The Pyramids - 1974 - King Of Kings

The Pyramids 

1974 

King Of Kings

01. Mogho Naba (King Of Kings) 8:35

02. Queen Of The Spirits 13:30

03. Nsorama (The Stars) 18:00

04. My Africa 3:35

Alto Saxophone, Talking Drum, Balafon, Percussion, Talkbox – Bruce Baker, Idris Ackamoor

Bass [Hagstrom], Idiophone [Ugandan Harp], Percussion – Kwame Kimathi Asante, Thomas Williams

Cello, Guest [Guest Artist] – Chris Chafe

Congas, Percussion – Bradie Speller, Hekaptah

Drums, Bongos, Percussion – Donald Robinson 

Flute, Percussion – Margo Ackamoor

Piano, Percussion, Guest [Guest Artist] – Jerome Saunders

Vocals – The Pyramids

They Play to make music Fire,

They Play to make the soul Burst out of the Body. - Vassime

"Recorded in the Country" at Appalachia Sound Recording Studio, Chillicothe, Ohio in March, 1974.

African Statue, courtesy Marvin Jones, Acirfa Company, 1137 E. 50th St., Chicago, Ill.

Some people in America think of jazz and funk as East Coast/West Coast concepts--record companies, clubs, and musicians tend to be based on one or the other. After all, there couldn’t be much of interest coming out of the Midwest, could there? Wrong--in the early 1970s, the Ohio band the Pyramids were laying down sounds that stand the test of time. They mixed jazz (free, bop, and fusion) with powerful funk grooves and elements of African styles. KING OF KINGS has a slightly higher soul/R&B quotient than their other discs, but make no mistake--their singularly powerful, driving, and inclusive approach to rhythm glows throughout.

If you had given me 100 guesses as to where this african spiritual jazz group was from, rural ohio would not have been in those 100 guesses - the world can still surprise me. i've spent my entire life in this state not too far from where they're from and i've never heard about them before, but i'm glad i did. this is some very wild sounding jazz where the frantic percussion and hypnotic bass lines are the star of the show. on top of the frenetic drums, there's enough atonal free jazz to keep things just constantly feeling on the verge of falling apart. sometimes it sort of does, but never before finding a thrilling conclusion. this record never stops being interesting for a single minute of its runtime.

Its stunning that this came out of some college in Rural Ohio, the authenticity and originality rivals some of the best spiritual Jazz, and its done in a way that personally appeals to me immensely. The energy of this album immediately fixes a core issue that I've faced with some Spiritual Jazz, which I often find to be much more loose and flowing, by tightening up the core backings of the album and upping a lot of the intensity. Immediately you can hear just how fantastic the bass and percussion are on this album, both of which stand out as the pillars that allow it to succeed and the pieces of the album that I'm most excited for, with phenomenal basslines and solo's from Kwame, and an absolute plethora of layered percussion that featured both the traditional jazz drum set (Which was played near perfect) and a number of other Afro-Jazz Djembe and Bongos that added enormous percussive depth to the music. The lead instrumentals were obviously fantastic as well, the Flute on Queen of the Spirits was enormously energetic and impressive, the assorted horns featured as leads throughout the album were inspiringly rich and complex, and piano, while a bit rarer as a lead, added a lot more smooth sound to an album that I think would otherwise lack it. Another thing I loved about this album were the vocals fills, despite their simplicity I think they added a ton of authenticity and character to the album, and they felt fully integral to the character and energy of the album.

The album art is super simple but works very effectively, I like the black and white, I like the composition of the photo, and I like the contrast between the light photo and the black title band. Overall, very interesting and well done jazz, I think its one of those albums that sort of bridges the gap between my likes and dislikes for the genre (broadly speaking) and allows me to like more Jazz generally, with everything sounding really great throughout and being super original.

King of Kings was recorded at Appalachia Sound Recording Studio located several hours away from Antioch in Chillicothe, Ohio. Unknown to the band at the time, Chillicothe was the site of ancient Indian burial mounds. This reality added to the very spiritual quality of the recording. The opening track "Mogho Naba" continued the group's fascination and interest in African history and reflections. The Mogho Naba is the King of the Mossi people in what is now Burkina Faso, but dates back in antiquity. The tune's rhythm is infectious. The use of call and response chants and beautiful horn lines is meant to hypnotize and induce trance-elevating spiritual consciousness. "Queen of the Spirits" was written as a dedication to flautist Margaux Simmons. It is one of the band's favorite pieces of music. Utilizing the Ugandan harp, the African one-string fiddle (goge), percussion, piano, and cello, the closing is prescient harking to world music and music for meditation that would come years later. The UK band Bonobo sampled a section of the composition for their European hit album Days to Come.