Congas, Tambourine – Buddy Caldwell (tracks: A1, B1 to B3)
Drums – Idris Muhammad (tracks: A1, B1 to B3)
Drums – Robert Battle (tracks: A2)
Electric Bass [Fender] – Gordon Edwards (tracks: A1, B1, B3)
Guitar – Cornell Dupree
Organ – Ceasar Frazier
Saxophone [Tenor] – Harold Ousley
Trombone – Dick Griffin
Trumpet – Gary Chandler
This is a great set of groovy soul jazz by funky trumpet man Gary Chandler. Notable musicians joining him are drummer Idris Muhammad, soulful guitarist Cornell Dupree and organist Ceasar Frazier, whose Hammond really pulls this album together. Harold Ousley and Dick Griffin, players I am not yet familiar with, join in on tenor and trombone respectively.
Muhammad is missed on the second track, Flamingo a ballad where he is replaced by Robert Battle. This track loses some of the steam the opener brought to the table.
The two highlights book end the album. Both upbeat funky soul jazz with great extended solo jams. On the closer, Blues Dues Muhammad pushes himself on the drums and takes a standard blues progression out of mediocrity.
Also of note, Rudy Van Gelder appears as engineer. The sheer amount of music that man witnessed astounds me every time I read his name on a record. Respect.
Maybe the only album ever issued under the name of trumpeter Gary Chandler -- but a smoking little set that rivals some of the best jazz funk records at the start of the 70s -- including heavyweight classics on Prestige by Melvin Sparks, Leon Spencer, and Boogaloo Joe Jones! The feel here is very similar to those -- given that the short-lived Eastbound label not only featured production work from Bob Porter, who handled the best Prestige funk sets -- but also because the lineup here is filled with some of the top contemporaries from that scene -- including Harold Ousley on tenor, Caesar Frazier on Hammond, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Dick Griffin on trombone, and the mighty Idris Muhammad on drums! Idris keeps things nice and funky, and tracks are long, and filled with smoking solos -- the most famous of which is the album's cover of "Baby Let Me Take You In My Arms", with an excellent break intro -- which has been sampled heavily over the years
01. Mighty Mouse 5:20 02. Summer Breeze 5:41 03. Sweet Children 5:46 04. Funk It Down 5:23 05. Living For The City 6:02 06. Walking On The Side 5:00
Piano, Electric Piano – Horace Ott Baritone Saxophone – Babe Clarke Bass – Wilbur Bascomb Congas – Buddy Caldwell (tracks: A1, A2, B3) Drums – Bernard Purdie (tracks: A3 to B2), Jimmy Young (tracks: A1, A2, B3) Guitar – Cornell Dupree (tracks: A3 to B2), David Spinoza (tracks: A1, A2, B3), John Tropea (tracks: A1, A2, B3), Richie Resnikoff (tracks: A3 to B2) Organ, Electric Piano, Clavinet, Soloist, Keyboards – Ceasar Frazier Soloist, Guitar – David Spinoza Tambourine – Joe Venuto (tracks: A3 to B2) Tenor Saxophone – Charlie Brown Trombone – Garnett Brown Trumpet – Joe Shepley, Jon Faddis
Released in 1975, Caesar Frazier returned to the Eastbound/Westbound Family for a second solo album. Caesar’s deeply funky take on what we now call Soul Jazz is performed with even more confidence and bravado. His mastery of the Hammond organ now on full display and backed by another monstrously funky studio band, Caesar takes the listener on a journey through driving, uptempo originals and slow groove covers. Every note played is supremely elegant, and of course massively funky.
Great instrumental funk record. I did recognize 3 breaks. The track Sweet Children has been sampled by Kanye West, for the track "real people". Funk It Down has been sampled by gang starr twice!! The start of the song has been used in the song "speak ya clout" for guru's part, then at 1 minute comes in a horn, that's used for another gang starr song "Ex To The Next Girl". Even if your not into rap breaks I'd recomend this album to fans of Booker T & the MG's, it's similar in style.
The second great album from organist Ceasar Frazier -- a tightly grooving set that expands his sound a bit from the first! All the best elements are still in place here -- including funky organ from Ceasar, production from jazz funk maestro Bob Porter, and a hip range of players that includes Horace Ott, Wilbur Bascomb, and Bernard Purdie. But the overall sound is somewhat shifted too -- brought more into the tightly jamming jazz funk mode of the mid 70s -- a bit richer and fuller overall, yet never in a way that's slick or sloppy -- just more like some of the best later sides on Prestige or Fantasy from the same stretch. The record features a crazy version of the "Mighty Mouse Theme", a mellow take on the Isley's "Summer Breeze", Stevie Wonder's great "Living For The City", and the original "Funk It Down"
After a career as a sideman for greats like Marvin Gaye and Lou Donaldson, Caesar Frazier stepped into the driver’s seat in 1972 for his debut solo LP. Featuring his impeccable organ playing throughout, it’s been a staple for crate diggers and hip hop producers alike for decades. Caesar is joined by a who’s who of funky jazz musicians (Houston Person, Melvin Sparks and Idris Muhammad) to make Hail Ceasar! a masterclass in laid back grooves. Between the assured originals and instinctively chosen covers, there is no doubt this is one of the greatest examples of Soul Jazz the 70s (or any decade) produced.
