Norman Connors - Dance of Magic (1972)

Recorded with a who's who of fusion titans including trumpeter Eddie Henderson, bassist Stanley Clarke, and keyboardist Herbie Hancock, Dance of Magic channels the lessons drummer Norman Connors learned in the employ of Pharoah Sanders, Sam Rivers, and Sun Ra, marshaling Latin rhythms, electronic textures, and cosmic mysticism to create nondenominational yet deeply spiritual funk-jazz. The sprawling 21-minute title cut spans the entirety of the record's first half, capturing a monumental jam session that explores the outer edges of free improvisation but never steps past the point of no return. Connors' furious drumming is like a trail of bread crumbs that leads his collaborators back home. The remaining three tracks are smaller in scale but no less epic in scope, culminating with the blistering "Give the Drummer Some."

By Jason Ankenny in All Music

Styles:
Fusion
Crossover
Funk-Jazz
Avant-Garde

Tracks:
01 - Dance Of Magic (21:00)
02 - Morning Change (06:29)
03 - Blue (10:20)
04 - Give The Drummer Some (02:22)

Line-up:
Norman Connors - Drums
Stanley Clarke - Bass
Cecil McBee - Bass
Herbie Hancock - Piano, Fender Rhodes, Electric Piano
Gary Bartz - Alto & Soprano Saxophones
Carlos Garnett - Tenor & Soprano, Saxophones
Art Webb - Flute
Eddie Henderson - Trumpet
Anthony Wiles - Baliphone
Airto Moreira - Percussion
Alphonse Mouzon - Percussion
Anthony Wiles - Percussion
Billy Hart - Percussion

Woody Shaw - The Moontrane (1974)

In a genre full of tragically short-lived performers, Woody Shaw's story is exceptionally tragic. Legally blind and beset with emotional problems, he was killed in a subway accident in 1989 without ever attaining the recognition attentive listeners knew he deserved. The Mosaic box set of his Columbia recordings a few years ago placed him in a linear development of trumpet players between Hubbard and Marsalis; this was, no doubt, a highly questionable analysis (mainly because it left out Miles Davis altogether), but it indicated the high regard and influence Shaw has had — or should have had — over other trumpet players.

The Moontrane, recorded in late 1974, was Shaw's breakthrough album. It is aptly named, for although Shaw was during his lifetime routinely (and with relative inaccuracy) compared to Hubbard, he sounds more like John Coltrane. Now to replicate Coltrane's lightning runs and dense harmonic lines on trumpet is no mean feat; Shaw not only does it repeatedly, but with impeccable precision and taste. The Moontrane sports the Coltrane-ish tenor and soprano man Azar Lawrence, who was also part of McCoy Tyner's Coltrane-ish modal recordings of the early Seventies.
"Sanyas," by a young Steve Turre, who is also part of Shaw's basic quartet, is a modal workout with some intense soprano work by Lawrence, recalling the reedy Eastern feel of many of Coltrane's soprano recordings. Shaw is simply stunning here, with long clean lines to take the breath away. Then comes pianist Onaje Allen Gumbs, a Shaw favorite, playing unplugged on this track a first-rate McCoy Tyner impersonation. Cecil McBee plays bass on three tracks, Buster Williams on two. (There are also two alternates, both featuring McBee.) Victor Lewis on drums keeps things going, but doesn't light any fires. Percussionists Tony Waters and Guilherme Franco join in here and there.
"The Moontrane" became Shaw's signature tune. Here it gets a straightforward reading enlivened by the sterling trumpet of the master himself. "Tapscott's Blues" is more passionate, with Lawrence and Shaw vying intriguingly for Best Post-Coltrane Solo honors. Turre sounds throughout the disc a little less developed than the trombonist he has subsequently become, but that doesn't mean he doesn't hold up his end. Actually, as the only one of the frontmen not to be deeply influenced by the Coltrane Quartet, he adds piquancy to the sound.
"Katrina Ballerina" is a boppish tune with more stunning work from Shaw, whose fluency in the trumpet's lower register is just as striking as his speed.
Gumbs shines on his own "Are They Only Dreams," as does Turre on the opening sections of his "Sanyas." Shaw himself penned "The Moontrane" and "Katrina Ballerina," putting him in the group of great jazz performers who could write their own great tunes. Alas that he didn't write more.

