Midnight Creeper

Midnight Creeper
Midnight Creeper
Studio album by Lou Donaldson
Released	Late September/early October 1968
Recorded	March 15, 1968
Studios	Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Genre	Jazz
Length	36:09
Labels	Blue Note; BST 84280
Producer	Francis Wolff
Lou Donaldson chronology
Alternative cover
	LP full gatefold artwork

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

Midnight Creeper is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Blue Note label in 1968 and featuring Donaldson with Blue Mitchell, Lonnie Smith, George Benson, and Leo Morris.

Chart performance

The album debuted on Billboard magazine's Top LP's chart in the issue dated October 26, 1968, peaking at No. 182 during a six-week run on the chart.

Reception

The album was awarded 4 stars in an Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine who states "As he delved deeper into commercial soul-jazz and jazz-funk, Lou Donaldson became better at it. While lacking the bite of his hard bop improvisations or the hard-swinging funk of Alligator Bogaloo, Midnight Creeper succeeds where its predecessor, Mr. Shing-A-Ling failed: it offers a thoroughly enjoyable set of grooving, funky soul-jazz... Donaldson could frequently sound stilted on his commercial soul-jazz dates, but that's not the case with Midnight Creeper. He rarely was quite as loose on his late-'60s/early-'70s records as he is here, and that's what makes Midnight Creeper a keeper".

Track listing

"Midnight Creeper" (Donaldson) - 6:32
"Love Power" (Teddy Vann) - 7:46
"Elizabeth" (Donaldson) - 5:37
"Bag of Jewels" (Lonnie Smith) - 9:44
"Dapper Dan" (Harold Ousley) - 6:30

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1968)	Peak position
US Billboard Top LPs	182

References

↑ Billboard Oct 12, 1968
↑ Allmusic Review
↑ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 389. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
↑ Lou Donaldson discography accessed December 14, 2009.
1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top LPs, 1945–1972. Record Research. p. 45. Retrieved December 14, 2025.
↑ Erlewine, S. T. Allmusic Review accessed December 14, 2009.

[1] Billboard Oct 12, 1968

[2] Allmusic Review

[Penguin-3] Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 389. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.

[4] Lou Donaldson discography accessed December 14, 2009.

[Whitburn-5] 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top LPs, 1945–1972. Record Research. p. 45. Retrieved December 14, 2025.

[6] Erlewine, S. T. Allmusic Review accessed December 14, 2009.

v t e Lou Donaldson
Studio albums	Quartet/Quintet/Sextet (1952) Wailing with Lou (1957) Swing and Soul (1957) Jimmy Smith Trio + LD (1957) Lou Takes Off (1957) Blues Walk (1958) Light-Foot (1958) LD + 3 (1959) The Time Is Right (1959) Sunny Side Up (1960) Midnight Sun (1960) Here 'Tis (1961) Gravy Train (1961) A Man with a Horn (1961) The Natural Soul (1962) Good Gracious! (1963) Signifyin' (1963) Possum Head (1964) Cole Slaw (1964) Rough House Blues (1964) Musty Rusty (1965) Blowing in the Wind (1966) Lou Donaldson at His Best (1966) Lush Life (1967) Alligator Bogaloo (1967) Mr. Shing-A-Ling (1967) Midnight Creeper (1968) Say It Loud! (1968) Hot Dog (1969) Everything I Play Is Funky (1970) Pretty Things (1970) Cosmos (1971) Sophisticated Lou (1972) Sassy Soul Strut (1973) Sweet Lou (1974) A Different Scene (1976) Color as a Way of Life (1976) Sweet Poppa Lou (1981) Forgotten Man (1981) Back Street (1982) Play the Right Thing (1990) Birdseed (1992) Caracas (1993) Sentimental Journey (1995)
Live albums	Fried Buzzard (1965) The Scorpion (1970) Live in Bologna (1984) Relaxing at Sea: Live on the QE2 (2000)
Related articles	Discography