Born in New York City, raised, and educated in the South, Midwest, and West Coast, Caesar Frazier has spent his entire life since the age of fifteen, performing in bands, orchestras, and as a solo artist. As a recording artist, Caesar recorded numerous albums as an instrumentalist and vocalist. Over the years he also has accompanied other artists as a studio musician. One of the numerous highlights of his musical career include the time he spent traveling on mega concert tours as Marvin Gaye's keyboard accompanist. While working with Marvin and having personal conversations regarding musical concepts, the lessons learned left their foot print on his understanding of effective performance.
Caesar grew up hearing and being forever influenced by many of America's greatest artist that covered most all of the popular music genres. "I heard the greatest country artist, blues artist, rock and roll artist, rhythm and blues artist. And, loved it all. Another of the highlights of his musical life have been having numerous popular artists of recent years, use songs written by him to garner hit records. The rapper, Kanye West, rapper / actor "Common", the hip hop group "Gangstarr", are some of the current popular artists that have used songs written by Caesar Frazier to garner hit records.
To further broaden his understanding of the music & media business, Caesar earned an Associates Degree in Broadcast Communications, worked as the music director of a smooth jazz station, did "talk radio", was a news anchor, reporter, and news writer for broadcast and an"On Air Announcer".
"What a wonderful way to spend my life....doing what I've loved all of my life!"
Originally hailing from Columbus, Ohio, where he was born in July 1948, Bill Mason, the son of a Baptist minister, had first learnt music in church. Starting out on piano he switched to organ in his late teens. Mason had come to Bob Porter's attention when as part of the Bryant group he recorded at Prestige on two sessions in March and October 1971. These sessions produced Bryant's hottest and funkiest albums for the label-.-Fire Eater (originally PR 10014 and now available on PCD 10014) and Wildfire (PR 10037). For his debut (only?) album as a leader, Porter lined up the same studio - Rudy Van Gelder's - and the same drummer - Idris Muhammad - as the Bryant dates. The other musicians included the well known sounds of Hubert Laws on reeds, and guitarist Wilbert Longmire, the lesser-known talents of conga player Ron Coleman, and bass player Gordon Edwards, as well as Eastbound's other new signing, trumpeter Gary Chandler.
Chandler, by no small coincidence, had been playing around Columbus, where he had ended up after leaving the United States Air Force in 1963. A full ten years older than Mason, he had played with many of the names on what appears to have been a thriving Ohio club scene, including Don Patterson, Hank Marr and Benny Maupin. This led to him joining the Motown Revue and eventually in joining Lou Donaldson's group where he remained (at least) until the recording of his debut album. Strangely, he never appeared on any of Donaldson's recordings of the time - although on a six month break from Lou he made two dates for Charles Earland, another of Donaldson's alumni. Those two albums Living Black (originally PR 10009 and now available on CDBGPD 118) and Soul Story (PR 10019) were both produced by Porter, who decided it was time for him to make a record in his own right. Joining Gordon Edwards and Muhammad this time were Caesar Frazier, Cornell Dupree, Buddy Caldwell, Dick Griffin and Harold Ousley, to create the band that made the trek up to Van Gelder's studio.
Both albums showed the players to be in command of the idiom, as the blues there were also covers of recent hits but most importantly, the funky originals really ruled the roost. Look no further than the tightened groove of Chandler's Kaleidoscope or Mason's fantastic Stone for definitive proof. These albums meant little at the time and are now sought-after collector's items. Get your hands on them now whilst you can.
Best known for his supporting work on Rusty Bryant's Prestige dates Fire-Eater and Wildfire, Bill Mason proves himself a formidable leader with his lone solo session, the aptly titled jazz-funk outing Gettin' Off. Recorded with the estimable talents of drummer Idris Muhammad and tenorist Hubert Laws, the album's physicality is astounding; Mason is a superbly soulful Hammond organist, conjuring spiraling, spellbinding grooves that seem to grow deeper and more relentless with each successive track. He's also a fine composer with originals like "Mister Jay" and the scorching title cut standing tall alongside covers highlighted by Al Green's immortal "Let's Stay Together." (Gettin' Off was reissued on CD in 1999 as half of a Westbound two-fer with Gary Chandler's Outlook.)
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Grover Washington, Jr.
Trombone – Barry Rogers
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – John Frosk
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Jon Faddis
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Randy Brecker
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Bob Millikan
Viola – Al Brown
Viola – Manny Vardi
Violin – Barry Finclair
Violin – David Nadien
Violin – Emanuel Green
Violin – Guy Lumia
Violin – Harold Lookofsky
Violin – Lewis Eley
Violin – Max Ellen
Violin – Raoul Poliakin
Recorded at Van Gelder Studios in May and July 1975
The aptly titled and much-sampled Feels So Good represents the creative apex of Grover Washington, Jr.'s sublime electric funk sound. Its shimmering, soulful grooves refute the argument that smooth jazz is little more than mere ambience, combining expert playing and intricate songwriting to create music that is both compelling and comforting. Arranger Bob James is in top form here, creating the spacious, rich milieus that are his trademark, but regardless of the name above the title, bassist Louis Johnson is the real star of the show. His supple rhythms percolate like coffee, adding oomph to the bottom of highlights "Hydra" and "Knucklehead" while Washington's cream-and-sugar soprano sax solos soar over the top.
