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!
