HERBIE MANN Reggae 1974 256+ VBR LAME mp3 Vinyl rip & scans from Atlantic SD 1655
Shortly after recording London Underground with Mick Taylor and Albert Lee, Mann had them join himself and the Tommy McCook band for a set of reggae interpretations covering pop and R&B hits of the day. One of those rare occasions when I agree with Mr. Yanow, although it's an enjoyable outing, mostly of interest only to Mann completists or reggae maniacs.
Despite its title, most of the music on this album is not actually reggae but a mixture of jazz, R&B and pop. Flutist Herbie Mann, guitarists Mick Taylor and Albert Lee and keyboardist Pat Rebillot combine with the eight-piece Tommy McCook band to create some spirited and danceable (if a bit dated) music. Together they jam on The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," the traditional "Rivers of Babylon," Moe Koffman's old hit "Swingin' Shepherd Blues" and an 18-minute version of "My Girl." The results are fun if not all that substantial.
This one's been around blogland before thanks to You & Me On A Jamboree but in almost neolithic 80kb/22kHz quality, which makes a transistor AM radio with a half-inch speaker sound hi-fi in comparison. Probably why a more listenable copy was requested in the Herbie Mann discography post from a couple months back. You might notice there's no preview track this time. This is due not only to the length of the songs but also to the fact that PayPal botched my RS renewal and I'm having issues with both entities (although RS is being somewhat more helpful). That's also why there's no RS link at the end of the post for now - one will be added in the future when it all gets sorted.
Herbie Mann - Flute Tommy McCook - Sax Mick Taylor - Guitar Pat Rebillot - Keyboards Gladstone Anderson - Piano Hux Brown - Guitar Radcliffe Bryan - Guitar Rod Bryan - Guitar Bobby Ellis - Trumpet Jackie Jackson - Bass Albert Lee - Guitar Michael Richard - Drums Winston Wright - Organ
1 Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da 2 Rivers of Babylon 3 Swingin' Shepherd Blues 4 My Girl
This one was reissued by Wounded Bird in 2001 & Rhino in 2005 but the CD selling for upwards of $50 used or $80 new on Amazon and the cover version of My Girl is apparently not available as a digital download. Soundological thinks that's just bat shit crazy so grab it HERE or HERE while you can.
There's been a few rarities posted here in the past but this is the first time SI's dropping a record whose mere existence was in question. Apparently the work of this two-tone troupe is an elusive and much sought-after slice of UK mod and ska history but besides a review in the recently published Galactic Ramble (which I haven't read) it's not often found in the landslide of record collector guides devoted to that time & place.
Outside of catalogue # and track listings, I could only find three other solid, "informative" references (a pic of the cover quickly became the acid test): a currenteBay listing (buy it now for 100€), a terse description courtesy Psychedelic Storm records ("Rumoured not to exist album. Flip-back cover.") and a bit better blurb from Berlin's Ubupopland on what 130€ buys you:
Impossible rare and obscure UK white and black group from the late 60s. Play two killer tracks in Funky Soul Mod dancer way, listen to "She wrote me a letter" and also to "Shockproof ". Inclu other cool ska and reggae numbers.
There you have it, the sum total of information available for the inaugural album of short-lived Crystal records. Details are so scant on this release that after two weeks of trawling through hundreds of pages of search results trying to source the players based on their first name, it was obviously a lost cause. Even the tried-and-true methods of investigating the label's house band/preferred session men or touring outfits of the vocalists led to nameless dead ends since the rest of the label's output featured low-rent pop-oriented crooners who were probably uninterested in sharing the spotlight.
Jack Price at the controls
Along with Dominant Music and Crystal Publishing, Crystal Records was formed in 1968 by Jack Price and Jean Domminney. It had a small run of albums and singles, cementing its spot in studio boffin history by being the first label in London to release material recorded using 8 track. Not so surprising since Price was a forward-thinking fellow and one of the first Brits to recognise and jump on the ska/rocksteady/reggay bandwagon. Of course, Jack's happy to tell you about it his own words (and his own CAPSLOCK) on his own website, but here's the edited version of the happenings in 68-70:
DOMINANT MUSIC [signed a] sub-publishing deal with SPARTA/FLORIDA for several copyrights, including the Rock Steady hit SWAN LAKE by THE CATS (a big hit on the continent and made the national charts in the UK).