An incredible batch of electric funk from Grover Washington Jr – easily one of his best albums ever! The record really picks up from the sweet CTI sound of the 70s – taking Bob James arrangements with a lot of space and electric keyboards, and letting Groover blow some wonderfully soulful lines over the top on soprano sax! The album's got some really wonderful funk tracks that feature a mad mix of drums, bass, and lots of that Bob James "space" – including the massive cuts "Hydra" and "Knucklehead" – both of them magic!
This brash, big band Latin orchestra from Brooklyn debuted on Ghetto Records with an underground Salsa album which also contains beguiling, English-language Psychedelic Soul of “Latin Blues.”
Ghetto Records was Latin music legend Joe Bataan’s way to get over on The Man and out of the ’hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel. As Bataan puts it today, “Ghetto Records was part of my journey, a stepping stone to everything else that I’ve done. I learned enough that it enabled me to get out of the box with my thinking, it showed me how to deal with adversity.” Like many dreams and schemes born of the street, this one was audacious, perhaps even reckless to a fault. Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down shortly after its inception. The seven albums in its discography languished out of print - until now.
Underground salsa from Orquesta La Fantastica – the group's debut from the early 70s, originally issued on the tiny Ghetto Records label! The album's a great illustration of the way that the regular Latin codes of the mainstream got broken down on the fringes – as the sounds and styles here are familiar at the outset, but often have little twists and turns you'd never find from bigger acts on Fania or Tico. Instrumentation includes a fair bit of vibes – often used mostly with the rhythm, but sometimes bursting out on their own – and there's also a strong tenor sax in the group, fleshing out the sound strongly next to the trumpets.
One of Ghetto Records most lauded recordings containing epic examples of Big Band Salsa, Horace Silver-flavored Modal Jazz and Soulful Grooves - masterminded by a young Bobby RodrÌguez with vocals by Papo Felix. Ghetto Records was Joe Bataan’s way to get over on “The Man” and out of the ‘hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel. As Bataan puts it today, “Ghetto Records was part of my journey, a stepping stone to everything else that I’ve done. I learned enough that it enabled me to get out of the box with my thinking, it showed me how to deal with adversity.” Like many dreams and schemes born of the street, this one was audacious, perhaps even reckless to a fault. Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down
A killer set of New York Latin from vocalist Papo Felix and bandleader Ray Rodriguez – recorded slightly after the Latin Soul generation, but done with plenty of dark little edges – thanks to production from Joe Bataan! There's a bit of salsa in the mix here, and a bit of descarga jazz too – all coming together in a tightly rhythmic mode that's almost better than most of the bigger name work coming from the scene at the time. Most tunes have a sharp, catchy sort of groove – definitely an heir to the Latin Soul sound.
With the possible exception of Grover Washington's Feels So Good, no other album captured the spirit of jazz in 1975 like Bobby Hutcherson's Montara. Recorded in his hometown of L.A., Montara is the very sound of groove jazz coming out of fusion, and Latin jazz's tough salsa rhythms coming home to roost in something more warm and effluvial that would meet the populace where it was changing and mellowing out rather than making it sit up and take notice. That said, Montara is, like the Washington record, a masterpiece of the genre even though it isn't celebrated in the same way. Featuring a stellar cast of musicians -- among them Willie Bobo, Blue Mitchell, Bobby Matos, Ernie Watts, Harvey Mason, Plas Johnson, Fred Jackson, Larry Nash, and Chuck Domanico -- Montara is a portrait of Hutcherson's complex gift of subtlety and virtuosity. Whether it's the funky Weather Report dance of "Camel Rise," with Nash's electric piano and the horns weaving around one another in a soulful samba melody, the sweet soulful groove of the title track, where Hutcherson's solo lilts to the point of actually singing, the killer Cuban salsa of "La Malanga," done in complete minor-key frenzy (all the while without losing the easy, slippery grace of soul-jazz), the shimmering echoplexed electric piano and vibes interplay on "Love Song," or the steaming, burning gasoline orgy of Hutcherson's read of Santana's "Oye Como Va," with a killer flute line by Watts winding its way through a knotty bassline and multi-part percussion, the effect is the same: blissed-out moving and grooving for a summer day. Hutcherson's chameleon-like ability to shape-shift is truly remarkable as a sideman and especially as a leader. He never overplays, his charts are tight, and he always creates a band vibe. Almost all of his solo recordings reflect the strengths of the ensemble rather than his strengths as a soloist. Montara is one of the great feel-good jazz albums of the 1970s, one of the great Latin jazz albums of the 1970s, and one of the great groove jazz records. Seek it out without hesitation.
Like many jazz musicians weaned on Bird and Diz, Hutcherson embraced Latin rhythms throughout his career, and this beautiful album, one of his best Blue Note offerings, is the session where he goes fully ‘south of the border’. A formidable percussion section featuring legendary congueros, Bobbby Matos and Victor Pantoja provides a steady moving carriage for the arrangements whose variety of themes, some short and stabbing, others long and winding, are well negotiated by a crack rhythm and horn section. A few of George Cables’ excellent tunes feature, but the masterstroke is a reprise of ‘Oye Como Va’. It has the power of Latin rock typified by the version by the iconic Santana band, which featured Pantoja, and the swing of the original by the equally great Tito Puente. There remains a lot of fine music to reissue from Hutcherson’s sprawling back catalogue, but this is a particularly wise choice.
