I recently spent a rainy Sunday afternoon and dove into the small but amazing catalog of brothers Carl and Earl Grubbs also known as The Visitors and got reacquainted with their music which reconfirmed that their sound is timeless and never not a good time to listen. The Visitors were a post-bop and spiritual jazz duo from Philadelphia that was formed in the late 1960’s and famously mentored by jazz legends John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy. The Visitors recorded four albums on one of my favorite labels, Muse Records between 1972 and 1976. With the exception of their debut, Neptune (1972) which was originally recorded for Cobblestone Records at Philly’s Sigma Sound Studios then re-released on Muse, their albums really stick and are perfectly fit on who they were as not only brothers but spiritual humans. Interestingly, John Coltrane’s wife Naima Coltrane is the first cousin of the Grubbs brothers, who recorded a cover of John’s classic composition Naima on their album “Neptune”.
Their catalog includes Neptune (1972), In My Youth (1973), Rebirth (1974) and Motherland (1976). If I had to pick one album to be my choice listen, that was be incredibly hard to do as they each hit a sweet spot that make them unique in their own way. An absolute grand slam of releases that should be in any jazz lovers collection.