20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Grover Washington, Jr. is a short but solid overview of Grover Washington’s years at Motown and Kudu, the two labels where he established his reputation as one of the great lyrical innovators inside funky soul-jazz-based groove music, and before he entered the slipstream known as “smooth jazz.” These tunes are slick, but they have teeth and unbridled emotion. The very nature of Washington’s lyrical palette here is wider and far more accessible, kicking tunes like “Mr. Magic” and “Feels So Good” right to the dancefloor without indulging disco. But it’s deeper than that. His version of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)” is so gutbucket funky, he got props from the singer. But there’s something else here, too. Washington’s own intensely melodic and individual form of lyric improvisation does come through on the ballads: check the soprano playing on “A Secret Place” for a healthy shot of this. This collection is by no means complete, and indeed, barely scratches the surface of these years, but this is a healthy taste of the most creative and adventurous period in Washington’s career. – Thom Jurek