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Title: entertaining but not essential
Review: I thought about giving this only 3 stars, maybe 3.5 would be closer to what I think, but I'm going with 4 stars just because I love Blue Note compilations so much. I'm not crazy about every track --- there a few snoozers on here, but overall this is another fun collection of tunes inspired by movie themes from the 60s and 70s. All the tracks on here were recorded during that era, too, the one exception being "Down Here on the Ground" in which Diane Reeves stuck her vocals in 1996 on a much older Grant Green track. There are also vocals from Nancy Wilson and Marlena Shaw, but the rest of the album consists of instrumentals, some slow and mellow, others upbeat and funky. Frankly, I found the mix of styles on here more annoying than pleasing, but then again it shows the diversity of artists that were recording for Blue Note at the time.
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