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"...Let It Take Your Mind..."
In a crowded marketplace - the 'Various
Artists' compilation is something of an endangered beast - especially if it's even
slightly 'jazzy', 'progressive' or 'experimental' - and 2016's utterly
brilliant "Celestial Blues" from Ace's 'BGP' label imprint is all
three and more.
I review a lot and I'll admit that I have a
'thing' for Ace Records of the UK in all their varying reissue magnificence -
Kent-Soul, Beat Goes Public (BGP), the 'Hip Pocket' Series, their amazing Rock
'n' Roll and Blues LP and CD reissues that stretch back 40 years and more. So
it's not something new that I say Ace is really good at 'this sort of thing' -
but holy crap - they really are. I love my Soul, Funk and Jazz Fusion (check
out my 'Sounds Good: Exceptional CD Remasters for SOUL, FUNK and JAZZ FUSION'
e-Book available on Amazon with over 1000 pages and a reasonable price tag) -
but even with a real knowledge and love for the fields - I'll admit I don't
know 90% of what's on here - and yet I'm digging most of it and wondering how I
missed so much of this. And isn't that the best after all these years in the
musical trenches. Let's get to the cosmic details...
UK released Friday 29 July 2016 (5 August 2016 in the USA) -
"Celestial Blues: Cosmic, Political And Spiritual Jazz 1970 to 1974"
by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Beat Goes Public CDBGPD 300 (Barcode 029667530026) is
a single-CD 10-track compilation of mainly Milestone and Prestige labels Jazz
and Fusion tracks that play out as follows (79:10 minutes):
1. Celestial Blues - GARY BARTZ NTU TROOP (from
the 1970 US LP "Harlem Bush Music - Uhuru" on Milestone MSP 9032)
2. Fire
- JOE HENDERSON and ALICE COLTRANE (from the 1974 US LP "The
Elements" on Milestone M 9053)
3. Warriors Of peace – AZAR LAWRENCE (from the
1974 US LP "Bridge Into The New Age" on Prestige P-10086)
4. Brown Eyes – CHARLES EARLAND, FREDDIE
HUBBARD and JOE HENDERSON (from the 1974 US LP "Leaving This Planet"
on Prestige P-66002)
5. The Free Slave – ROY BROOKS (from the 1972
US LP "The Free Slave" on Muse MR 5003)
6. The Almoravid – JOE CHAMBERS (from the 1974
US LP "The Almoravid" on Muse MR 5035)
7. Let Us Go (To Higher Heights) – CARLOS
GARNETT (from the 1974 US LP "Journey To Enlightenment" on Muse MR
5057)
8. Let It Take Your Mind – BAYETE UMBRA ZINDIKO
(from the 1973 US LP "Seeking Other Beauty" on Prestige PRST 10062)
9. Josie Black – HAMPTON HAWES (from the 1972
US LP "Universe" on Prestige P-10046)
10. Aftermath – OLIVER NELSON (Previously
Unreleased 'Edited Version' from the 1970 LP "Black, Brown And
Beautiful" on Flying Dutchman FDS 116)
As you can see from the track list and generous
near 80-minute playing time - "Celestial Blues..." gives you 10
lengthy Jazz and Fusion tracks from 1970 to 1974 (one of which is a Previously
Unreleased edit) mostly culled from the Milestone and Prestige sets of labels
with some Fling Dutchman and Muse thrown in. The 16-page booklet has superbly
detailed and informative liner notes from DEAN RUDLAND - a name known to every
lover of Soul, Funk and Fusion compilations. He's written for Ace, Edsel and
many more and smartly accompanies the paragraphs with repros of the LP artwork
so you can get a visual lay of the land too. Above all the text is musician
credits and discography info for each entry and Ace's long-time Audio Engineer
NICK ROBBINS has carried out the stunning remasters. Beautifully recorded and
produced in the first place - this is an amazing-sounding CD reissue - huge
presence as all that expert playing fills your room. Test drive the busy Joe
Chambers track "The Alomoravid" to see what I mean - wonderful
stuff...