Swan Lake by The Cats, reputed to be moonlighting members of the BBC orchestra ca. '68
[Price] became Label Manager and P.A. to EMILE SHALLET, the Managing Director of MELODISC RECORDS, London (Bluebeat and FAB label) thus gaining considerable experience in the Rock Steady and Reggae scene from the very company that initiated the Reggae industry in Europe... This company had massive national chart successes and large record sales with PRINCE BUSTER on the BB label.
It's the future. We're living in real gangster times. We need to take one step beyond.
[Price] produced albums for PHILIPS, MERCURY, FONTANA REDIFFUSION, PYE RECORDS, PRESIDENT RECORDS (JAYBOY LABEL), FLAMINGO MUSIC, SAGA RECORDS, as well as for his own labels, SIOUX RECORDS and CRYSTAL RECORDS. These included rock and roll, folk R&B and Reggae music... Also at this time issued a Reggae album on the CRYSTAL LABEL for NOEL GAY MUSIC PUBLISHERS...
By introducing the Reggae scene to Philips, Pye and Decca Records, he has been accredited to be the first person to make the music available nationwide to all record outlets instead of the limited distribution network which existed at the time
As good as Price might be at accepting the credit he deserves, either he or NGP weren't nearly so generous at giving it on the Pavement liner notes. Hype, on the other hand, there's plenty of. One would expect nothing less since it was the go juice of the a-go-go era and this was the first release on a new label being propelled by a high-powered entertainment corporation currently firing on all cylinders, after all. But would dropping a few family names into the mix be that hard? Who were these guys? Oh wait, maybe that's why this record plummeted into the deepest recesses of obscurity.
It's also telling how Price differentiates the Pavement album as specifically being made for the Noel Gay Organisation, as if to distance himself from the affair. What's up with that? Maybe there's so few copies floating around because they're all sitting in a forgotten Noel Gay warehouse or the record bombed so badly that copies not lucky enough to be among the few sold were destroyed. The copy posted here does have a pinhole bin hole in the bottom corner, so the latter scenario seems a little more likely.
Noel Gay was the stage name of Reginald Armitage who, starting in the late 30s, parlayed his showbiz savvy into an entertainment empire that eventually included Noel Gay Productions. There's a dearth of data on that specific corporate entity but it seemed to serve as the unit of the conglomerate that was responsible for creating product to showcase clients of the Noel Gay Artists management division performing material from the catalogue of Noel Gay Music. Strategically shifting focus to television in the 70s, the Noel Gay Organisation is still running strong. Here's a snippet from the history section of their website:
During the 1960s Noel Gay Artists was a principal agent for a huge number of musical and pop acts including Russ Conway , Peter & Gordon , The Scaffold, Geoff Love, Manuel and His Music of the Mountains , Paul Jones etc. As a music publisher, Noel Gay provided a string of hits for Bernard Cribbins including Hole In the Ground, Right Said Fred and Gossip Calypso . The company also represented the young David Frost (who has remained with the agency ever since) and John Cleese.
While there's ample info circulating on Crystal and Noel Gay, Hubert Pattison is a horse of a different colour altogether. As a songwriter, he may not have burned up the charts but he didn't do so poorly either. Setting aside a few sporadic and indistinct singles under his own name, he saw some small scale success throughout the last half of the swingin' 60s penning songs for other performers on labels like Columbia, Deram, Parlophone, Pye and Fontana. Some of (well, actually most of) the artists who recorded his material include Billie Davis & The LeRoys, Simon Scott, The Attack, The Syn(where two future members of Yes first worked together) and Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers.
