Sounds Of Liberation - 2019 - Unreleased

Sounds Of Liberation

2019

Unreleased

01. Thoughts 4:01

02. Keno 3:50

03. Sweet Evil Mist (Rib Crib) 7:08

04. Badi 5:17

05. New Horizon (Back Streets Of Heaven) 10:43

Artwork – Leroy Butler

Alto Saxophone – Byard Lancaster

Bass – Billy Mills

Congas – Rashid Salim

Drums – Dwight James

Guitar – Monnette Sudler

Percussion – Omar Hill

Vibraphone – Khan Jamal

Recorded in 1973 at Columbia University in NYC.

500 copies LP and 500 copies CD

Active in the Philadelphia of the early ‘70s, Sounds ofLiberation released their sole LP, New Horizons, on the collective self-production vehicle Dogtown Records, named after a section of the Germantown area, northwest of the city.

Working with the musicians, Philadelphia record store Brewerytown Beats has resurrected the imprint for Unreleased, 30 minutes of unheard material from a 1973 Columbia University studio session (multiple versions are being issued, including a Corbett vs. Dempsey CD).

Khan Jamal and Byard Lancaster are the most well-known band members. Their names ring avant garde bells (notably for their work with drummer Sunny Murray), but the group’s approach here is firmly centered on the groove. Dense rhythmic layers are provided throughout by electric bassist Billy Mills, continuously remarkable guitarist Monnette Sudler and the three-man percussive team of Dwight James, Omar Hill and Rashid Salim, primarily on hand drums. After an opening Sudler original, “Thoughts”, the music is mostly a vehicle for Jamal’s vibraphone and Lancaster’s flute and saxophone. The pair pen two compositions each. Saxophonist and engineer Marzette Watts once recalled—in an interview with Chris Flicker and Thierry Trombert—his November 1973 work on an album left unfinished after the adversity faced in the United States prompted Lancaster’s departure for Paris. Mention of an unreleased Lancaster album for the Muse label titled The Back Streets of Heaven appeared soon after in the columns of the French Jazz magazine. Those two bits of information quite possibly tie back to the music presented here.

The engineering is indeed reminiscent of Watts’ work on Ju Ju’s first Strata-East album, A Message from Mozambique, but whatever further investigations might reveal, Unreleased’s detailed mix is another strong point of interest, adding a second layer of listening beyond the groove’s immediacy. The engineering actively shapes the music through strategic uses of reverb or overdubbing. Most interestingly, it not only positions the musicians spatially but also inside the layers of the groove: solos are not automatically brought to the forefront, rather often wrapped inside the rhythmic foundation, nurturing it. The final number, possibly intended as the title track, is a vocal version of the New Horizons theme already featured twice on the eponymous LP. This new take shows the versatility of the band. Unreleased finds the Sounds of Liberation at their most compact and provides a much welcome occasion to look back at the group.

by Pierre Crépon