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 - Blackstone Legacy (1970)

Originally a two-fer on vinyl and now on one CD, Shaw's debut as a leader is one of the first "free bop" sessions, in many ways his answer to Bitches Brew. The trumpeter's ensemble extracts dense, energetic, meaty collective sounds based in pure improvisation with a skeleton of a rhythmic framework to expound upon. Saxophonists Gary Bartz & Bennie Maupin, electric pianist George Cables, twin bassists Ron Carter and Clint Houston, and drummer Lenny White respond to Shaw's heavy direction, making for some of the most kinetic jazz heard in that period of early fusion. Shaw's bright melodicism, hard edged swing and refusal to compromise are his greatest assets. They come shining through on tuneful classics like the unstoppable "Think On Me" and stop-start gymnastics of "Boo-Ann's Grand." It represents the progressive bop aesthetic at a fever pitch. The title track is as wild and wooly as Woody could be, while "Lost & Found" is free bop at its finest. "New World" is a free funk number, quite a trend setter for its time, while "A Deed For Dolphy" shows an abstract, no-time side rarely heard from Shaw. All tunes are quite lengthy, no shorter than nine, no longer than seventeen minutes. This allows the band to develop their ideas and interact in a manner more akin to a concert setting. Bartz (alto and soprano saxophone) and Maupin (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet and flute) consistently show why they are two of the best improvising jazzmen out there. As much as the music is the thing, it is the singular presence of Shaw that refracts many colors of light and dark, like a multi-hued beacon directing many ships to port. There is not a better example of this music from its inception, documented on tape, than this other worldly session that brought the trumpeter to the jazz world's attention. Furthermore, few have done it better since. Truly a landmark recording, and a pivot point in the history of post-modern music.

By Michael G. Nastos in All Music Guide

Styles:
Modern Creative
Hard-Bop
Post-Bop
Progressive Jazz

Tracks:
01 - Blackstone Legacy (15:59)
02 - Think On Me (10:44)
03 - Lost and Found (11:49)
04 - New World (18:05)
05 - Boo-Ann's Grand (14:19)
06 - A Deed for Dolphy (08:55)

Line-up:
Woody Shaw - Trumpet
Gary Bartz - Alto Sax, Soprano Sax
Bennie Maupin - Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet, Flute
Georges Cables - Piano, Electric Piano
Ron Carter - Bass
Clint Houston - Bass
Lenny White - Drums

Gary Bartz - The Shadow Do! (1975)

Not as known as the later Music Is My Sanctuary -- which was an even further departure, in its increased smoothness, from his Ntu Troop dates, and more popular by virtue of being released on Blue Note -- The Shadow Do! was the first time Gary Bartz sought production assistance from Fonce and Larry Mizell, the sibling duo who enlivened many sessions throughout the '70s with their soaring fusion of soul, funk, and (as Bartz would say) "the j-word." At this point, some j-word purists were hip to the Mizell program, what with dates from Bobbi Humphrey, Donald Byrd, and Johnny Hammond already in circulation. Checking the back of this Prestige release supplied all the info they needed to know: production by the Mizells, and four people credited with playing some form of synthesizer. Keyboardist Hubert Eaves, bassist Michael Henderson, guitarist Reggie Lucas, percussionist Mtume, and drummer Howard King help lend a sound that is a little funkier and heavier than most Mizell-guided sessions, but it's no less sweet. The second through fourth songs of side one exude joy and love, anchoring the album in a sense of contentedness so infectious that it might have even won over a few cold souls expecting straight jazz. Bartz's saxophones are at their melodic best, dancing, skipping, and trilling through the arrangements. He also sings lead, present on most of the songs, and though he probably didn't win any publication's best vocalist award, no one sounds like him, and the Mizells' own background harmonies are on-point as ever. [The Shadow Do! was reissued on CD at least twice in Japan, in 1993 and 2007.]

by Andy Kellman in All Music Guide

Styles:
Jazz-Funk
Post-Bop
Soul Jazz

Tracks:
01 - Winding Roads (03:19)
02 - Mother Nature (06:34)
03 - Love Tones (05:15)
04 - Gentle Smiles (04:21)
05 - Make Me Feel Better (04:40)
06 - Sea Gypsy (06:17)
07 - For My Baby (04:58)
08 - Incident (03:01)

Line-up:
Gary Bartz - Saxophone [Alto, Soprano], Synthesizer, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals
Michael Henderson - Bass
Howard King - Drums, Synthesizer
Reggie Lucas - Guitar
Hubert Eaves - Piano, Clavinet, Synthesizer
Larry Mizell - Synthesizer
James Mtume - Percussion

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

Miles Davis at Isle of Wight - Call It Anything (1970)