For the latter, Pattison wrote "The Hand Don't Fit The Glove,"the first single released with the vocals of one of my all-time favourite rock iconoclasts, Terry Reid. An exceptionally talented and fascinating figure, he's infamous for turning down an offer from Jimmy Page which would then then be extended to Robert Plant. Reid was also best bud/roommate to Brian Wilson at the height of his unhinged head trip in the mid-70s and if you happen to see re-runs of Wilson's fish-out-of-water performance on SNL in '76, you'll catch a glimpse of Terry on backing vocals. Thanks to the collaboration of Graham Nash, David Lindley, James Gadson, Plas Johnson, Blue Mitchell, Tim Weisberg and Fred Wesley in that same year,Seed of Memory is one my Desert Island Discs: Rock Edition. For what it's worth, seeing the video of his 1971 performance of "Dean" at Glastonbury was an outright rock 'n' roll revelation.
Four reasons to back up and check that link.
But I digress.
Of minor interest to the library hunters out there, Pattison has a couple KPM connections. A song he wrote for novelty act The Barron Knights was produced in 1967 by Syd Dale (with Landsdowne's Studio's Denis Preston) and he shares songwriter credit with Alan Hawkshaw that same year for a couple tracks recorded by somewhat obscure British Invasion critical darlings The Tremoloes; "Happy Song" and "Norman Stanley James St Claire" which can both be found on the twofer collection Suddenly You Love Me/Chip, Dale, Alan, Rick.
According to those in the know at the Pama Forum, the obscure reggae singer Horatio Soul was actually a pseudonym used by Pattison. Considering that Horatio's signature track was Pattison's "Nobody's Gonna Sleep Tonight" (issued as a single on Crystal and included on Sioux's Unchained compilation a few years later and included as a bonus in the download), it's hard not to believe they were one and the same. No activity detected from "Horatio Soul" after that but previously he had released a 7" on the nascent Island label in '67 - the general consensus seems to be it has value only to completist collectors of Blackwell's imprint.
Kneeling Nude Reflection with Fan by Hubert Pattison (1974)
Besides his dozen or so songwriting and production credits, gathering biographical info on Pattison was like trying to nail down a certain popular brand-name gelatinous foodstuff. A few signs point to an art career in the 70s but that presumption is primarily based on the relative uniqueness of his name. Plug it into the Google and you'll get songwriting credits from mid-to-late 60s London, auctions of early-to-mid 70s paintings by a London artist with that name (the piece above was on UK eBay recently) and then finally a handful of spotty genealogy search results from nowhere near the UK - and from decades, or even centuries, prior to the 60s. Did I mean Pattinson? NO DAMMIT!
Finally, there's this citation from the July 5th, 1976 edition of The New Yorker magazine:
GENESIS. 41 E. 57th St.: Drawings, paintings, and sculptures by contemporary British artists, including works by Hubert Pattison, whose colored drawing of a red-eyed crying young woman stands out, and John Howard, who paints the élite at their cocktails Through Sept. 11. (Open Saturdays and Monday, July 5.)
Although the Genesis art gallery is long gone, the same East Village building continues to be used for the same purpose some 30 years later, most recently housing the Bonni Benrubi and Zabriskie galleries. Unlike that piece of New York real estate, the band did not withstand the test of time. Then again, thanks to vinyl and the blog of a dedicated music lover, in a way, it did.
Dexter - ? Pat - ? John - ? Tony - ? Geoff - ? Mick - ?
1 Nobody's Gonna Sleep Tonight 2 Boomba Man 3 Saffron 4 Carnival Joe 5 Lela 6 Double Decker Of A Man 7 She Wrote Me A Letter 8 Rhythm Of Life 9 Oh My Head 10 Turn Around Baby 11 Shockproof 12 She'll Always Love Me
Coincidentally, I scooped this one up in the very same dollar bin where I found the Guy Warren album posted here just over a year ago. Without knowing it at the time, I got change back from a fiver for joints worth over $300 in the collectors' market! Get out there and dig kids! BTW, speaking of über rarities and Guy Warren, it's highly recommended you head over to the new Fat Toro blog for Warren's legendary Afro Jazz album and other jaw-dropping rarities! Seriously, don't sleep. In the meantime, Soundological offers you the unique opportunity to relish this skadelic relic HERE or HERE.
