Joachim Kühn – This Way Out (MPS, 1973)

Joachim Kühn (p, as); Gerd Dudek (ts, ss, fl); Peter Warren (b, vc); Daniel Humair (d, perc)

Recorded in January 1973

I suppose many of you will recall the long-gone "Magic Purple Sunshine," a blog dedicated to sharing music released on Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer's Musik Produktion Schwarzwald (MPS) [in English, Music Production Black Forest] label.  Now that MPS has been acquired by Edel and made most of their catalog available again (if only as downloads), a blog like "Magic Purple Sunshine" no longer serves a valid purpose.  But there was a time when it was valuable, providing access to music that was otherwise only available on cost-prohibitive LPs.  This was especially true to an American like me.  I had very little exposure to the music released on the label -- aside from a few big names (like Basie and Oscar Peterson) and a smattering of titles licensed to PAUSA.  Some commentators have even argued that blogs "Magic Purple Sunshine" played a role in changing younger people's attitudes about jazz in the 1970s.  A great deal of the music from the decade was unavailable, but people sharing it via the blogoshere facilitated exposure for the music to a new generation that wasn't there when it was happening the first time.  (Of course, like most things about the internet, there's another side of the coin.  Artists and others who deserved payment for their work weren't getting paid.  I fully acknowledge that problem.  But that's another topic for another day.)

The point of all this?  I'm fairly certain that I never would have discovered Joachim Kühn's This Way Out if it weren't for the "Magic Purple Sunshine" blog.  And I'm glad I found it, because I think the album is excellent.  It's also music that Kühn is himself describes as distinctively "European Jazz" in the album's liner notes.  The band is consciously attempting to bringing a new sensibility, a new set preoccupations to the table, and I think that's almost always a valuable enterprise.

The double-album consists of one trio LP and and one quartet LP, which adds Gerd Dudek on tenor & soprano sax as well as flute.  As much as I enjoy Dudek's playing (and I do), I prefer the trio cuts.  This configuration anticipates the superb and influential trio that Joachim Kühn and Daniel Humair would later form with French double bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark.

Joe Henderson – Multiple (Milestone, 1973)

Joe Henderson (ts, ss, fl, perc, vo); James "Blood" Ulmer (g, 1 trk only); John Thomas (g, 1 trk only); Larry Willis (el p, ring modulator, Echoplex); Dave Holland (b, el b); Jack DeJohnette (d); Arthur Jenkins (cga, perc)

Recorded on January 30 - 31, 1973 and in February & April 1973


Joe Henderson's Milestone recordings remain grievously overlooked, especially compared with his Blue Note titles, which most fans regard as masterpieces.  Let's look closely at just one year during Henderson's tenure on Milestone: 1973.  Recording-wise, I wouldn't hesitate to describe the year as superb.  Within a twelve-month period, he made three excellent LPs for Milestone: Multiple (mostly recorded in January); The Elements, featuring Alice Coltrane (recorded in October); and Canyon Lady (also recorded in October).  I think two of these -- Multiple and Canyon Lady -- should be counted among the best albums that Henderson ever made.  During the same year, Henderson also contributed as a sideman to several LPs that remain high points in the artist's discographies, including:
- Babatunde Olatunji - Soul Makossa (Paramount)
- Ron Carter - All Blues (CTI)
- Johnny Hammond - Higher Ground (Kudu)
- Flora Purim - Butterfly Dreams (Milestone)
- Charles Earland - Leaving This Planet (Prestige)

But has anyone ever lauded 1973 as a "banner year" for Joe Henderson? I don't think so. Has anyone ever hailed Multiple as "a masterpiece"?  I'm not familiar with anyone who has, but I think it is!

Just take a look at that rhythm section.  Larry Willis is fantastic on electric piano.  Just a few years earlier, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette were the backbone of Miles' famous "Lost Quintet" and were already regarded as young giants.  Percussionist Arthur Jenkins wasn't as well-known, but his credits tell the story.  During the 1970s, he also appeared on albums by Sonny Rollins, Harold Vick, Charles Earland, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Hank Crawford, Robin Kenyatta, Ron Carter, Johnny Lytle, and many others. Obviously, saxophonists liked him.

The band is amazing, but Joe is the star of the show.  He composed three of the five titles on the album, and he plays wonderfully.  Listen to the opening cut, a ten-and-a-half minute track, titled "Tress-Cun-Deo-La."  If that doesn't convince you, this album may not be your cuppa Joe.

One suggestion for those who have Henderson's The Milestone Years (Milestone, 1994) box set: Create playlists or burn CD-Rs that mirror the LPs, so you can listen to the music in the order that it was meant to be heard originally.  I think the music on this set has much more impact if it's heard as it was originally programmed.  In my experience, this is true for nearly all box sets that compile music from the LP era, but I think it's especially instructive in this particular case.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk – Prepare Thyself to Deal with a Miracle (Atlantic, 1973)

Roland Kirk (ts, as, cl, fl, nose fl, black mystery pipes); Charles McGhee (tr); Dick Griffin (tb); Harry Smiles (ob); Ron Burton (p); Henry Mattathias Pearson (b); Robert Shy (d); Sonny Brown (perc); Ralph MacDonald (perc); Dee Dee Bridgewater (vo); Jeanne Lee (vo); Sanford Allen (vn); Julien Barber (vn); Selwart Clarke (vn); Gayle Dixon (vn); Al Brown (va); Kermit Moore (vc)

Recorded on January 22, 1973

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I think Kirk's music from the 1970s takes a clear step forward from his work in the preceding decade.  It's as if Kirk's canvas kept expanding.  By 1970, he conceived his music as something massive and uncontainable and cosmic.  (Perhaps it's no coincidence that Kirk even changed his name in 1970.  He added Rahsaan to his name, after hearing it in a dream.)  Kirk's music would remain rooted in jazz -- and black music in general -- but during this time, it began to soar past the boundaries of those conventions.  (And that's saying something -- because Kirk was NEVER conventional.)  In the words of Duke Ellington, Kirk's music evolved into something "beyond category."

