Acoustic Guitar, Guitar [Amplified], Twelve-String Guitar, Bass Guitar – Ron English
Backing Vocals – Fito Foster
Drums – Victor Reeves
Drums, Percussion – Ronald Johnsons
Electric Guitar – Skeets Curry (tracks: A1)
Electric Piano, Clavinet, Mellotron, Synthesizer – Kenny Cox
Soprano Saxophone, Flute – Buzz Jones
Vocals – Ursula Walker
In 1974, Strata Records Inc. was well known in Detroit for their art gallery, live music venue and record label, turning out records by artists like Kenny Cox and Lyman Woodard. In 2012, nearly 4 decades later, Scion commissioned DJ Amir Abdullah to research and create an exhibit based on lost youth culture in Detroit for a new online museum. Familiar with the history of Strata Inc., Amir decided the best way to define the era was through the lens of the labels brief but potent influence on the city’s culture. Inspired by this project, Amir set out to re-introduce the world to Strata Inc. through his own label, 180 Proof Records.
The Lyman Woodard Organization’s Saturday Night Special (1975) is perhaps the jewel of the label, but the LP that was to follow – Cox’s unreleased Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise, is at the same time radical and sublime. It’s a visionary work, inspired by both the innocence and zeal of his 3-year-old son, Philip, and also the culture of Latin America and Caribbean lands Cox admits in the album’s original liner notes that, “oddly enough…I’ve never seen.”
The title track, “Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise” is a frolicking bossa groove awash in the gentle sound of waves one can imagine lapping against the shores of Brazil’s Praia da Fazenda, or perhaps the Taipus de Fora. “Samba de Romance” teems with the mischievous tones of two lovers playing not cat and mouse, but cat and cat (!), until the chase ends in a passionate nighttime rendezvous in sultry island air.
The pulsating bounce of “Island Song,” with its mood set by Moore’s vibrant flugelhorn and the percussion of Ronald Johnson and Nengue Hernandez, is just about everything one would imagine an island song to be, while “Lost My Love” is really “Feel Like Making Love” in delicious disguise and the album’s close, “Beyond The Dream,” is a 13-minute enlivening, reflective odyssey on everything one has lived, and all that remains to be achieved.
This previously unreleased masterpiece by Kenny Cox has been remastered from the original reel to reel masters, along with the artwork, extensive liner notes and never seen before photos.
The album's a lost gem from the Strata label – home to Lyman Woodard's Saturday Night Special album – and there's definitely a side to this record that's shared with that one – a bit more laidback, definitely, but equally soulful, and mixed with spiritual jazz elements that echo the style of Kenny's Tribe Records contemporaries on the Detroit scene.
Other players include Charles Moore on flugelhorn, Buzz Jones on soprano sax and flute, Ron English on bass, and Skeets Curry on electric guitar – and in addition to Fender Rhodes, Cox also plays clavinet, mellotron, and Arp as well! The set's got a bit of vocals – from Fito Foster and Nengue Hernandez – but the main focus is instrumental, and the long tracks really have the group spinning out beautifully.
Kenny Cox – Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise (1975): The Album That Forgot to Be Miserable
In 1975, while everyone else was busy being “spiritual” or “cosmic,” Detroit pianist Kenny Cox looked at the post-bop landscape, shrugged, and decided to throw a block party instead. The result is Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise, a record so relentlessly upbeat it feels like it’s trying to personally cheer you up after a tax audit.
Cox (the same guy who co-led the mighty Tribe collective) assembles a killer quintet—Charles Eubanks on electric piano, Ron Brooks on bass that walks like it’s got a hot date, the great George Davidson on drums, and a young Larry Nozero on soprano sax who sounds like he just discovered caffeine. They dive head-first into funky vamps, hand-clap breakdowns, and riffs so catchy they should come with a dental warning. The title track literally tells you to clap along—twice!—as if Kenny’s afraid you’ll miss the memo that this is supposed to be FUN.
It’s Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters after three espressos and a hug from Stevie Wonder. “Sassy Ann” struts like a disco queen who read too much Sun Ra, and “Innocent Child” is exactly the kind of wide-eyed groove that makes cynics nervous. Even the ballads bounce instead of mope.
Look, this isn’t profound. It’s not trying to solve the Middle East or summon Coltrane’s ghost. It’s a 38-minute serotonin injection from a guy who clearly woke up on the right side of the piano bench and wanted to share the love. In 1975, that was practically a revolutionary act.
Verdict: Put it on when your playlist starts taking itself too seriously. Side effects may include involuntary smiling and spontaneous finger-snapping. Clap clap, indeed.
https://www.filefactory.com/file/e2z972hcfsvq/N0017.rar
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