All Kapuncle Up (Instrumental) JAY MITCHELL Another Time And Place 197?
82.7 MB 256+ VBR LAME mp3 Vinyl rip & scans from Elite ERS 1027
If you're a regular reader of this blog you're probably at least somewhat familiar with the Floridian-inspired sounds of the funky Bahamas like T-Connection, The Beginning Of The Endand maybe even Frank Penn's GBI stable thanks to last year's blazing Numero Group compilation Cult Cargo: Grand Bahama Goombay. On the latter, Mitchell was the centrepiece with his output making up 1/4 of the collection.
This Bahamanian behemoth of booty-shakin' beats and beautiful ballads is likely one of the best entertainers you've never heard of despite his huge following in the Caribbean and his stints with James Brown's band, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and the Jackson clan. He was actually signed to ol' Joe, lived with the family for a while and released at least one 12" on the Jackson vanity label (Look Before You Leave).
Who knows just how well-known he would have been on a world-wide scale if he hadn't succumbed to homesickness a couple times and headed back to the Bahamas at those crucial crossroads in his career. He continues to pack 'em in five nights a week and his stature in the country is such that his was the voice tapped to sing at Anna Nicole Smith'sNassau funeral along with one of her favourite country music singers, Joe Nichols.
For a full rundown on this amazing performer (and Reiki master to boot!), check out his bio at the Musicians & Entertainers of Bahama website, head over to Mackey Media (run by T-Connection guitarist Dave Mackey) for a 15-minute radio interview with the man himself or click on the link below to read the full version of the article excerpted.
Excerpts from Musical Entertainer, Jay Mitchell by Glenn C. Nairn originally published at What's On Bahamas in 2003.
One of his next career highlights came in 1967 when he visited one of New Providence‘s top nightclubs, The Cat and Fiddle, Nassau Street. There he impressed well-known businessman "Father Allen" (Olden Smith). Says he: "He (Father Allen) had a concert with Chuck Jackson and several other stateside artists…The Cat and Fiddle was jammed. But they (the performers) weren’t moving the people. I jumped on stage, grabbed the mike out of Chuck Jackson’s hand and started bugging. Everybody went crazy!
"Father Allen came and said, ‘Hey, young man, who are you?’ I said,’‘Jay Mitchell.’ He said, ‘I brought these people from all the way in the USA and they can’t move the people. And you jump up on the stage and drive those people crazy – I’m going to make you a star!"Indeed, Father Allen endeavoured to assist the young entertainer with his career by becoming his promoter and mentor.
Within that period, the young entertainer bowled over Aretha Franklin, "the Queen of Soul," when he did""I’m Black and I’m Proud" at a concert she headlined at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre.He accepted an invitation from her to perform at the Philharmonic in New York. At the Philharmonic, he met a number of other renown entertainers, including Sweet Inspiration, The Temptations, and The Four Tops. Although he enjoyed working with Franklin, he became homesick, as he missed his family.
Also, he wanted to return home because he felt his growth as an artist was in jeopardy; he feared he would sound like an impersonator of the artists whose songs he performed. "I was going to end up sounding like (a cross) between Arthur Conley, Ottis Redding, and James Brown – right between them, and I wasn’t going to be able to develop a style of my own. I always felt within me that I could use what is in me to bring out what I’ve learned from outside. So I wanted to join these (experiences) together and create my own."Now when you hear my mouth, you know it’s me…See, I didn’t have that identity. I sounded so much like James Brown, and I did the Joe Tex show with the microphone and stuff. I was not pleased with myself – although everybody else was."
------------------------------------
About a year-and-a-half later he was back in Freeport, where he worked at a number of top local night spots, including Joker’s Wild, Rum Runners, The Sultan’s Tent, and his own nightclub, New Dimension...After a performance at The Sultan’s Tent, he was lauded by an associate of Michael Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson, an entertainment promoter. The associate, says Mitchell, was there with a group for some sort of celebrations.
