Sometimes, it seems, great music can come from moving into the right neighborhood at the right time.

Nudge It Up a Notch, the new Stax Records set from Steve Cropper and Felix Cavaliere, came together pretty much because all its principals came together. It all began several years ago, when blues producer Jon Tiven moved to Nashville. There, he eventually ran into Stax Records’ guitar legend Steve Cropper.  From their musical shop talk, Tiven discovered that Cropper, who had been touring with Blues Brothers and Booker T. & the MGs reunion bands, was interested in working up some new music.

While sketching plans to record the greatest guitarist in soul and R&B history, Tiven figured they would need to find a singer. He didn’t need to look far: Tiven learned that Felix Cavaliere - keyboardist, singer and songwriter for The Rascals, whose “Groovin’” was a timeless soul-pop landmark  - was not only living in Nashville but was also looking for a new musical project.

Much of their resultant Nudge It Up a Notch captures for the reconstituted label the funky sound and glory of the original Stax. The hard-driving “To Make It Right” sounds like it could have been pulled from the catalog of one of the label’s most prolific rump-thumpers, Johnnie Taylor.  Even though it’s more brittle and dark, “Without You” closes with a vamp tossed between Felix’s voice and Steve’s guitar that sounds genuinely spontaneous, joyously R&B.

Like most classic Stax/Volt releases, Nudge It Up a Notch also features several first-class R&B instrumentals, which we’ll explore next time.