It opens with the Gil Scott-Heron moaning of
Andy Bey on Vocals while Gary Bartz gives it some backing Saxophone on
"Celestial Blues" – an 'expand your mind' track I do recognise from
other Jazz-Funk compilations on vinyl - very cool stuff. Tenor Saxophonist Joe
Henderson penned the instrumental "Fire" - 11:07 minutes of
instrument sparring between him and Alice Coltrane (Piano, Harp, Tamboura and
Harmonium) and Michael White on Violin. A funky groove is set up right from the
start - Charles Haden on Bass, Ngudu on Drums with Kenneth Nash on varying
Percussion - that allows Joe to counter with the other soloists. But the big
draw is his partnership with the amazing Alice Coltrane – a musical journey
that started on the 1970 Milestone LP ""Ptah, The El Daoud" - an
album that graced the Reckless Records CD shuffle play on many an occasion. The
title track to the album "Bridge Into The New Age" by Tenor and
Soprano Saxophonist Azar Lawrence has provided the title for another CD
compilation in this series of reissues - Beat Goes Public CDBGPD 203 from late
August 2009. Ex McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones' bands - Azar Lawrence is described
as a 'spiritual Jazz musician' and his frantic but disciplined soloing with
Pianist Joe Bonner will test many people's faith for the eight minute duration
of "Warriors Of Peace" (too manic for my delicate palette). Far better
is the very hip organ sound that Charles Earland eases out on "Brown
Eyes" – a cut from the "Leaving This Planet" LP he did with
Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson in 1974. You get the three great soloists
giving it slices of their magic for 11:45 minutes of mellow and mid-tempo Jazz
Funk – slinky Moogs meshing Henderson's Trumpet, Dave Hubbard's Alto Flute and
Harvey Mason's expert drumming.
Things liven up with the Herbie Hancock's
"Cantaloupe" feel to "The Free Slave" where Detroit Drummer
Roy Brooks (toured with Yusef Lateef and was part of Horace Silver's 1950
group) lets Woody Shaw and George Coleman take the Trumpet and Tenor Saxophone
leads while Hugh Lawson plinkers on the old Joanna. "The Free Slave"
is a fabulous groove that doesn't seem to overstay its considerable 12:14
minute duration and is a shoe-in for a 'cool' CD-R compilation as fast as I can
make one. The sexy and rather trippy sleeve art to the rare Carlos Garnett
album "Journey To Enlightenment" is given the whole of Page 12 in the
booklet. Coming over like the sophisticated but musical mid-section of Steely
Dan's "Aja" track from 1977 - "The Alomoravid" by Drummer
Joe Chambers is stunning stuff. Ray Mantilla is on Congas while David Friedman
gives it some sublime Marimbas as Cedar Walton plays Piano and Richard Davis
anchors it with tasteful Bass lines.
A part of the Miles Davis ensemble - reed
player Carlos Garnett clearly had his eye on the dancefloors of the USA in 1974
because he took Stevie Wonder's clavinet sound and gave his "Let Us Go (To
Higher Heights)" track a seriously funky edge. It's that wonderful mixture
of great music meets (dare we say it) commercial appeal - all 'peace brother'
shouts, football game whistles, clavinet Funk, driving Saxophone and a backbeat
that just won't quit for its six-minutes plus (a 12" of this sucker would
go for such money). The 2:44 minutes of the decidedly Graham Central
Station/Sly Stone fuzzed-up Funk of "Let It Take Your Mind" by Bayete
Umbra Zindiko (Todd Cochran to you and I) is completely new to me - a furious
little thing that half works (he played on Peter Gabriel's 2nd LP and is
associated with Santana's drummer Michael Shrieve). The two finishers elevate
things - "Josie Black" - an eight-minute slinky Funk Out by
Keyboardist Hampton Hawes where wah-wah guitars do battle with his Fender
Rhodes - and finally "Aftermath" by Saxophonist Oliver Nelson - a
beautifully orchestrated filmic piece that's been edited down to 3:09 minutes -
its melodramatic strings against an aching Saxophone (written about MLK's
assassination) is both beautiful, difficult and exciting - all at the same time
(great compiling choice).
Looking at its rather nondescript quarter-moon
artwork and its hipster 'space' title - I hadn't expected much from
"Celestial Blues". But as Joan Armatrading said two years after most
of these 1974 tracks were recorded - 'I'm open to persuasion'. A brilliant CD
compilation and well done to all involved...
Other CD compilations like this on Beat
Goes Public include:
1. Bridge Into The New Age: Funky Afro-Centric
Spiritual Sounds From Jazz’s Forgotten Decade
July 2009 CD on Beat Goes Public CDBGPD 203
2. A Loud Minority: Deep Spiritual Jazz From
Mainstream Records 1970-1973 May 2010 on Beat Goes Public CDBGPD 215
3. Liberation Music: Spiritual Jazz And The Art
Of Protest On Flying Dutchman Records 1969-1974
March 2013 CD on Beat Goes Public CDBGPD 259
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