Pat Martino - 1968 - Baiyina (The Clear Evidence)

Pat Martino

1968 

Baiyina (The Clear Evidence)

01. Baiyina 11:54

02. Where Love's A Grown Up God 6:35

03. Israfel 6:18

04. Distant Land 13:08

Alto Saxophone, Flute – Gregory Herbert

Bass – Richard Davis

Drums – Charlie Persip

Guitar [Second] – Bobby Rose

Guitar – Pat Martino

Tabla – Reggie Ferguson

Tambura – Balakrishna

Recorded in New York; June 11, 1968. A psychedelic excursion through the magical mysteries of the Koran.

Martino’s third album on the Prestige label is probably his first major contribution to modal indo-jazz fusion as a guitarist, though the Indian-born John Mayer was a also contemporary and working with Joe Harriott in London. Though electric guitar in jazz was not exactly new (I can think of Belgian René Thomas), Martino is contemporary to Wes Montgomery and earlier than George Benson, let alone the McLaughlin or Coryell. Recorded over a single day at the beginning of the NY summer of 68, Baiyina is thought to be “a psychedelic excursion though the magical mysteries of the Koran”, whatever that means, but it sports the subtitles The Clear Evidence, which might not be obvious to everyone at first hear.

So the album is a typical fusion product of its time, and even if the word “psychedelic” is more associated with rock music, its jazz equivalent might just sound like the present album, mainly due to the transient presence of tamboura and tabla drums. The Indian music part of this album is more to do the spiritual side of things and complexities of the music (both in scales and time signatures), rather than drug use usually associated with psychedelics.

Clearly, Baiyina is a groundbreaking foray in Indo-jazz fusion, and maybe even one of the precursors in the territory.

Baiyina is quite different from Pat Martino's debut release, El Hombre the year before. For starters it's an acquired taste. Things get pretty trippy as the album cover suggests. There's still some flute but the organ is absent and the tabla is thrown into the mix. The music is a conceptual suite related to the Koran with quite a variety of time signatures. Gregory Herbert reminds me of John Handy when he plays the alto sax, instead of the flute. Bassist Richard Davis is amazing as usual. I thought that Pat Martino would have to change his style significantly to match the theme but amazingly enough he is able to blend Eastern themes with the Blues to achieve the psychedelic feel he wanted.