One of our favorite Bobby Hutcherson albums ever – and a magical session filled with electric Latin vibes! The album's quite a different one for Bobby at the time – as it has him working with some larger arrangements, in a soulful west coast groove that's almost got the feel of a hip 70s soundtrack. Bobby's vibes are nicely set up against Fender Rhodes on most tracks – and the group's got some added Latin percussion that really opens up the rhythms. The whole thing's totally wonderful – brimming over with sun and soul, the kind of magic record that will never be made again!
Horns, Woodwind - Buddy Collette , Ernie Watts , Jackie Kelso (tracks: B1, B3) , William Green
Keyboards - Don Randi
Percussion - Mayuto Correa
Trombone - Benny Powell , Jimmy Cleveland
Trumpet - All Aarons , Bobby Bryant
Vibraphone - Gene Estes
Viola - Alex Nieman , Gary Nuttycomb , Rollice Dale
Violin - Arthur Brown , Bobby Bruce , George Poole , Janice Gower , John Santulis , Marilyn Baker
A great little groover from David Axelrod – cut years after his more famous work at Captiol, and more of a funky fusion record, but still pretty darn great! The record's got lots of nice keyboards, and is sort of an extension of the style he begun on the Heavy Axe album from the mid 70s. Arrangements have a great sense of space and spareness, which makes the cuts standout from the usual jazz funk numbers of the time – and which create the same sort of juxtaposition of silence and funk that's made Axelrod's earlier albums a favorite with sample-heads for years.
Electric Piano, Clavinet, Synthesizer – George Duke
Piano [Acoustic] – Jimmy Jones
Producer – Cannonball Adderley, David Axelrod
Written-By, Narrator – Rick Holmes
Jazz saxophone great Cannonball Adderley is not usually thought of as a novelty artist, or even one who made embarrassing sellout moves to the pop market, regardless of his success with soul-jazz and his hit 1967 single "Mercy Mercy Mercy." This 1974 album, however, can scarcely be thought of as anything but an embarrassing novelty, and one that will have little appeal to fans of the records for which Adderley is most famous. The real artist on this album is not so much Adderley as Rick Holmes (jazz DJ on Los Angeles radio station KBCA), who wrote and narrated the voice-overs to which Adderley and other musicians supplied a musical backdrop. In common with numerous other records around the Age of Aquarius, it has one track for each astrological sign. In smooth hip period DJ patter, Holmes declaims homilies as to how those born under each sign integrate both sex and love as part of their being. A cast of musicians, including Cannonball, his brother Nat Adderley on cornet, and George Duke on electric piano, backs Holmes' unctuous musings with sketchy fusion instrumentals, co-produced by David Axelrod and Cannonball. The end result is too frivolous to find favor with those who take astrology seriously, yet too serious-minded to be nearly as funny as intentional parodies of self-helpish narratives (like National Lampoon's "Deteriorata"). Maybe it was hoped that some swinging bachelors would use it as seduction music, but if so, their targets were more apt to sink into derisive giggles than submit to conquest. Good for a laugh or two for those with an appetite for tacky music in the incredibly strange music genre, it bears little relation to either the straight-ahead jazz or more pop-oriented jazz for which Cannonball Adderley is most esteemed.
A classic from Cannoball and producer-partner David Axelrod -- truly great stuff and maybe even better than the Zodiac set Cannonball did for Capitol! The formula is similar to that one -- with David Axelrod producing, electric keyboards by Hal Galper and George Duke, spacey solos by Cannonball and Nat Adderley, and some very hip recitations by Rick Holmes on love, sex, and the zodiac! Holmes is best known as the chappie who cut "Remember To Remember" years later with Roy Ayers -- but this album's got a similar "wisdom and knowledge" feel that's pretty wonderful.
ASTROLOGY, the study of the signs of the Zodiac. How does one rationalize an development with astrological significance? RICK HOLMES, the creator of the narrative indigenous to the artistic creativeness formed in this recording, is a person whose day-to-day behavioral continuity by his own concepts of the influence of the activities of astrological movement. Mr. Holmes, well known in the greater Los Angeles area, is a radio personality who is recognised by various people who have the priviledge of being exposed to "RICK'S FAMILY AFFAIR" aired nightly on radio station KBCA-FM. (One of the most important outlets for Jazz and other musical expression, including sophisticated rhetoric, in Southern California.) Devoted listeners to Rick's program are well aware of his expertise with regards to astrology. This recording marks the first effort to broaden any interested audience or to enhance the awareness with regards to astrology or to enhance the awareness of people to whom the soulful exhortations of Rick have never been available.