v t e Blue Mitchell
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release.
As leader or co-leader	Big 6 (1958) Get Those Elephants Out'a Here (with Red and Whitey Mitchell, 1958) Out of the Blue (1959) Blue Soul (1959) Blue's Moods (1960) Smooth as the Wind (1960–61) A Sure Thing (1962) The Cup Bearers (1962) Step Lightly (1963) The Thing to Do (1964) Down with It! (1965) Bring It Home to Me (1966) Boss Horn (1966) Heads Up! (1967) Collision in Black (1968) Bantu Village (1969) Blue Mitchell/Soul Village (1971) Vital Blue (1971) Blues' Blues (1972) The Last Tango = Blues (1973) Graffiti Blues (1973) Many Shades of Blue (1974) Stratosonic Nuances (1975) Funktion Junction (1976) African Violet (1977) Mapenzi (1977) Stablemates (1977) Summer Soft (1977)
With Lou Donaldson	Quartet/Quintet/Sextet (1952) The Time Is Right (1959) Mr. Shing-A-Ling (1967) Midnight Creeper (1968) Say It Loud! (1968) Everything I Play Is Funky (1970) Pretty Things (1970)
With Philly Joe Jones	Together! (with Elvin Jones, 1961) Drums Around the World (1959) Showcase (1959) Advance! (1978) Drum Song (1978)
With Sam Jones	The Soul Society (1960) The Chant (1961) Down Home (1962) Something in Common (1974–77) Changes & Things (1977)
With Jimmy McGriff	The Worm (1968) Step 1 (1968) A Thing to Come By (1969) Electric Funk (1969)
With Horace Silver	Blowin' the Blues Away (1959) Finger Poppin' (1959) Horace-Scope (1960) Doin' the Thing (1961) The Tokyo Blues (1962) Paris Blues (1962) Silver's Serenade (1963) Song for My Father (1963–64)
With Stanley Turrentine	A Chip off the Old Block (1963) In Memory Of (1964) Rough 'n' Tumble (1966) The Spoiler (1966) A Bluish Bag (1967) The Return of the Prodigal Son (1967) The Sugar Man (1971)
With others	Portrait of Cannonball (Cannonball Adderley, 1958) Back to the Tracks (Tina Brooks, 1960) Street Singer (Tina Brooks and Jackie McLean, 1960) My Kind of Jazz (Ray Charles, 1970) True Blue (Al Cohn and Dexter Gordon, 1976) Silver Blue (with Al Cohn and Dexter Gordon, 1976) Dolo! (Dolo Coker, 1976) California Hard (Dolo Coker, 1976) Junior's Cookin' (Junior Cook, 1961) Filthy! (Papa John Creach, 1972) Red's Good Groove (Red Garland, 1962) Green Is Beautiful (Grant Green, 1970) Soul Mist! (Richard "Groove" Holmes, 1966) Homecoming! (Elmo Hope, 1961) Montara (Bobby Hutcherson, 1975) The Soul Brotherhood (Charles Kynard, 1969) The Blue Yusef Lateef (Yusef Lateef, 1968) Rakin' and Scrapin' (Harold Mabern, 1968) Jazz Blues Fusion (John Mayall, 1971) Ten Years Are Gone (John Mayall, 1973) Les McCann Ltd. in New York (Les McCann, 1961) Can't Hide Love (Carmen McRae, 1976) Capuchin Swing (Jackie McLean, 1960) Jackie's Bag (Jackie McLean, 1960) Hi Voltage (Hank Mobley, 1967) Captain Buckles (David "Fathead" Newman, 1970) Opus De Don (Don Patterson, 1968) Oh Baby! (Big John Patton, 1965) Breezing (Sonny Red, 1960) Images (Sonny Red, 1961) Good Move! (Freddie Roach, 1963) Takin' Care of Business (Charlie Rouse, 1960) Open House (Jimmy Smith, 1960) Plain Talk (Jimmy Smith, 1960) Sonny Stitt & the Top Brass (Sonny Stitt, 1962) Soul Time (Bobby Timmons, 1960) Steppin' Out! (Harold Vick, 1963) The Caribbean Suite (Harold Vick, 1966) Spectrum (Cedar Walton, 1968) The Electric Boogaloo Song (Cedar Walton, 1969) Beyond Mobius (Cedar Walton, 1976) Money in the Pocket (Joe Zawinul, 1966)

v t e George Benson
Discography
Studio albums	The New Boss Guitar of George Benson It's Uptown The George Benson Cookbook Giblet Gravy Shape of Things to Come Goodies Tell It Like It Is The Other Side of Abbey Road Beyond the Blue Horizon White Rabbit Body Talk Bad Benson Good King Bad Benson & Farrell Breezin' In Flight Livin' Inside Your Love Give Me the Night In Your Eyes Pacific Fire I Got a Woman and Some Blues 20/20 While the City Sleeps... Collaboration Twice the Love Big Boss Band That's Right Standing Together Absolute Benson Irreplaceable Givin' It Up Songs and Stories Guitar Man Inspiration: A Tribute to Nat King Cole Walking to New Orleans
Live albums	In Concert-Carnegie Hall Weekend in L.A. Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon
Compilations	Space The George Benson Collection The Greatest Hits of All The Very Best of George Benson: The Greatest Hits of All The Essential George Benson
Singles	"This Masquerade" (1976) "Breezin'" (1976) "The Greatest Love of All" (1977) "On Broadway" (1978) "Love Ballad" (1979) "Give Me the Night" (1980) "Love X Love" (1980) "What's on Your Mind" (1980) "Never Give Up on a Good Thing" (1981) "Turn Your Love Around" (1981) "Inside Love (So Personal)" (1983) "Lady Love Me (One More Time)" (1983) "Feel Like Makin' Love" (1983) "In Your Eyes" (1983) "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" (1985) "Shiver" (1986) "Teaser" (1986) "Let's Do It Again" (1988)