He recalls that the associate told him he was certain Jackson would sign him on his label, as he was better than all seventeen of the persons whom Jackson was about to take on. Not taking the compliment seriously, Mitchell virtually ignored him. However, around that time, a Philadelphia promoter whom he had engaged submitted his recordings to Jackson who immediately signed him on.
Traveling to Los Angeles, he began a three-year stint under Jackson’s promotion, at which time he resided in the Jacksons’ home. Jackson and his family, including Michael, Jermaine, and their other siblings, treated him as if he were a part of the family. Reflecting on his memorable moments with the Jacksons, he recalls that Jackson once provided him with the opportunity to work with James Brown’s band, while Brown was incarcerated....And performed he did, stunning Bobby Bird the band’s director and others, especially because of his imitation of Brown’s famous dance.
Despite his success under Jackson’s direction, including the production of a CD "Jay Mitchell" produced by Jackson’s recording company (he has a number of other CDs, of which "Another Place and Time" and" "My Prayer" are perhaps the most popular), he again found himself wanting to leave the States. This time he wanted to leave because of intense media pressure; the media dogged him to ascertain the veracity of Latoya Jackson’s accusations against members of the Jackson clan.
Jay Mitchell +3 ca. mid-70s
Front L to R: Dennis Peterson, Joey Williams, Mark "Scab" Back L to R: Simeon Rolle, Jay Mitchell, Steven Rolle
A brilliant funky Bahamas record by the same Jay Mitchell who did “Spirits of Fire – Goom Rock” “Deep Heat” and “Your Mama Your Daddy Again.” Features the 7-minute, ultra-punchy “Yellow Bird (Disco)” and “The World Keeps Turning Round.” Stupendous, funky & hard to find.
Tracks 1, 3 Jay Mitchell - Vocals, Synth, Strings, Backing Vocals Mott - Guitar, Synth, Strings Charles Bethel - Bass Patrick Russell - Drums Aurdley Russell - Guitar Peter Francis - Piano Andrew Brennen - Tenor Sax Jarvas - Trumpet Portia - Backing Vocals
Tracks 2,4,6 Jay Mitchell - Vocals, Piano, Synth, Backing Vocals Dennis Peterson - Bass Joey Williams - Guitar Steve Rose - Drums Andrew Brennen - Horns Simon Rolle - Horns
Tracks 5,7,8 Jay Mitchell - Vocals, Piano, Synth, Horn Effect, Backing Vocals Mott - Guitar, Synth, Horn Effect Campbell (Savage) - Bass Brian Russell - Drums
1 Yellow Bird (Disco) 2 The World Keep Turning Round 3 Another Time And Place 4 All Kapuncle Up (Instrumental) 5 Strangers To The Night Dew 6 Am Sorry You Have To Go 7 I Thank God 8 Bush Medicine
Discography Can anyone out in the blogosphere help fill in these blanks? Any assistance with dates or other info on these sessions would be highly appreciated. If you've ripped any of these, we'd be grateful if you could share!
1972 Souvenir Of Freeport Bahamas (Bahamas Ministry of Tourism) incl. Tighter & Tighter and Mustang Sally
1974Your Mama Your Daddy Again(GBI) incl. Goombay Bump
1975Impartiality (GBI) incl. Funky Fever
197? Another Place And Time (Elite)
197? Spirits of Fire - Goom Rock (Freeport Sounds)
197? Deep Heat (JM)
198? Junka City (Junka Records)
1984 Junka Heat (Junka Records)
? 1990 Jay Mitchell (Gold Castle)
1999 Jay Is For Junkanoo (Mackey Media)
19?? Soft Touch (JM)
19?? Higher Ground (JM)
19?? Bahamian Roots (JM)
Don't count on easily finding a copy of this ultra-rare record in another time and place, Soundological recommends you grab it HERE and NOW.