By Robert Spencer in All About Jazz

Styles:
Hard-Bop
Post-Bop

Tracks:
01 - The Moontrane (06:54)
02 - Sanyas (13:05)
03 - Tapscott´s Blues (06:41)
04 - Katrina Ballerina (07:36)
05 - Are They Only Dreams (09:12)
06 - Tapscott´s Blues (Alt.) (06:50)
07 - Katrina Ballerina (Alt.) (08:01)

Line-up:
Woody Shaw - Trumpet
Azar Lawrence - Sax tenor
Steve Turre - Trombone
Onaje Allen Gumbs - Piano
Cecil McBee - Bass except 1, 5
Buster Williams - Bass
Victor Lewis - Drums
Tony Waters - Conga
Guilherme Franco - Percussion on 2, 4, 5, 7

Pharoah Sanders - Jewels of Thought (1969)

In 1969, Pharoah Sanders was incredibly active, recording no less than four albums and releasing three. The band on Jewels of Thought is largely the same as on Deaf Dumb Blind and Karma, with a few changes. Idris Muhammad has, with the exception of "Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah Hum Allah," replaced Roy Haynes, and Richard Davis has permanently replaced Reggie Workman and Ron Carter, though Cecil McBee is still present for the extra bottom sound. Leon Thomas and his trademark holy warble are in the house, as is Lonnie Liston Smith. Comprised of two long cuts, the aforementioned and "Sun in Aquarius," Jewels of Thought sees Sanders moving out from his signature tenor for the first time and delving deeply into reed flutes and bass clarinet. The plethora of percussion instruments utilized by everyone is, as expected, part of the mix. "Hum-Allah" begins with a two-chord piano vamp by Smith and Thomas singing and yodeling his way into the band's improvisational space. For 12 minutes, Sanders and company mix it up -- especially the drummers -- whipping it first quietly down into the most pure melodic essences of Smith's solo and then taking the tension and building to ecstatic heights with all manner of blowing and intervallic interaction between the various elements until it just explodes, before coming down in pieces and settling into a hush of melodic frames and the same two-chord vamp. On "Sun in Aquarius," African thumb pianos, reed flutes, sundry percussion, and orchestra chimes are employed to dislocate all notions of Western music. Things get very quiet (though there is constant motion); the innards of the piano are brushed and hammered quietly before Sanders comes roaring out of the tense silence with his bass clarinet, and then the tenor and bass share an intertwined solo and Smith starts kicking ass with impossibly large chords. It moves into another two-chord vamp at the end of 27 minutes, to be taken out as a closed prayer. It's more like a finished exorcism, actually, but it is one of the most astonishing pieces by Sanders ever.

by Thom Jurek in All Music Guide

Styles:
Progressive Jazz
Post Bop
Free-Jazz
Yodel

Tracks:
01 - Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah-Hum-Allah (15:04)
02 - Sun in Aquarius (27:51)

Line-up:
Pharoah Sanders - tenor saxophone, contrabass clarinet, reed flute, African thumb piano, orchestra chimes, percussion
Leon Thomas - vocals, percussion
Lonnie Liston Smith - piano, African flute, African thumb piano, percussion
Idris Muhammad - drums, percussion
Roy Haynes - drums
Cecil McBee - bass, percussion
Richard Davis - bass, percussion

Sam Rivers - Streams (1973)