Cannonball Adderley
A few seconds of spacy echo loops and you know where this album is coming from -- the early jazz/rock era, the Age of Aquarius and all that. Yet this crazy amalgam of jazz, rock, electronics, and spoken astrological advice by the popular Los Angeles DJ Rick Holmes actually works, for the music behind the soulfully intoned words is very inventive and Holmes plays effectively off its rhythms. Basically this is the Cannonball Adderley group (Nat, cornet; George Duke, electric piano; Walter Booker, bass; Roy McCurdy, drums), with the young eloquent Ernie Watts sitting in for Cannonball (who appears only on "Libra" and "Aries") on tenor and flute, and Mike Deasy contributing wild psychedelic guitar at times. Indeed Nat seems like just the nominal leader of the session -- Cannonball actually gets top billing as co-producer -- though he plays spiritedly at all times. The music is very eclectic, ranging from mainstream jazz to free-form freak-outs and even hilarious heavy metal rock on the stomping 14-minute "Taurus." Actually these were expansions of the directions the Adderley group was exploring at the time, and one wonders how they determined the idiom for each sign. Whether or not you accept astrology, this double set is a lot of fun.
One of the coolest, baddest, funkiest albums Cannonball Adderley ever recorded -- a massive suite of tunes based on the signs of the Zodiac, produced to perfection by David Axelrod, and featuring some hip recitations from the mighty Rick Holmes! The double-length set is completely compelling all the way through -- a darkly brooding batch of funky jazz that shows a strong Miles Davis electric influence at points, thanks to Nat Adderley's spacey trumpet lines, Mike Deasy's trippy guitar, and George Duke's excellent keyboards! Other tracks are a bit more laidback, fitting the mood of their respective signs -- and overall, the whole thing slips and slides wonderfully from cut to cut -- taking you through the star signs with a really righteous, soulful approach.
Not the same Candido that you might know from Salsoul Records or 50s Latin fame – and instead a younger percussionist who cut this legendary album for Joe Bataan's Ghetto Records label! The set's got a rootsy vibe that's mighty nice – right up there with the best of the Fania salsa scene at the start of the 70s – and Candido plays timbales in a group that also features two trumpets, tenor, and trombone – plus lots more piano, bass, and percussion! You might have heard Candido's percussion in the groups of Ricardo Ray or Randy Carlos, but here he's a hell of a leader on his own
Joseph “Candido” Rodríguez’s was mentored by Tito Punete, and his debut features a fantastic mix of fiery Salsa, Latin Jazz and Sweet Latin Soul. This final entry in the Ghetto Records discography proved that when you’re Joe Bataan, you with a bang!
Ghetto Records was Latin music legend Joe Bataan’s way to get over on The Man and out of the ’hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel.
As Bataan puts it today, “Ghetto Records was part of my journey, a stepping stone to everything else that I’ve done. I learned enough that it enabled me to get out of the box with my thinking, it showed me how to deal with adversity.” Like many dreams and schemes born of the street, this one was audacious, perhaps even reckless to a fault.
Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down shortly after its inception. The seven albums in its discography languished out of print - until now. These are the definitive reissues of these albums, licensed from Joe Bataan, with his oversight and input into a 15 page oversize book by Pablo Yglesias that details Bataan’s larger-than-imagination life and his little Latin label that could.
The title of the album is clearly tongue-in-cheek, as this is a serious avant-garde work with organ, voice, drums and tuned percussion. Hard going if not into the academic side of music. Wouldn't be out of place on the more experimental Futura labels
A pretty extraordinary find, this French library duo presents an uncompromising behemoth of a sound, all organs and percussion as advertised on the sleeve, but you'd never crave for more instruments being included. Rather than playing it safe with melodic pop ditties a-la Jean-Jacques Perrey, Michel Estellet and Gerard Berlioz are obviously entering the upper echelons of human creativity with their mutant cobwebs of drones and oscillations - who would have thought a simple organ could sound as otherworldly as that? This truly defies categorization, drawing slight reminiscences only to the Futura label classics (such as Jean Guerin album) and maybe to a couple of notorious 1970s outsiders such as Don Bradshaw Leather or Sohrab Keyaniyan.
Recorded live at studio 104, Maison de la radio (O.R.T.F), Paris, 3 Dec. 1972
Founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1968, the Black Artist Group (BAG) can be viewed as a sibling organization to Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)—quite literally in the case of co-founder Joseph Bowie, the younger brother of AACM charter member Lester Bowie. Both were innovative cooperatives dedicated to evolving creative music, bringing together the threads of jazz, the European avant-garde, and a wide-ranging, Afrocentric view of musical tradition.
Where the two differed most prominently was in scope. The AACM is approaching its 60th anniversary, with an estimable and ever-expanding roster of musicians guided by its “Ancient to the Future” philosophy. BAG existed for only four years, from 1968 to 1972, before reconfiguring from a larger organization to a single ensemble. Only one album was issued under the Black Artist Group name, the live recording In Paris, Aries 1973. By contrast, the AACM’s flagship group, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, released 19 albums in the same timespan, alongside numerous titles by individual AACM members.
The St. Louis contingent’s documented output is now doubled thanks to the release of For Peace and Liberty. Recorded in December 1972, two months after BAG had followed its Art Ensemble brethren to Paris, the music has remained unheard since its original French radio broadcast. It’s a wildly different outing from its predecessor, recorded the following year. Aries 1973 trades in opposing dynamics, shifting constantly between the minimal and the raucous. For Peace and Liberty is more diverse yet urgent, guided by the drumming of Charles “Bobo” Shaw, who shifts from propulsive grooves to simmering tension, agitated clamor to pointillistic provocations.
