Cultural Detritus, Reviews, and Commentary
Weather Report – Heavy Weather Columbia PC 34418 (1977)
“Sellouts,” “boring,” “pandering,” “overly slick,” “crassly commercial,” “unchallenging.” You’ll find all those criticisms and more about Weather Report. At least with Heavy Weather they are pretty much all true. Yet you’ll hardly find more well-played schlock anywhere.
Herbie Hancock – Mwandishi Warner Bros. WS 1898 (1971)
Herbie Hancock dove into the fusion movement with his Mwandishi sextet on the albums Mwandishi, Crossings and Sextant. In a way, the group was under the influence of Miles Davis, always operating in sight of Davis’ classic Bitches Brew. That should come as no surprise given the Davis alumni represented in Hancock’s group. The sound of Mwandishi is reminiscent of early Weather Report, another Davis-related group. But if one thing distinguishes the approach of Hancock’s sextet, it’s the way they adapt the equal shares improvisational techniques of The Modern Jazz Quartet to the fusion era. There is a balance and equality in the performances of all the players, without orderly rounds of solos that divide the group into soloists and accompaniment. Players comment, add coloring, and drift away almost as they please. There are hints of the popular funk Hancock’s Head Hunters group would pursue a few years down the road, but those appear just in snippets that arise only to subside amidst the modulating soundscapes. More so than in the Modern Jazz Quartet’s era though, there is a looseness in the song structures. The freedoms of the new thing of the 1960s had been internalized to the point where Mwandishi sounds comfortable without linear song progression. One complaint some may have is the almost troubling closeness of some of this to new age music — a complaint also frequently leveled at Weather Report. That is probably unfair, given that the similarities are mostly superficial. In all, this may not quite be a landmark of the fusion era, but it is another good example of how the early fusion era seemed endlessly creative in ways the later fusion era often did not.
Coleman Hawkins – The Hawk Flies High Riverside RLP 12-233 (1957)
Compares favorably with a lot of other well-known hard bop albums of the day: Walkin’, Thelonious Monk / Sonny Rollins, etc. Coleman Hawkins (whose nicknames included “Hawk” and “Bean”) was the guy credited with establishing the saxophone as a primary instrument in jazz. Over the years he updated his style, or, as the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings would have it, kept pace with changing styles without really updating. In hard bop mode, his music has a distinctly slower tempo than some younger players who first came up in the bop era. The Hawk Flies High is a good album for someone new to jazz. It has enough of those qualities that fit the stereotype of a smoke-filled 1950s nightclub to satisfy preconceived notions of a novice latter-day jazz listener.
Bill Dixon With Tony Oxley – Papyrus, Volume 1 Soul Note 121308-2 (1999)
Dixon employs a very conversational style here. He plays at a pace that lets things unfold very slowly, as if there is no rush to get anywhere in particular. Tony Oxley provides a more inquisitive reaction to Dixon’s statements, as if always asking, “Tell me more.” Count this among Dixon’s better late-career albums.
Fletcher Henderson – Wrappin’ It Up (Quadromania Jazz Edition) Membran Music 222440-444 (2006)
Fucking wow! I knew about Fletcher Henderson a little, that he was perhaps the first great swing big band leader and was a big influence on everyone from Ellington to Sun Ra. But I just didn’t comprehend just how massive his recordings are. This set, at four CDs, is hardly ever less than stellar. I can think of some pretty major artists of the 20th Century who can’t fill a single greatest hits disc!
I guess there are some artists who seems to spend there entire career working to refine what amounts to a single idea. It may be a big idea, but it’s still just one idea. You could name some great musicians, like Cecil Taylor, who fall into that category. On the other hand, I’ve always been more interested in those who seek to continually come up with new ideas, like Jean-Luc Godard, John Cage, and I would say Fletcher Henderson too. Every track here is great for different reasons. There are new ideas in each one. I love that.
Miles Davis – Birdland 1951 Blue Note 7243 5 41779 2 7 (2004)
Very good performances from Miles’ bop days, but these were recorded in “primitive” fashion from radio broadcasts. Casual listeners should avoid this in favor of something with better than bootleg quality sound. Committed Davis fans will really dig the performances though, and can probably look past the fidelity issues.
McCoy Tyner – Extensions BN-LA 006-F (1973)
A lot like Alice Coltrane of the period, though a bit more…calculated. And guess what? Alice is here!
The Mahavishnu Orchestra With John McLaughlin – The Inner Mounting Flame Columbia KC 31067 (1971)
A great debut from one of the foremost jazz fusion outfits. This one is much more rock-oriented than the later albums. In fact, this one sounds more like a rock band exploring some very complex jazz themes rather than a jazz band incorporating rock rhythms, guitar riffs and the like. The group’s next album, Birds of Fire, would take a very different approach and utilize purely rock instrumentation to achieve a symphonic sound within the auspices of jazz fusion. Later albums would take a more prog-rock approach, with actual symphony orchestration set against more rock-centric noodling.
Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds of Fire Columbia KC 31996 (1973)
I think this was the group’s very best album. Seamless, focused, dazzling. It’s all there.
Duke Ellington / Charlie Mingus / Max Roach – Money Jungle United Artists UAJ 14017 (1963)
Superstar collaboration albums usually go one of two ways: (1) they produce a clash of egos ending in disaster; or (2) they go out in a whimper of disappointment, because the whole thing was a producer or executive’s idea and despite some good chemistry the one-off nature of the project didn’t allow enough time for things to come together. Money Jungle is something of the latter. In that, it is one of the more promising collaborations of its type. Yet it still feels like it could have been better. Duke made many collaboration albums, but what jumps out about this one is that rather than the other artist(s) coming over to his turf, this time it’s Duke who migrates over to the territory of the bop/hard bop camp. He proves he was an underrated pianist, though some of the slower tunes here feel almost like filler.