Since his final Blue Note session in 1967, Sam Rivers' music got freer and freer, as audiences were able to hear when he signed to Impulse at the beginning of the '70s. Streams was the recorded apex of his early-'70s move into full-fledged free jazz, a continuous 50-minute trio improvisation recorded live at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival. The music is pure stream-of-consciousness -- no discernible pre-set themes, just free-flowing ideas and interaction among the musicians (who also include bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Norman Connors). What's truly amazing about the set is that Rivers' streams of consciousness are more like, well, rivers. He draws from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of fresh soloing ideas -- on four different instruments -- and his playing is busy and nearly continuous throughout, stopping only to switch instruments or punctuate his lines with an excited shout. The album's title refers to the way the different sections of Rivers' improvisation connect and flow into one another, but more impressive is the fact that there are so many sections in the first place. Rivers' tenor sax playing opens the album, and it's as potent a blend of the visceral and intellectual as usual. His rhythmically and harmonically adventurous flute work follows, then a section of angular piano somewhat indebted to Cecil Taylor; things wrap up with a high-energy soprano sax dialogue that features some fantastically driving, muscular work by McBee. He and Connors color in between Rivers' stunning overflow of ideas very effectively, pushing the leader wherever possible. It's a shame there aren't more documents of this phase in Rivers' career, though that could be said of pretty much all of his phases. If it's Rivers the free improviser you're looking for, Streams is a tour de force and one of the highlights of his extremely distinguished career.

by Steve Huey in All Music Guide

Styles:
Free-Jazz
Avant-Garde

Tracks:
01 - Spoken Introduction (01:18)
02 - Tenor Saxophone Section/Beginning of Flute Section (23:15)
03 - Conclusion of Flute Section/Piano Section/Soprano Saxophone Section (25:14)

Line-up:
Sam Rivers - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute, Piano
Cecil McBee - Bass
Norman Connors - Drums, Gongs

Lonnie Liston Smith - Astral Traveling (1973)

Lonnie Liston Smith was 32 when, in 1973, he finally got around to recording his first album as a leader, Astral Traveling. By that time, the pianist/keyboardist had a great deal of sideman experience under his belt, and this superb debut made it clear that former employers like Pharoah Sanders, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Gato Barbieri, and Betty Carter had taught him well. One hears a lot of Sanders, John Coltrane, and McCoy Tyner influence on Astral Traveling; Smith obviously shares their passion for all things spiritual. Nonetheless, this LP leaves no doubt that the improviser is very much his own man and has a wealth of brilliant ideas of his own; thankfully, he has a cohesive band to help him carry them out. On Astral Traveling, Smith's 1973 edition of the Cosmic Echoes includes George Barron on soprano and tenor sax, Joe Beck on guitar, Cecil McBee on bass, David Lee Jr. on drums, James Mtume and Sonny Morgan on percussion, Badal Roy on Indian tabla drums, and Geeta Vashi on the Indian tamboura. An impressive lineup, and one that shows a great understanding of Smith's spiritual nature. Ninety-five percent of the time, Astral Traveling is serene and tranquil; but on "I Mani (Faith)," the unexpected interesting happens when Barron goes outside during his sax solo and gets into the type of dissonant, forceful screaming one would expect from Albert Ayler or late-period Coltrane. "I Mani (Faith)" has a hauntingly peaceful melody, but Barron's out-of-left-field solo makes it the most avant-garde track that Smith ever recorded as a leader. Produced by the late Bob Thiele -- an eclectic heavyweight who worked with everyone from Coltrane, Ayler, and Charles Mingus to Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong -- Astral Traveling is among Smith's most essential and rewarding albums.

by Alex Henderson in All Music Guide

Styles:
Fusion
Post-Bop
Jazz-Funk

Tracks:
01 - Astral Traveling (05:33)
02 - Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord (06:21)
03 - Rejuvenation (05:33)
04 - I Mani (Faith) (06:11)
05 - In Search of Truth (07:18)
06 - Aspirations (04:35)

Line-up:
Lonnie Liston Smith - Acoustic & Electric Piano, Organ,Guitar,Vocals
Joe Beck - Guitar
Cecil McBee - Bass
Lonnie Badal Roy - Tabla
George Barron - Sax Soprano &Tenor
James Mtume - Percussion,Conga
Sonny Morgan - Percussion,Conga
Geeta Vashi - Tabla,Tambourine
David Lee - Drums

