Flautist Bobby Humprey’s third Blue Note album, her first with master writing/production duo the Mizell brothers, remains a certified jazz funk fusion classic. Black and Blues is one of those albums where every element just seemed to come together perfectly; under the Mizell’s direction, a crack team of jazz musicians, caught on tape at their absolute peak, conjured a highly accessible, high-quality jazz fusion that united Norman Whitfield’s self-described ‘monstrous grooves’ with Stevie-esque synths, the widescreen cinematic approach of Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield, and the chic, plush production values of Philadelphia International Records. The polished, sophisticated, and extremely danceable tracks were the perfect backing for Humprey’s gracefully intense solos to soar over and there’s not a single pause in quality over the album’s just-under-40 mellifluous minutes. A beautiful, breezy summer-time coastal drive in album form.

It took until 1971 for Blue Note to sign a woman who specialized in playing an instrument, and not long after that for her to deliver a masterpiece. While there were excellent moments on the flautist’s first two albums for the label — 1971’s Flute In and ’72 follow-up Dig This! — Bobbi Humphrey’s first session with the Mizell Brothers behind the boards was packed with cuts that range among the best soul-jazz sides ever recorded, with her piercing, melodious yet intense soloing gracing some of the most dance-motivating backing of the label’s prime funk-fusion era. The opening one-two of the tense glide “Chicago, Damn” and the top-down breeziness of “Harlem River Drive” alone see to that, with the title cut making for a radio-ready slice of urban-pastoral uplift and the moody explorations of “Baby’s Gone” as the coup de grace.