PAT MARTINO Baiyina: The Clear Evidence

Pat Martino

"Baiyina: (A Psychedelic Excursion Through the Magical Mysteries of the Koran)

1968, Prestige Records



Wow... Killer, nicely weirded-out tripfest from guitarist Pat Martino. Heavy on heady sitars, tamboura and tabla, this is an ultra-rare release from one of the greatest and most adventurous jazz guitarists of all time. At this point, Martino was thoroughly entranced by Eastern mysticism and John Coltrane [who wasn't?] and the result is a cauldron of mesmerizing ostinato guitar figures set against angular backdrops of Indian polyrhythms and shape-shifting harmonics. This is perhaps one of the oddest releases on the normally straight-ahead soul-jazz torchbearer Prestige Records and an album that has long been considered a definitive document of both flower-power avant-jazz and exploratory world music symbiosis. Bassist Richard Davis is simply on fire here and holds together even the furthest-flung 7/4, 10/8 and 9/4 time signatures like he's playing root-fives over a 4/4 beat. The twelve-minute title track and the thirteen-minute "Distant Lands" are exotic-sounding attempts to convey the culture & the homilies of the Koran via music. It's exciting, exquisite stuff that frequently drifts cloud-like into dark, billowy formations of pure sound and texture furiously powered by whirling dervish beats.... His earlier release on Prestige, the superb "East!" , explored similar terrain in a more strict jazz-guitar based template -- but with equally stunning results.

Black Jazz Records #18 - CALVIN KEYS 'Proceed With Caution'

CALVIN KEYS
'Proceed With Caution'
1974, Black Jazz Records #18








One of the dopest albums on the sublime Black Jazz Records out of Chicago, guitarist Calvin Keys' second LP for the label ups both the musical complexity and the hard street vibe over his earlier, more straight-ahead, but still freakin' amazing 'Shawn-Neeq' album. The sound here is super-dense and constantly roiling, filled with tons of heavy electric piano and, as usual, simply amazing bass work from the best bassist no one's ever heard of, Henry Franklin (who actually released two LPs on Black Jazz himself). Intermingled with free-wheeling snatches of hairy avant jazz-funk like the title track and the intense modal guitar workout of 'Efflugence', you'll find groovy jump-toned paeans to 'Aunt Lovey' and the chilled-out , smooth-move heaven of 'Renaissance'. Another Black Jazz stalwart, keyboardist Kirk Lightsey, alternately pounds and strokes his Fender Rhodes electric piano into submission and the interplay between him and Keys' stun-funk guitar is pure improv magic. Like every other Black Jazz release, I can't recommend this record enough.