An incredible record – the kind of album that no fan of funky jazz
should be without! This album is far and away one of the greatest ever
cut by Brother Jack McDuff – and it's a baroquely complicated batch of
funky jazz cuts that's still light years ahead of any other record! The
tracks are much longer than you'll find on Jack's other work – and the
group plays these lines that are laidback and trippy, yet which still
have a tremendous amount of funk in them. Guitar sets the tone, spacing
out over the drums of the great Joe Dukes; electric bass rumbles at
all the low, dark spots; flute and tenor sax cut some sharp edges in
the void; and the organ of Brother Jack comes in over the top, and
soars with cosmic lines of sound!
Tony Allen and Art Blakey have a lot in common. As pioneering percussionists, each represents peak performance in their respective fields—Allen as the premier drummer
in Afrobeat and Blakey as the one who put the “hard” in hard bop. Yet
that each one is defined by a unique instrumental technique is also what
separates the two. Art Blakey was one of jazz’s heaviest hitters, his
rhythmic style lending an otherwise “cool” sound more than its share of
fire and passion. Yet Allen’s role in Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 was almost
the inverse, his rhythmic consistency almost trance-like against the
exclamatory sound of Kuti’s saxophone and choir of vocalists. They’re
musicians connected by a common strand of sonic DNA yet what they do is
distinctively their own.
To hear Allen take on the music of Art Blakey in a new EP, A Tribute to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers,
is then a pretty interesting proposition. By and large, this brief,
albeit mighty release is a reflection more on Blakey’s impact on jazz
than Allen’s interpretation of it, necessarily. The set contains four
tracks which were made legendary in the hands of Blakey, whose punchy,
snare-heavy approach gave them an extra bit of intensity thereby helping
to usher in an era of hard-bop in which jazz had moved on from more
laid-back jam sessions to outright shredding. Few tracks are as
emblematic of this shift as “A Night in Tunisia,” which Blakey sped up
and cranked to its limit. Allen, however, puts his own identifiable spin
on it, his light-wristed patter leaning more on his signature Afrobeat
sound than its more manic source material. Similarly, “Moanin'” has a
head-nodding groove seemingly fit for a ’70s-era detective feature; this
isn’t cool jazz, but damn is it cool.
The versions of “Politely” and “The Drum Thunder Suite” that Allen
leads are similarly intoxicating, the latter in particular. In fact,
that’s one area where Allen’s performance most strongly seems to channel
Blakey’s own. Allen and his band lose themselves in a stunning take on
the rhythmically driven career standout of Blakey’s, its sound as
majestic and urgent as ever. Allen and his band aren’t in the business
of playing Blakey’s music exactly as he did, though this is music
treated with reverence and affection. It draws a line from ’50s and ’60s
era jazz to ’70s era Afrobeat and continues onto the present, all the
while, the sound losing none of its power or appeal along the journey.
A rare set from French keyboardist Martial Solal – and one of his few
funky records! The set features Solal on electric and acoustic piano,
playing in a trio that includes Bernard Lubat on drums and Henri Texier
on bass – and the tunes on the set have a rolling funky feel that's
great all the way through. A number of tracks seem to blend the
acoustic and electric piano using overdubs, creating a nice counterpoint
on the keys – one that fills out the sound a lot more than a typical
trio album, and which puts Solal at the head of some very tasty grooves!
One of the greatest albums ever by studio genius David Axelrod! The
album's one of Axelrod's first on his own – cut for Capitol Records at a
time when he was working with some of the label's biggest selling soul
acts – like Cannonball Adderley and Lou Rawls – turning their
already-successful sounds into super-hit material by adding some nice
funky touches, and excellent baroque production. This album lets
Axelrod fully explore his talents for larger studio arrangements and
complex yet soulful instrumentation. The record is subtitled "an
anthology of awareness after birth, based on the 18th century poems of
William Blake" – and it features incredible arrangements conducted by
Don Randi, played by a host of excellent LA jazz and studio players.
The overall sound is spacey and dark, with nice touches of funk, and
plenty of cool instrumental passages that have been sampled over the
years by hip hoppers and other producers.
A mighty nice set from Berkely Ike Jones – guitarist and one of the
founders of the legendary Blo – working here in a groove that's a bit
more Afro disco overall, but which still has all the great touches of
his previous work! The music's plenty funky, but more in a clubby way
than some of the more familiar Afro Funk modes you might know from the
mid 70s – with lyrics in English, and an overall vibe that's like the
best post-colonial work coming from the Paris and London scenes at the
time! Part of the album was recorded in London, which may account for
the vibe – and the instrumentation is tightly played, but never slick.
Some of the trippiest sound library material we've ever heard from
Sandro Brugnolini – in part because the core group here is a psychedelic
combo, which might have led to a few of the tracks being used in a
short animated film on Sharon Tate and Charles Manson! Yet as with most
of the great sound library albums of the time, the music is way more
than conventional – as guitar, organ, bass, and drums are arranged,
recorded, and produced in very unusual ways – with a really open ear
towards the fuller, larger sound – which includes great effects and
other elements along the way!