Just heard the unfortunate news that yet another musical giant, the incredibly influential Byron Lee, has fallen this week at the age of 74. We're big fans of the man and his band and recently ran a lengthy post on Mr. Lee, so we're sad to see him leave us. However, his battle with cancer was a public one and though this loss is another blow to music lovers around the world, it does not come as a surprise. In fact, the bulk of recent interviews with "The Dragon" speak volumes about the courage and spirit with which he met his final challenge - the word "indomitable" definitely applies. He lived his life to its fullest right up to the end and leaves a legacy of music that has pleased untold millions over the last 40 years and will likely continue to do so for generations to come.
For a full rundown of his bio, check out his website (now back online) or the earlier post at Soundological mentioned above, which also includes a comprehensive discography with links.
Thanks for all the love you've shown the world over the years, Byron. Our thoughts and wishes are with you and your extended family as you sail onward to new shores. Selah.
Kenyatta recorded most of this album with some of the superstars of 60s and 70s Jamaican music, basically laying jazz licks over reggae covers of tunes from various genres. Considered one of his most successful stabs at this type of fusion, it hearkens back to the glory days of ska when jazz-infused horn sections took front stage.
Bio by his daughter Ayo for his 2004 obituary at JazzHOUSE:
Saxophonist and educator Robin Kenyatta, whose bright career included service with Sonny Stitt, Dizzy Gillespie and B.B. King, died in his sleep on Tuesday, October 26, 2004, in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he was preparing for a sold-out concert in Lucerne. He was sixty-two years old.Born Robert Prince Haynes on March 6, 1942, in Monk's Corner, South Carolina, Bobby, as he was affectionately called by his family, was the third child of Thomas and Rebecca Haynes. He moved to New York with his family at the age of four.
While in high school, at fourteen, he began playing the alto saxophone. After graduation he spent two years playing as a sideman in local clubs and had his first gig at 19 at a hotel in the mountains of the Jewish Borscht belt. In 1962 he enlisted in the Army where he played in the jazz band. During that time, he met the composer Russell Garcia and learned to write music while perfecting his sound on the tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones and flute. After two years, he went back to the clubs of New York and formed his first band, which played the music of his heroes, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Ben Webster. Likening his music style to that of his political idol, Jomo Kenyatta, Robert Prince Haynes forevermore became known as Robin Kenyatta.
At 23, he got his first chance to record when he supported pianist Valerie Capers on her 1965 album Portrait in Soul. The next year, he performed on Sonny Stitt's album Deuces Wild: Introducing Robin Kenyatta, which announced his arrival to the jazz world. His own first album, Robin Kenyatta: Until, released in 1968, showcased his love and savvy for avant-garde and be-bop styles.
In 1969, he went to Paris for two weeks and stayed for three years. Upon moving back to New York, he landed a contract with Atlantic Records. His version of ''Last Tango in Paris'' garnered industry respect for his incredible sound and became one of his biggest hits. While with Atlantic, he went on to record Gypsy Man, Terra Nova and Stompin' at the Savoy, the latter of which led critics to christen him "The Magician of Swing".Robin felt that American jazz was becoming too conservative and status quo and went back to Europe, where the audiences embraced him and his musical style.
While making his home in Switzerland, he traveled the world sharing his music with jazz lovers. In over thirty years in Europe he performed at some of the most esteemed jazz festivals of the world, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival, and with incomparable performers like Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson and B.B. King, just to name a few. Although not on a major record label for many years, Robin continued to record and produce albums featuring music he instinctually knew audiences wanted to hear. With a discography of over twenty records, Cool Blue, recorded in New York in 2001, was an autobiographical album that reflected the maturing of Robin's music and person, and his desire to return to his roots.
Between concerts, he taught at the Ecole de Jazz Musique Actuelle and later founded Hello Jazz Music School, both in Lausanne, Switzerland. Robin loved teaching adults and children the fundamentals of jazz while they also learned how to play various musical instruments. In 2002, this love of teaching opened the door for his return home to the United States and his reintroduction to the American jazz scene. Robin landed a job he enjoyed immensely, teaching several music courses to business students at Bentley College in Waltham, MA, the alma mater of his daughter.
