“Just For A Thrill”). Al, in fact, considers Black Coffee to be his finest overall collection of material since that legendary first Blood, Sweat and Tears album so many decades ago. He gets no argument there. Black Coffee is not just a remarkable re-entry, it’s a zenith. Everything that Al Kooper has accomplished, everything he has learned as a jack-of-all-trades, he brings to a boil on this phenomenal new CD. But singling out highlights from Black Coffee remains a near impossibility. As Al puts it, “I made the record I wanted to make and I’m very pleased with it. To me that’s what success means.”