Where the AACM musicians occasionally intersected with artists from other mediums, multidisciplinary collaboration was central to the BAG, which included dancers, theater artists, poets, and visual artists in its original form. That sense of the theatrical remains in the way that this 35-minute performance (divided into six sections on the WeWantSounds release) unfolds like a narrative with moments of bold theatricality, leaving one pining for a visual accompaniment.
“Part 1” begins the proceedings ceremonially, with all five members playing a Senegalese “welcome rhythm” on percussion instruments. Horns blare a discordant fanfare as Bobo Shaw moves to the drum kit with explosive intensity before shifting into a gentler, almost tidal interplay with Joseph Bowie’s congas and Baikida Carroll’s cowbell. Midway through “Part 2,” Oliver Lake’s alto sax weaves serpentine lines over the procession, goaded by blasts from a whistle.
“Part 3” dissolves into sounds and textures, unison horn lines punctuating guttural blasts from Bowie’s trombone, strangled vocalizations, shimmering percussion, and meandering trumpet explorations from Carroll and Floyd LeFlore. These snowball into a free improv avalanche on “Part 4,” which unravels into a cartoon-like burlesque of a military march, one of several points where the band’s impish sense of humor comes to the fore.
The finale locks into a taut funk that transforms seamlessly into a reprise of the opening Senegalese rhythm, a captivating illustration of the intimate ties between the music’s roots and future. Devoid of context, For Peace and Liberty is a thrilling, musically acrobatic live recording. As a vital document of an underrepresented movement and a formative period in the development of some of the music’s most influential philosopher-performers, it’s an essential release.
Wewantsounds presents the release of BAG's first album since 1973, For Peace and Liberty, recorded in Paris in Dec. 1972 when the musicians had recently arrived from St Louis. BAG only released one album during their existence. This long-lost performance, recorded at Maison de l'ORTF in optimal conditions just a few months previously, was thought lost until recently unearthed from the vaults of INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel). Here the group unleashes an incandescent 35-minute set mixing free improvisation and spiritual jazz with funk grooves. Released in partnership with the band and INA, the album features sound remastered from the original tapes, plus a 20-page booklet featuring words by Oliver Lake, Joseph Bowie, and Baikida Carroll plus Bobo Shaw's and Floyd LeFlore's daughters as well as extensive liner notes by BAG scholar Benjamin Looker and previously unseen photos by cult French photographer Philippe Gras. The Black Artist Group (BAG) was founded in St Louis, USA, in 1968 to promote local artists from the burgeoning Black Arts movement, including musicians, playwrights, dancers and poets. The BAG quintet heard here pulled together key musicians from the larger organization, including Oliver Lake on sax, Baikida Carroll, and Floyd LeFlore on trumpet, Joseph Bowie on trombone and Charles 'Bobo' Shaw on drums. The musicians emerged from the organization to become a vital force within the late '60s free jazz revolution. Modelled on the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago with whom they had close ties, this subset of BAG musicians followed in the footsteps of their Chicago colleagues, relocating to Paris in the early '70s on the recommendation of Lester Bowie, Joseph's older brother. Arriving in the French capital in Oct. 1972 the group made an instant impact on its underground music scene. In December of that year, Andre Francis, ORTF's jazz supremo invited them onto his "Jazz sur Scene" radio show, which showcased four groups live over two hours. Arriving onto the stage of the prestigious Studio 104 auditorium of the Maison de la Radio, the group delivered a jaw-dropping 35-minute set that left the audience mesmerized. Only thanks to a chance listening of another concert -- where the BAG live set was buried within -- was the recording unearthed making this historic release possible fifty years on. The release counts as an invaluable document, shedding fresh light on one of the most fascinating groups in modern jazz history.
Featuring 3 of the 4 founding members of the World Saxophone Quartet (Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, and Hamiet Bluiett), this record is some strong rarely-heard free jazz that should appeal to fans of the aforementioned as well as acts like the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Doesn't have the fire of Ayler or the crazed experimentation of someone like David Murray, but is an excellent example of how free jazz could contort itself to fit within more conventional structures. In this sense, it's a lot like something Strata-East Records might have put out.
