Maulawi - 1974 - Maulawi

Maulawi

1974

Maulawi

01. Street Rap
02. Root In 7/4 Plus
03. Eltition
04. Naima
05. Sphinx Rabbi

Alto Vocals – Joyce Major
Bass – Al Erick, Rufus Reed
Congas – Adam Rudolph, Silas King
Drums – Andy Potter, Michael Fuller
Piano – Jim Cailen
Soprano Vocals – Diane Cunningham
Trombone – Edwin Williams

Recorded in September 1973 in Chicago and released in 1974 by the Detroit-based Strata Records.

Blood should pump nowadays at the mention of another Soul Jazz/Universal Sound release, this one an absolute original that flies in the same circles as some of the greatest jazz and soul records of the early '70s. Maulawi Nururdin's Maulawi covers a staggering landscape, and does a virtual Sherman's March across the territories of funk, blues, post-Palladium latin jazz, samba, and his own unique take on the outtasphere; burning it all down with punishing resolve, and reviving it all in his own image. Maulawi, Nururdin's solo album that died a commercial death shortly after its 1974 release, reveals a palette of compositional depth and sonic intelligence that Nururdin would have had a tough time topping had he recorded again. The product of an era rife with social and political tension, this work highlights a street-hot assembly of musicians as they document their composer/bandleader's detailed, colloquial vision.

A product of Chicago's disparate musical heritages, Maulawi's music, at its roots, shines and glows with the same crackling energy as predecessors like Sun Ra, Muddy Waters and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Nururdin, himself a multi-instrumentalist, composer and band leader, places his own thumbprint high atop the mix with his sax playing, a sweet, razor-thin layer of liberation to the often dense, and sometimes dark, journeys in sound. Stacks of percussion drive the body of this work, buoyed by the staccato thrust of Rufus Reed's bass work, and every song on Maulawi jerks the listener sideways and back again with shifts in key, time and timbre.

The opening track, “Street Rap,” forges a deep swinging funk with the overheated static of a summer evening in a Chicago 'hood; neighbors and passersby engage in both friendly conversation and in-yo-face debate (“you act like I'm blind in one eye and can't see out the other!”) as the band responds with Rhodes counterpunches and warped clavier jabs. The balance of inner jazz calm and shimmering facade of aural chaos occasionally recall the squawking abandon of Miles' Evil Live, but the undying groove plots closer to the same Chi-town vibe that permeates some of Curtis Mayfield's work from the roughly the same era and a few years before, including “We're A Winner” and “(Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go.” In the same way Mayfield pushed the ceiling of funk with his reedy, wavering falsetto, Nururdin pushes that end of the spectrum even higher, with vocal arrangements sung by alto Joyce Major (co-composer on nearly all tracks) and soprano Diane Cunningham, adding a virtual jet stream of shrill, but essential and angelic harmony.

Dueling congueros Adam Rudolph (who, interestingly, records now for Soul Jazz under the name Hu Vibrational) and Silas King provide a tense, push-me pull-you foundation of authentic latin rumble. The two percussionists, along with Reed, bassist Al Erick and two drummers, push tracks through multiple changes, exploring Afro-latin rhythms like palo and mambo (“Eltition”), downshifting to a subdued 6/8 clave feel in others, and turning the Coltrane ballad “Naima” almost upside down and celebratory, releasing it from the blues with a blissful samba chorus, featuring the almost flute-like voices of Major and Cunningham. Even when the rhythm section descends into moments of dissonant, fluttering chaos (only at the direction of Maulawi: evidence abounds of this ensemble's unflappable discipline), there's a persistent, shining optimism to the unified voice of the musicians here. Maulawi provides a gritty snapshot of a scrappy ensemble cutting a deep, brooding groove. This is the voice of a gifted composer and bandleader capturing a complex, fearful era without uttering a single word.

Originally recorded in Chicago in Sep 1973, and released by a small independent label in Detroit the following year. The music fell between the gap of the avant-garde and straight-ahead jazz, and had elements of Funk and Latin that were rare at the time that meant that commercially it sank without a trace - but, thirty years on, we can see that these are exactly the elements that help make it a unique album, years ahead of its time. Maulawi grew up in Chicago and, as the album sleeve states, was part of the great heritage of Chicago music that ranged from the electric blues of Muddy Waters, the straight ahead jazz of Ahmad Jamal, through to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, Anthony Braxton and other members of the avant-garde royalty. As a saxophonist he was also part of the tradition of great Chicago horn-players that includes Gene Ammons, Eddie Harris, Johnny Griffin and many more. Maulawi had led his own group since the 1960s and a number of young musicians came up through his group – Billy Greenfield, Jack DeJohnette, Jerome Cooper and on this album a16 year old Adam Rudolph (who currently records on Soul Jazz Records as Hu Vibrational). Maulawi was a multi-instrumentalist and bandleader and although he specialised on saxophones, also played oboe, piano, drums and more. His career was on the periphery of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the collective of avant-garde musicians in Chicago that included Richard Muhal Abrams, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Amina Claudine Myers – he was never a member but often played with those involved in this musical community, musicians such as Billy Brentfield and Fred Anderson. In 1973 the group went into the studio to record this one record for Strata Records in Detroit, an independent label run by Kenny Cox (who himself had led the Contemporary Jazz Quintet on Blue Note Records) and Charles Moore. A planned association that never worked out also led to the birth of another label, Strata East Records in New York, run by Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell. Welcome to the world of Maulawi!