I don't think Kirk ever realized the grand, symphonic, and cosmic aspects of his music better than he did on Prepare Thyself to Deal with a Miracle.  It's a magnificent realization of his truly singular vision.

More Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Among his 1970s studio albums, I gravitate most toward:
- Natural Black Inventions: Root Strata (Atlantic, 1971)
- The Case of the 3 Sided Dream in Audio Color (Atlantic, 1975)
- The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man (Warner Brothers, 1976)

As far as live recordings go, Bright Moments (Atlantic, 1973) is probably Kirk's most famous. But I actually prefer three others more.  I, Eye, Aye: Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1972 (Rhino) captures Kirk at his kaleidoscopic best.  Brotherman in the Fatherland: Recorded "Live" in Germany 1972 (Hyena) is the most impressive display of Kirk's saxophone prowess that I've heard.  If you want to hear Kirk playing with Coltrane-like fire and intensity, start with that one.  Rahsaan, Rahsaan (Atlantic), recorded at the Village Vanguard in May 1970, is also superb.

Lucky Thompson – Illuminations (Groove Merchant, 1974)

Lucky Thompson (ss, ts); Cedar Walton (p, el p, clst); Larry Ridley (b); Sam Jones (b); Billy Higgins (d); Louis Hayes (d)

Originally released as two Groove Merchant LPs: Goodbye Yesterday (1972) and I Offer You (1973).

Recorded in 1972 and 1973

Oh man, I love this music.  It's dear to my heart and indescribably beautiful -- especially the cuts featuring Thompson's work on the soprano.  Thompson plays the instrument like no one else; he was a complete original.  I don't know how he was able to express such stunning vulnerability.

Sadly, these LPs were among the last music that Lucky Thompson ever recorded.  Around this time, he was teaching at Dartmouth College.  Shortly thereafter, he left the music business.

Thompson lived until 2005, but his remaining years were very difficult.  By the early-1990s Thompson was living a hermit-like existence as a homeless person in Seattle, Washington. 

It's a sad story.  But Thompson's artistry lives on.  Don't deny yourself the opportunity to hear this life-affirming music.  It may not be well-known, but it should be.

Buddy Terry – Pure Dynamite (Mainstream, 1972)

Buddy Terry (fl, ss, ts); Eddie Henderson (tr); Woody Shaw (tr); Kenny Barron (p); Joanne Brackeen (el p); Buster Williams (b); Stanley Clarke (b); Billy Hart (d); Lenny White (d); Airto Moreira (perc); Mtume (perc)

Recorded in 1972

Jack McDuff – The Heatin' System (Cadet, 1972)

Jack McDuff (org, mel); Dave Young (sax); Donald Myrick (sax); Bobby Alston (tr); Marty Roberts (g); Phil Upchurch (b); Sam Jones (b, 2 trks only); Greg Williams (d); Frederick "Derf" Walker (cga)

Recorded in 1972

Not to be confused with McDuff's 1994 release on the Concord label with the same title.


I have a rhetorical question for everyone: Why do so many Jazz aficionados turn up their noses when it comes to Soul Jazz?  

We all love Miles, Monk, and Trane.  And many of us—maybe even most of us—love James Brown, Isaac Hayes, and Sly Stone.  But, for some reason, the music that lives between those two stylistic worlds somehow doesn't cut it.  It strikes me as oddly arbitrary.  And I don't think it makes sense from a musical or historical point of view.  ... Maybe it makes sense from a marketing point of view.  But we shouldn't ever let that sort of nonsense get in the way of hearing music, should we?!?!

Perhaps I'm overstating my case.  Let me just speak for myself.  I've been a jazz fan since the mid-1980s.  For years, I ignored Soul Jazz.  It wasn't any sort of explicit bias. I never said to myself, "I dislike Soul Jazz."  Nothing like that.  It was something else.  Even though I loved exploring the nooks and crannies in the House of Jazz, I rarely found my way into the Soul Jazz rooms.  And the Soul Jazz rooms are big rooms, important rooms, rooms full of wonderful, vital music.

Let me clarify one thing: I'm NOT saying that you should like Soul Jazz.  I am saying that you should listen for yourself.  What's come to be known as the "historical record" or the "received wisdom" is NOT trustworthy.  Go in one of those Soul Jazz rooms, sit down, and listen a while.  I think you'll find that many of the preconceived notions that many of us have carried around for a long time just don't hold up under the light of the music.  I know that's what happened to me.  And why, why, why should we deny ourselves the enjoyment and pleasure of hearing all that glorious music? 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Exhibit A in my case in favor of this strangely overlooked sub-genre in the House of Jazz: Jack McDuff's Heatin' System.  Is there a good reason that this music has never been reissued on CD?  Is there a good reason that no one talks about this record in the jazz history books?  Does it have anything to do with the quality of the music?  I'm biting my tongue, people!  I'm biting my tongue because I'm not going to say one word about this gloriously ambitious, funky, vital, and joyous music.  There's no need.  You have ears!  All I ask is that you listen!  Listen closely and then decide for yourself.

A peek inside the double-LP gatefold:

Oscar Peterson & Ben Webster – During This Time (Art of Groove/MIG, 2014)

Ben Webster (ts); Oscar Peterson (p); Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen; Tony Inzalaco (d)

Recorded on December 14, 1972