This outstanding free jazz session was recorded in 1973 in Paris by Chicago outfit. It was Lester Bowie, trumpeter with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, who suggested that the Black Artists Group should head for Paris. In 1972, several members took his advice and flew to France for an extended stay. The following year, a concert featuring saxophonist Oliver Lake, trumpeters Baikida Carroll and Floyd LeFlore, drummer Charles Bobo Shaw and trombonist Joseph Bowie (Lester's younger brother) was recorded and subsequently issued as In Paris, Aries 1973, a limited LP on the group's own label. Since their formation in 1968, the home of the collective had been St Louis, the city where the Bowies had grown up. It was there that Lester started to play, before moving, to Chicago in 1966, where he joined the recently-established Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). His close friend Lake visited, attended AACM concerts and meetings and was inspired by their artistic vision, integrity, and organization. In June 1969, the Art Ensemble had taken their music to France, with its reputation for audiences that were open-minded and receptive to the music of innovators such as Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and others. In Paris, Aries 1973 offers a fascinating glimpse into that phase of BAG's existence. The album is dedicated to the memory of Kada Kayan, a bassist who had hoped to make the trip from St Louis but had grown ill and died. His absence adds special poignancy to the sound of the bass when it appears on this recording, played by Carroll. In Paris, Aries 1973 reveals BAG's musical affinities with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Both groups preserved an independently-minded approach to the notion of free jazz and a carefully filtered awareness of pan-African musical practices, while their creative interest in space, mobile structure, chance occurrences and simultaneity also suggests parallels with the concerns of leading experimental composers working at that time. These performances in Paris of Shaw's "Something to Play On" and Lake's "Re-Cre-A-Tion," plus two collective compositions/improvisations, display the dedication to structural fluency and sensitivity to coloration that accompanied BAG's unorthodox group dynamics and their unconventional instrumental combinations. This is not a showcase for solos, but a shape-shifting and multi-centered statement of togetherness and discovery.
One of the best records ever from this famous St Louis collective – recorded in Paris a few years after the AACM made their big splash on the city – and done with a very similar feel! The instrumentation is loose, open-ended, and incredibly creative – a wonderful array of sounds, textures, and shapes – played by a lineup that includes Oliver Lake on saxes and flute, Baikida Carroll on trumpet, Joseph Bowie on trombone, Floyd LeFlore on trumpet, and Charles Bobo Shaw on drums and percussion – with additional percussion help from all the other group members, too!
After working for years in the Crusaders, then honing his production skills with excellent work for Fantasy and Mercury, Wayne Henderson put out this album of his own, which drew on a lot of the work he'd been doing during the mid 70s. The album's a showcase for his At Home productions team, and it features work by Bobby Lyle, Roland Bautista, Ronnie Laws, and others. Henderson plays trombone, but he also gets in the way a bit with some hipster vocalizing that doesn't quite work.
Master of the “wah wah” pedal, Melvin Ragin aka guitarist Wah Wah Watson served in the Motown house band throughout the 70’s and has played on albums by Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock, Michael Jackson, The Temptations, Bobby Womack, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Bohannon, Bobbi Humphrey and more. Elementary is Watson’s solo debut and includes, not surprisingly, some of the best session musicians in the game including Louis Johnson, Joe Sample, Ray Parker Jr., and others.
Anyone familiar with Herbie Hancock’s ‘Secrets’ LP from 1976 on Columbia – and in particular the jazz-funk monster that is ‘Doin’ It’ – will be aware of Wah Wah Watson’s formidable prowess as a guitarist. With his wah-wah pedal, echoplex, early guitar synth and voice bag, he’s able to conjure an array of otherworldly sounds and spacey effects that bring a cosmic dimension to a funk groove. Detroit-born Watson – whose real name is Melvin Ragin – was also billed as an associate producer of that album and perhaps due to his crucial input on the LP and Hancock’s influence, he inked a deal with Columbia the same year. What transpired was this album, ‘Elementary’ – its title and cover a pun on Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick Dr. Watson. But despite good reviews the album didn’t sell particularly well and sadly, Watson’s solo career came to an abrupt end. Though briefly available on CD in Europe and Japan several years ago, ‘Elementary’ is now given its first domestic US reissue via Get On Down and proves to be an enthralling melange of funk, soul, and pop.
The opener, ‘Goo Goo Wah Wah,’ is a classic slice of Watson-infused funk: a mesh of syncopated wah-wah lines and soulful ‘talkbox’ licks riding on a heavy groove that’s a close cousin of Hancock’s ‘Doin’ It.’ The rest of the album isn’t nearly as funky but was aimed to demonstrate that Watson was more than a one-trick pony: ‘Love My Blues Away’ is a soaring ballad with vocals and sax fills; likewise, the tender and mellow ‘My Love For You Comes And Goes,’ is a gentle mid-tempo track featuring lead vocals from Watson, with James Jamerson on bass and sanctified harmonies from the Waters family. By contrast, ‘Cry Baby’ is a great piece of bluesy funk. Tenor sax man Ernie Watts appears on the driving, disco-fuelled ‘Together’ while ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is a quirky cabaret-style track. More stylistic variation manifests itself in the shape of ‘Love Ain’t Somethin’ (That You Get For Free),’ a soulful track where Watson’s vocals are supported by excellent background harmonies from the Waters family. Herbie Hancock fans will recognise ‘Bubbles,’ Watson’s short revamp of a track he co-penned with Hancock for the keyboardist’s 1975 album, ‘Man-Child’ (Hancock, in fact, makes a cameo appearance on the track).
This is an album that deserves more recognition and a wider audience and with any luck, Get On Down – who’ve done sterling work in resuscitating cult albums – will achieve that. Wah Wah Watson along with the likes of Eric Gale, Norman Harris, Bobby Eli and Dennis Coffey, is undoubtedly one of the most important guitarists in R&B history.