Sam Rivers - Dimensions And Extensions (1967)

Ambitious, atonal, challenging -- all are accurate descriptions of Dimensions and Extensions, Sam Rivers' fourth album for Blue Note. Rivers remains grounded in hard bop structure, working with a sextet featuring Donald Byrd (trumpet), James Spaulding (alto saxophone, flute), Julian Priester (trombone), Cecil McBee (bass), and Steve Ellington (drums), but he explodes the boundaries of the form with difficult, dissonant compositions. With his unique, mercurial tone and edgy solos, he keeps pushing the sextet in different directions. It's intense, cerebral music, but since it has distinct themes and strong rhythms, the forays into free jazz, dissonant harmonies, and unpredictable tonal textures are actually quite accessible. Rivers simply burns on each track, whether playing tenor, soprano, or flute. Byrd doesn't display the wild imagination of Rivers, yet he keeps the pace with alternately languid and biting solos. Similarly, each of the remaining musicians makes a lasting impression with his individual time in the spotlight. With music as risky at this, it's forgivable that it occasionally meanders (especially on the slower numbers) but, overall, Dimensions and Extensions offers more proof that Sam Rivers was one of the early giants of the avant-garde.

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine in All Music Guide

Styles:
Post-Bop
Avant-Garde

Tracks:
01 - Precis (05:21)
02 - Paean (05:25)
03 - Effusive Melange (05:49)
04 - Involution (07:14)
05 - Afflatus (06:28)
06 - Helix (05:30)

Line-up:
Sam Rivers – Tenor Sax, Soprano Sax, Flute
James Spaulding – Alto Sax, Flute
Donald Byrd – Trumpet
Julian Priester – Trombone
Cecil McBee – Bass
Steve Ellington - Drums

Pharoah Sanders - Deaf Dumb Blind (Summun Bukmun Umyun) (1970)

After Karma was issued and Sanders had established himself -- to himself -- as a musician who had something valuable and of use to say, he was on what this critic considers to be a divinely inspired tear. Deaf Dumb Blind is an example of that inspiration. Beginning with the title cut, a suite of over 21 minutes, Sanders brings in the whole of his obsession with rhythm and R&B. Using African percussion, bylophones, shakers, cowbells, and all manner of percussion, as well as drummer Clifford Jarvis, Sanders brought in Cecil McBee to hold down the bass chair and Lonnie Liston Smith back in on piano, and added a three-piece horn section that included Gary Bartz on alto and Woody Shaw on trumpet in addition to himself. Whew! Here the Latin and African polyrhythms collide and place the horns, as large and varied as they are, in almost a supplementary role. The horns check counterpoint in striated harmony, calling and responding over the wash of bass and drums and drums and drums! It evolves into a percussion orgy before the scary otherworldly multiphonic solos begin. And Shaw and Bartz are worthy foils for Sanders. And no matter how out it gets, those rhythms keep it rooted in the soul. "Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord" is almost 18 minutes in length. It has a long soprano intro, covered in shimmering bells and shakers with a glorious piano fill by Smith, who becomes more prominent, along with some excellent arco work by McBee, until the piece becomes a meditation on lyricism and silence about halfway through. The entire band eventually rejoins for a group ostinato with very little variation, except in timbre and subtle accented color work by Sanders and McBee. It is a stunningly beautiful and contemplative work that showcases how intrinsic melodic phrasing and drones were to Sanders at the time -- and still are today. This piece, and this album, is a joyful noise made in the direction of the divine, and we can feel it through the speakers, down in the place that scares us.

by Thom Jurek in All Music Guide

Styles:
Avant-Garde
Free-Jazz
Progressive Jazz

Tracks:
01 - Summun, Bukmun, Umyun (21:16)
02 - Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord (17:46)

Line-up:

Pharoah Sanders – soprano saxophone, cow horn, bells, tritone whistle, cowbells, wood flute, thumb piano, percussion
Woody Shaw – trumpet, maracas, yodeling, percussion
Gary Bartz – alto saxophone, bells, cowbell, shakers, percussion
Lonnie Liston Smith – piano, cowbell, thumb piano, percussion
Cecil McBee – bass
Clifford Jarvis – drums
Nathaniel Bettis – bylophone, yodeling, African percussion
Anthony Wiles – conga drum and African percussion

Leon Thomas - Spirits Known and Unknown (1969)

Leon Thomas' debut solo recording after his tenure with Pharoah Sanders is a fine one. Teaming with a cast of musicians that includes bassist Cecil McBee, flutist James Spaulding, Roy Haynes, Lonnie Liston Smith, Richard Davis, and Sanders (listed here as "Little Rock"), etc. Thomas' patented yodel is in fine shape here, displayed alongside his singular lyric style and scat singing trademark. The set begins with a shorter, more lyrical version of Thomas' signature tune "The Creator Has a Master Plan," with the lyric riding easy and smooth alongside the yodel, which bubbles up only in the refrains. It's a different story on his own "One," with Davis' piano leading the charge and Spaulding blowing through the center of the track, Thomas alternates scatting and his moaning, yodeling, howling, across the lyrics, through them under them and in spite of them. It's an intense ride and one that sets up the glorious "Echoes." This tune is Thomas at his most spiritual and uplifting, carrying the mysterious drift of his tune entwined with Spaulding's flute and a set of Pan pipes, fluttering in and out of the mix before his wail comes to the fore as a solo. The end of side one reaches into Thomas' past (he sang with everyone from Count Basie to Grant Green and Mary Lou Williams) for a highly original read of Horace Silver's classic "Song for My Father." Thomas imbues the tune with so much emotion, it's a wonder he can keep it under wraps. Side two is more free from in nature with "Damn Nam," a near rant, but one possessed with melodic vision and harmonic invention with this band. There's also the deeply moving "Malcolm's Gone," a co-write between Thomas and Sanders that features the latter's gorgeous blowing, hard and true in the middle of the mix, and a wildly spiritual Eastern vibe coming through in the improvisation. It's the longest track on the record, and one of the most criminally ignored in Thomas' long career. The album closes with Bell and Houston's "Let the Rain Fall on Me." It's a shimmering straight jazz number with a beautiful piano solo by Smith. It sends out a visionary album out on a sweet, soulful note. Ultimately, this is among Thomas' finest moments on vinyl, proving his versatility and accessibility to an audience who, for too long already, had associated him too closely with the avant-garde and free jazz.

Styles:
Avant-Garde
Yodel
Progressive Jazz

Tracks:
01 - Creator Has a Master Plan (Peace) (04:27)
02 - One (03:10)
03 - Echoes (05:42)
04 - Song For My Father (05:21)
05 - Damn Nam (Ain't Going to Vietnam) (04:46)
06 - Malcom's Gone (08:45)
07 - Let the Rain Fall on Me (05:39)
08 - Um, Um, Um (05:25)
09 - Night in Tunisia (08:27)
10 - Take the A Train [Alternate Take #1] (02:15)
11 - Take the A Train [Alternate Take #2] (02:09)
12 - Take the A Train [Master Take] (02:08)
13 - Walkin [Alternate Take] (02:34)
14 - Walkin [Master Take] (02:32)
15 - Willow weep for Me [Alternate Take ] (02:40)
16 - Willow weep for Me [Master Take] (02:34)
17 - If It Didn't Hurt So Much [Alternate Take] (02:41)
18 - If It Didn't Hurt So Much [Master Take] (02:35)

Line-up:
Leon Thomas - vocals
Lonnie Liston Smith - piano
James Spaulding - alto sax
Pharoah Sanders - tenor sax
Cecil McBee - bass
Richard Davis - bass
Roy Haynes - drums
Richard Landrum - bongos