Urban Renewal

Tower of Power
Warner Bros. 2-2834 (1974)

One of my favorite Tower of Power albums, with classic Lenny Williams vocals, Chester Thompson’s soulful organ, and of course, the best horn section ever!  Lenny Pickett’s tenor playing on this album is impeccable (though I can’t think of an album where it’s not!).  It was Lenny Pickett’s extended solo on "Knock Yourself Out" from the album Live And In Living Color that inspired me to really get serious about saxophone.  It also inspired me to go a bit TOP crazy in high school, and at one point I had every album on cassette.

The opening track "Only So Much Oil In The Ground" delivered its message at a time when full-sized Cadillacs were delivering fuel efficiencies in the single digits.  Yet, 33 years later, we still "can’t cut loose without that juice."  Yeah, pretty soon, we’ll be "Walkin’ Up Hip Street", the obligatory Tower of Power instrumental track of the album.  Alas, no Lenny Pickett solo there, but I love the fabulous C.T. organ solo!

Vertigo

Jackie McLean
Blue Note 22669 (1963)

The second most represented artist in my collection is my teacher Jackie McLean.  (The first being, of course, John Coltrane…)  Jackie release a whole slew of fantastic Blue Note albums during the sixties.  His records from this period are high energy hard bop, with forays into avant-garde, and steeped in blues.  For years, I’ve listened to the box set The Complete Blue Note 1964-1966, which covers six albums released just after Vertigo.  None of those discs left my CD changer for a six-month stretch!

Vertigo, therefore, was a very familiar sounding album upon first listen.  This is the first recording with Tony Williams on drums, who Jackie "discovered".  I particularly like Herbie Hancock’s solo on the free form title track "Vertigo".  It evokes Hancock’s free jazz explorations in Inventions & Dimensions, recorded in the same year.   Most of the album, however, follows a more traditional path, with several swinging and slow blues.

This CD release features six bonus tracks intended for a different album.  The switch from Herbie Hancock to Sonny Clark on piano is rather noticeable.  Two of the compositions are earlier versions of tunes I’m familiar with from the box set.  "Three Minors" was recorded as "Vernestune" on Consequence, and "Iddy Bitty" become "’Snuff" on It’s Time.  The latter recordings of both tunes have more refined arrangements and faster tempos.

Shaft

Isaac Hayes
Stax SCD-88002-2 (1978)

I don’t usually pick up soundtracks, but for $7.99 in the used bin, how could I turn down Shaft?  Actually, this album is quite awesome.  Mostly instrumental soul and R&B, with just a touch of Isaac Hayes vocals here and there.  It’s just the music without the nonsense of dialog clips they tend to litter modern soundtrack albums with.  So it’s a really good album throw on for ambiance.  This is also important to me because of a very talented relative, but that’s another story.

I was somewhat amused that along with fourteen radio-length tracks, they threw in a 19:38 minute extended jam called "Do Your Thing".  And by jam, I mean they really take it out there!  I mean, not Fred Frith Henry Cow out there, but well…closer to that than anything commercial!  So maybe that’s why it ended up in the used bin?  I don’t know, but I love it!

The Shape Of Jazz To Come

Ornette Coleman
Atlantic 1317-2 (1959)

This album was so influential it almost singlehandedly launched the avant-garde jazz movement.  I first heard The Shape Of Jazz To Come in college, when I was given a mix tape with this album on one side and Joe Henderson’s In ‘n Out on the other.  The tape lived in my car for a while, and I usually listened to it during late night drives home from five-hour merengue gigs.  There are those who hate this album and free jazz in general, but I find it very relaxed and loose and freeing to listen to.  The flip side of my mix tape with Joe Henderson seemed so rigid in comparison.  Perhaps, after five hours of incessant güira rhythms, my ears rejected structure and thirsted for Coleman’s organic group improvisation?

Since I listened to both these albums back to back so frequently, I often associate Coleman’s "Peace" with Henderson’s "Serenity".  Though dissimilar melodically, they are both beautiful melodies that evoke a similar mood.  For me, they seem to form a bridge between straight ahead and avant-garde jazz.  By listening to both, you can get a feeling for how each school approaches a similar type of vehicle.

"Lonely Woman" has got to be one of the most haunting melodies ever devised.  I first heard it as rendered by Branford Marsalis.  Here, the original version is just brilliant.