A funky fusion classic from guitarist Wah Wah Watson – his only album as a leader, despite countless appearances as a sideman on 70s soul, jazz, and pop sessions! The album's got a really wonderful sort of west coast groove – one that takes bits of spacey fusion, bassy funk, and mellower soul – and wraps them up with a fresh and imaginative approach, not to mention plenty of wah wah work on guitar! Players on the set are a superstar array of the best talents in Watson's field
This record is a tip for those who dig their Dexter Wansel and Roy Ayers albums from the same era. Solar Funk from 1979 is still rooted in the Soul/Funk codes of '76-'78. About half of the tracks can be also found on this earlier record from '76, Challenge. Perhaps that was a commercial disadvantage in '79, when the music business was about to make a major change. But from the perspective of the new millennium, this is a negligible aspect. For what counts in this segment of music (instrumental Disco-Funk) is whether the grooves are funky and arrangements consistent and tasteful. The Disco beats have aged, some synths sounds are dated, and the prominent use of the solo violin is an acquired taste. On the other hand, there are some good grooves and some nice jazzy solos, and the album does have a few nice genre pieces: Autumn Jewel; After The Storm. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the Alice Coltrane cinspired Tibetian Serenity, complete with harp arrangement.
Very cool electric funk album with a nice, spacey, jazzy vibe from composer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist Travis Biggs! Travis really crafts an intricately-layered, though easygoing mood here – recalling the crat of heroes like Norman Connors, Roy Ayers and others at the time, though with his own unique style. Biggs plays electric harp (and we don't mean harmonica!), similarly spacey electrified violin, keys, clavinet and violin– and the sound is as summer breeze cool as it as funky. The whole thing's got an amazing sound, especially on the standout "Tibetan Serenity"
Original release from 1976. No catalogue number on cover, spine or labels. "TBC 1001" is etched into the runout groove, though.
To think that this album wasn’t going to be released at all, this guy, who is a serious multi-instrumentalist, wanted to just compile a kind of musical CV showcasing his talents. Luckily a friend of his talked him into releasing this musical CV as an actual album, and thus a very limited run was released on his own self funded TB&C label. Double luckily, Soul Jazz Records have re-released this album on the back of their excellent New Thing! compilation and made it available to us all.
Hats off to Soul Jazz for reissuing this lost gem, as this is one of the finest disco influenced jazz-funk albums I’ve ever heard. Occasionally when disco rhythms were used to make artists/albums more commercial in the mid-late ‘70s, the results could be shockingly bad, but this guy has got it absolutely spot on. Also, one of this guy’s main instruments is the violin, or various forms of it, and his slightly psyched-out playing really adds darker and spacier textures to the whole feel of the album. Every second of this album is totally listenable, but there’s one moment that really stands out for me, and worthy of a mention, and that’s his truly fantastic version of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like An Eagle”. I would never have believed it possible to improve on Steve Miller’s version of this tune, but this guy’s take is just so spacey, plus with a kind of down-home Cajun (ish) fiddle style to it that really adds an interesting twist to it.
Musically I really can’t fault this album anywhere, except maybe for some cheesy vocals on one track, but as Soul Jazz has made this available again for total peanuts (I’ve seen originals going for anything between $100 and $400) then it really is worth checking out if jazz-funk is your bag.
Cool stuff -- and one of the strangest funk records you'll ever hear! Travis Biggs is a keyboardist and violinist -- and he's best known for his one album Solar Funk on the Source label -- but this is an earlier release that predates that one, issued on a small Detroit label, and with a rawer sound overall! The groove is sort of spacey jazz funk fusion -- with vocals on a few cuts, but mostly a focus on the instrumental side of the album -- served up by Travis on Fender Rhodes, synth, organ, harp, mandolin, and electric violin. Some numbers are laidback and mellow, b,ut many others are upbeat and very grooving -- with almost a boogie funk sort of groove! Includes original versions of the tracks "Solar Funk" and "Tibetan Serenity", the latter of which is an excellent instrumental with a very famous sample,
It's almost impossible to keep a straight face while listening to this album, but then, you really shouldn't have to try. It's a document of one of pop music's most simultaneously embarrassing and glorious periods -- the High Disco Era -- when all pretense of lyrical sophistication was abandoned in favor of occasional interjections of "Hey! Get down! Get off your seats and jam!" (a direct quote from this album), every guitar had a wah-wah pedal, and prestige was measured in the size of your horn and string sections. Now this stuff is called "rare groove," and it's at least as much fun now as it was then, maybe more so. Tommy Stewart, king of the legendary Abraxas label, recorded this album back when this candy-covered funk was the happening thing; and it includes, among other classics of the genre, the deathless "Bump and Hustle Music," along with the sexy-kitschy "Fulton County Line," and the charming "Practice What You Preach." The unison voices-and-strings on "Make Happy Music" were a bad, bad idea, but "Riding High" makes up for it by sounding like an airline advertisement circa 1976. A party classic.
Funky genius from the Hotlanta scene of the 70s – the one and only album recorded by Tommy Stewart, a huge force in some of the greatest club tracks of the south, including the massive Spirit Of Atlanta album! The record's a stone winner all the way through – filled with upbeat, uptempo tracks that really bring some funk into the dancefloor. The rhythms are tremendous – all very catchy and snapping, with a groove that goes way past the usual disco record, and which has made the album as much of a favorite amongst funk fans as it has for fans of classic club.
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