January of 2003, at the Regatta Bar in Boston, marked Robin's first performance in America in over twenty years. Robin followed up that performance with several more in New York and Boston. Never one to just sit home, Robin enjoyed looking up old friends and colleagues from his early days in New York, and took great satisfaction in reintroducing himself to old fans while making new ones. Over the last year, the music that Robin became incredibly passionate about and longed to record was his jazz interpretations and arrangements of American Negro Spirituals.
A consummate professional and performer Robin loved keeping his audiences guessing as to what was next for him musically. A natural charmer with a smile that could warm the coldest heart, Robin was a musician that commanded and demanded respect of his music. His regal dress and distinctive style told the world that he was a step above the rest. He was a man who loved life and looked forward to garnering the acclaim he had once achieved in the 60's and 70's.
Though an often fierce and spirited alto saxophonist, Robin Kenyatta has enjoyed a rather uneven career, particularly in terms of recordings. His best material has been in the hard bop and free vein, where his solos have been both intense and imaginative. Other times he's done more contemporary material that's been overproduced and unmemorable. Kenyatta played with Bill Dixon in the mid-'60s, and was featured during a series of New York concerts Dixon co-sponsored called "The October Revolution in Jazz." He recorded with The Jazz Composer's Orchestra, Roswell Rudd, Sonny Stitt, Dixon (Intents & Purposes), Archie Shepp (For Losers & Kwanza) and Barry Miles in the mid and late '60s, before heading his own bands. Kenyatta recorded with Alan Silva and Andrew Hill in the '70s. During the late '70s, flirted with instrumental pop (Ed.: plus discofunk and blues - he also appeared on Midnight Movers, Unltd.'sFollow The Wind, Hidden Strength'sHidden Strength and Luther Allison'sNight Life); in the '80s and '90s has tried to find a comfortable middle ground between fusion, instrumental pop and his hard bop and free music roots. Kenyatta has recorded for Vortex/Atlantic, ECM, ITM and Jazz Dance.
1 Temptation Took Control of Me (And I Fell) 2 Need Your Love So Bad 3 Terra Nova 4 You Are the Sunshine of My Life 5 Freedom Jazz Dance 6 Mother Earth (Provides for Me) 7 Touch 8 Island Shakedown
AMG Review by Thom Jurek Backing off a bit from the outright funky fusion of 1972's Gypsy Man, Terra Nova nonetheless finds saxophonist Robin Kenyatta still indulging his newfound love of electricity and rhythmically altered jazz-funk tempered by his newfound love of Caribbean music. This Michael Cuscuna-produced date showcases Kenyatta's alto in three different settings -- though half of them feature him in an octet with a pair of electric guitarists and two pianists, an organist, bassist, drummer, and no less than Ralph MacDonald on percussion. The feel on most of these cuts is informed by bubbling funky reggae and calypso. Eric Kaz's "Temptation Took Control (And I Fell)" and " Mother Earth (Provides for Me)," Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," Eddie Harris' "Freedom Jazz Dance" and the originals "Island Shakedown" and the title track (that add saxophonist Carlos Garnett, trumpeter Enrico Rava, and trombonist Jonas Gwangwa), are all drenched in these rhythms. The remaining two numbers include a tough, Ray Charles- inflected soul-jazz version of Little Willie John's "Need Your Love So Bad," and the straight up proto-smooth jazz tune "Touch." These latter two numbers make the recording feel a bit schizy, but nonetheless extremely enjoyable -- though in 1973 it must have felt like it was coming from left-field -- and has dated well. This is a prime example of the wide range of musical interests Kenyatta attempted to integrate during the '70s. Wounded Bird finally made this set available on CD in 2008.
Discography:
1967 Robin Kenyatta: Until 1969 Beggars & Stealersat Nine Sisters 1970 Girl From Martiniqueat Mutant Sound + People/Profit 1972 Gypsy Manexcerpts at vinyl4giants 1972 Looking For A Free State at the growing bin 1973 Terra Novaat Soundological 1974 Stompin' At The Savoy
Just tryin' to put back into the music blogosphere by fillin' in any blanks I can with out-of-print vinyl as well as the occasional mix, remix, re-edit, art or rant. But mostly vinyl. Mostly.
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