HISTORY of BLACK JAZZ RECORDS

One of my favorite record collector pursuits is amassing the complete output of certain labels. It's big fun to own every LP on a particular label and hear the musical trajectory of the artists develop over time. And if you dig what one group or musician is all about, there's likely similar performers to be found in the catalog. 

Of course, this geeky wannabe-hoarder goal becomes easier with smaller labels that had fewer releases compared to behemoths like Columbia Records or even Blue Note or Prestige Records where collecting every original LP could prove a full lifetime's (expensive) pursuit. 

Some hip small record labels of special interest to me include Detroit's 1970s-empowered Tribe Records, the spiritual/modal jazz powerhouse Strata-East Records and the adventurous Cobblestone Records from NYC, all of whom released a bare handful of records in an aware style of Afro-Jazz music heavy on feeling and groove.

Black Jazz Records released only 20 or so original LPs during its short existence from about 1971-1975. All the original pressing Black Jazz LP titles are in heavy demand and some have become exorbitantly priced over the years. In a nod to the short-lived 4-speaker 'Quad' era of Hi-Fi, many of the original albums were recorded in true Quadraphonic sound (stereo compatible). 

The label's biggest 'star' was perhaps keyboardist/composer Walter Bishop Jr., famous for playing BeBop jazz as Charlie Parker's pianist, but found here in funky pan-Afrodelic regalia for his two stellar Black Jazz releases. Another Black Jazz stalwart was keyboardist/composer Doug Carn who along with his then-wife Jean Carn put out four stunning records for the label, each a minor masterpiece of post-Coltrane spiritual funk-jazz dopeness. 

The executive director responsible for gathering these fuzzy lights of the underground jazz scene was soul-jazz pianist (and occasional actor) Gene Russell who recorded the first LPs on the label and produced many Black Jazz releases for other artists. Unfortunately, the label's independent distribution ensured the records stayed scarce and, likely, few Black Jazz titles sold much over 25,000 original copies, accounting for their rarity today in mint condition. 

The private-press look of the early jackets probably didn't help sales: a basic black & white cardboard cover repeated on both sides. They may appear low-budget to some, but the homespun look of the first Black Jazz LPs remain crudely endearing to us record collector geeks.

This is the kind of head-noddingly funky modal jazz and instrumentally expansive funk/soul you'll rarely hear on the radio (even then), but to my ear it remains among the most intelligently played and satisfying, multi-layered music found anywhere. I hope to address every Black Jazz release in chronological catalog order. And yes collectors, these are all original first-pressing LPs!

Black Jazz Records #5 CALVIN KEYS 'Shawn-Neeq'

From the very first majestic wave of sound on 'Shawn-Neeq', it's clear guitarist Calvin Keys is setting off on an inspired, mystical trip. Rarely is instrumental music so perfectly conceived and executed with such fire and precision that it creates its own torsioned universe. The molten interplay and interlocking dynamics of the band display a command of an unspoken, bottomless musical language part funk-jazz, part Coltrane-ian modalism and unfailingly grooves hard throughout. The title track ranks as one of the top experiences in funky/spiritual jazz, glowing with a warm, burnished hue for its full 6 minutes as Keys' guitar and Larry Nash's Rhodes electric piano meld into a lovely, drifting wash of organic sound. The second side contains only two long tracks, 'Gee-Gee' and 'BK', both of which take jazz guitar into the stellar regions of  the wonderful. Without doubt every track here is a classic of the genre. I can not recommend this LP enough. One of my favorite albums perhaps topped only by Keys' other Black Jazz release 'Proceed With Caution' (reviewed elsewhere in this blog).

Black Jazz Records #4 - RUDOLPH JOHNSON 'Spring Rain'

                                                                                                                                                                                              Perhaps one of the most straight-up jazz releases of the Black Jazz Records catalog, the little-known saxophonist's first of two LPs on the label finds him in a swinging hard-bop mood, although not above a killer breakbeat or two in the stone classic 'Diswa' or downtown jazz-funk dance moves in 'Devon Jean'. Tightly floating tenor sonorities ricochet off boundless open space in this great 1972 acoustic recording, basically presaging the German mid-70s ECM Records sound with a deep-focus soundstage, judicious use of reverbed room echo and a great 'out-front' horn tone. Late night mellow gold.

Black Jazz Records #3 - DOUG CARN 'Infant Eyes'

After recording a rather straight Hammond B-3 organ trio LP for Savoy Records in the mid-1960s, Doug Carn's music became informed with his new-found Muslim spiritual beliefs on 'Infant Eyes', his 1971 LP and first of four released on Black Jazz Records. Joined by wife Jean Carn on operatic space-soul vocals, this is music infused with call-to-prayer incantations that soars freely and echoes within its own still spaces. Amid stately Fender Rhodes washes and sustained B-3 minor chords, complex harmonic snake-charming from flute, tenor sax, trombone and trumpet underpin Jean's righteous jazz vocals which are indebted to June Tyson's tough grit and welded to a sweet-singing Dinah Washington-like sense of phrase. Inventive, sensitive re-imaginings of John Coltrane's 'Welcome', 'Acknowledgement' and 'Peace' make plain the lineage of this music back to classic modern jazz but with a new fresh take via early 1970s revolutionary culture. A fantastic, quietly funky listening experience.

Black Jazz Records #1 - GENE RUSSELL New Directions

A rollicking hard-piano groove soul-jazz LP and a fairly straight-ahead start to the Black Jazz label. 'New Directions' is not a particularly intensely funky release nor one offering much of a modal electric feel but Black Jazz Records label producer/ executive director Gene Russell's very first album for his own label offers lots of chestnut standards like 'On Green Dolphin Street', 'Willow Weep For Me', 'Black Orpheus', and (Horace's) 'Silver Serenade', all played with a loose punchy Steinway piano slam that's quite similar to Russell's "Up, Up & Away" LP on Decca from the mid-1960's or something you'd hear from the early The Three Sounds or perhaps Quartette Tres Bien. Eddie Harris' huge smash 'Listen Here' is the likely stand-out track although Stevie Wonder's 'My Cherie Amour' is also typically lovely and smooth-swinging. Certainly a nice record but the best was yet to come, funk-heads!

Black Jazz Records #2 - WALTER BISHOP JR Coral Keys

Serious grooves and deep Afro-centric flavor here on rippling Steinway piano from Charlie Parker's late-period accompanist/ band leader. 'Soul Turnaround' is perhaps one of the top five tracks within the 'rare groove' genre and showcases a juggernaut rhythmic propulsion coupled with a sweet samba-feel descending scale lick that lingers in your head as it makes your body uncontrollably shake around for its entire 8 minutes. 'Coral Keys' is another funky, smoky modal swinger featuring New Orleans monster drummer Idris Muhammad laying it down heavy & hot from the bass drum up, alongside horn giant Harold Vick and trumpet virtuoso Woody Shaw. A superbly funky jazz LP and a perfect foreshadowing of the more electric sounds awaiting in the wings of the Black Jazz Records stable.

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.