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).

SUN RA & HIS SOLAR-MYTH ARKESTRA 'The Solar Myth Approach - Vol.2'

SUN RA & HIS SOLAR-MYTH ARKESTRA

"The Solar Myth Approach-Volume 2"

1970, Actuel Records


One of the more recent additions to my nearly 75-LP strong Sun Ra collection, this release finds the Saturnian legend in full-on beserker mode in 1970. The keyboard/horn freakout in the opener "The Utter Nots" is unchained from the get-go and only further melts down into a glorious caterwaul of pure sound as it slithers along for 11 minutes, leaving no doubt as to where Mr.Ra was really born -- outer space, dude! The unearthly sounds extracted from his rickety Hohner and RMI keyboards veer between alarming mangy-cat-strangling-inside-of-an-amplified-can tones and mellifluous heavily-reverbed chord clusters that presaged dub-reggae production techniques by 5 years. Sun Ra is one of the very few electric keyboardists who you can hear lay down one chord and tell exactly who it is without doubt. The great long-time Arkestra vocalist June Tyson sings the wonderful "Strange Worlds" with a palpable joy borne of either slavish technique or preternatural abandon while Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Pat Patrick , Danny Davis, Danny Thompson -- all stunning musicians who could have made a ton of money as session players but stayed solely with the Arkestra for 30 years or more -- provide the seriously off-kilter yet perfectly organic horn/reed charts that are their private trademark... This stuff is just completely what music should be all about. Way fun, slightly nutty and truly awe-inspiring!

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.