DownBeat

Transcending Toxic Times with street poetry & music

My DownBeat article about Transcending Toxic Times, the compulsively listenable, critically political album by the Last Poets produced by electric bassist/composer Jamaaladeen Tacuma, includes a lot of quotes from my interviews with him and poet Abiudon Oyewale.

from left: Baba Donn Babatunde, Jamaaaladeen Tacuma (in front), Umar Bin Hassan, Abiodun Oyewole

I reproduced some of the searing imagery/lyrics on the recording, and provided background on how these men have been calling out American mendacy and hypocrity for half-a-century, as black street seers emerging in the late 1960s — before poetry jams, signifyin’ djs or rappers — backed by African-American percussion. But there’s more to tell.

Jamaaladeen Tacuma at Ornette Coleman’s birthday party;
photo by SÃ¡nta IstvÃ¡n Csaba

Firstly: Tacuma, who positions the declamatory truths amid truly music, often ebullient and genre-defying settings performed by his core collaborators, most of whom are Philadelphians, may still be best known for adding profound buoyancy to my hero Ornette Coleman‘s electrically amplified band Prime Time. But he’s been a recording artist under his own name since an inspired string of 1980s albums for Gramavision (now only Renaissance Man, second of five, is available as an import, but it’s a good one).

He’s backed vocalists from Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez to Nona Hendrix, and recorded with James “Blood” Ulmer, Vernon Reid, Marc Ribot, Derek Bailey, Kip Hanrahan, Jerry Gonzalez, John Zorn and Arto Lindsay among a host of others. But when Jamaaladeen was working with Prime Time, he was simultaneously grounding poet Jayne Cortez’s unique Fire Spitters (with other Prime Time members including Ornette and Jayne’s son Denardo and the late guitarist Bern Nix). Cortez’s fierce declamations and clear-eyed perspective had a major impact on the bassist at a young age, and initiated his interests in creating music in interplay with words.

Since then, he recorded with Amiri Baraka, the Roots and Ursula Rucker, too. His own spoken project Brotherzone has continued for 20 years. All this experience informed how Tacuma approached Transcending Toxic Times.

“As a producer,” Tacuma went on, “you have to really get inside of the project, and that project shouldn’t be about you, it should be about the artist. So I familiarized myself with the material, I familiarized myself with them, I knew their live show, so when I cut our raw music, I knew the length of time the poems took, and I made sure we were within the time frame. I knew the tunes, I knew the pieces, I knew the rhythms, so when I did the music I made sure their recitations would fit just like a glove, right on top of it.”

With assistance in all things from his wife Rahima, Tacuma has produced the Outsiders Improvised & Creative Music Festival in Philadelphia for the past five years (I wrote for DownBeat about the 2018 edition). To clarify the origin of Transcending Toxic Times, Rahima sent me this information:

David Murray brought Jamaaladeen into the 40th Anniversary tour of the Last Poets in 2008. This happened before the Tongues on Fire date, which was a Black Panthers Tribute concert in 2010.
The 40th Anniversary was monumental event and the tour was arranged in collaboration with the filming of The Last Poets: Made in Amerikka by Claude Santiago. It marks the reunion of The Last Poets, accompanied by veritable musical legends like Ronald Shannon Jackson, Robert Irving III and Kenyatte Abdur-Rahman besides Jamaaladeen. Nearly 40 years after their separation, the members of this legendary group — the founding fathers of today’s hip-hop, rap, and slam — came together in Paris for a one-time concert at the 2008 Banlieues Blues Festival. This was significant since it was the first reunion ever and included all living original members of The Last Poets: Abiodun Oyewole, Babatunde, Dahveed Nelson, Felipe Luciano, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, Umar Bin Hassan. Only Gylan Kain was unable to attend.
From 2008-2011 he did several tours in Europe with Abidodun, Umar and Babatunde. During this time Jamaaladeen began to form the musical ideas that come later during the first sessions. In 2011 when Jamaaladeen received the Pew Arts & Heritage Fellowship he used the money to start the production. He self-produced the project without any label funding. The Pew Grant was a vital component of the productions.

Besides all that, Jamaaladeen is one of the best dressers in musicdom. The verve of his clothing matches the vitality of his music. Perhaps paisley jackets can help us transcend toxic times.

Dr. John, Back in the Day and Blindfolded

Dr. John the Night Tripper — Mac Rebbanack, New Orleans’ musical fabulist, dead June 6 at age 77 — dazzled me at one of the first rock shows I recall attending, at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom circa 1969.

Dr. John, Vienna 2011, photo by SÃ¡nta IstvÃ¡n Csaba

I was then enthralled by Gris-gris, his murky, obscure and carnivalesque debut album, having never heard anything like it (and I still haven’t — thanks perhaps to the great, less- heralded producer Harold Battiste). I was thrilled to Blindfold Test Mac for DownBeat in 1984. He came to listen in my grubby East Village apartment. Years later he rented the front flat on the floor of another EV building I lived in.

During my teenage listening I dug Dr. John’s croaking voice and scary stories, the background singers wailing on “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” (whatever that meant — their chorus has always

sounded to me like “Dear Operator” but there is no agreement at various internet posts about those lyrics),the sweet, dirty swing of “Mama Roux” and the swirling “danse” instrumentals with harpsichord, mandolin, flute or warped guitar leads, sudden otherworldly screeches, clattering drums.

At the Aragon back in the day, where I believe he headlined after sets by singer Tim Buckley with band and Linda Rondstadt with the Stone Poneys, Dr. John stood with guitar strapped on, “singing” and occasionally dipping into a satchel of “gris-gris powder,” dusty stuff (it didn’t seem to be either spiked or toxic) to toss on those of us standing close. The ensemble was motley; I remember another guitarist, dressed like a stereotype of Injun Joe in overalls, no shirt and a tall, broadbrimmed black hat sitting on the stage lip, and a small possibly Mexican electric bassist. I don’t recall the keyboard player or drummer, but there were two wasted-looking backup singers, one dark-skinned and shapely, the other lissom and pale unto pallid.

I followed Dr. John’s career through his immediate followup albums: Babylon which struct me as weird but not as mellifluous; The Sun, Moon and Herbs which was disappointing; redemption with Gumbo, and his emergence as an important member, promoter and preserver of the Crescent City’s glorious line of piano players.

That’s the role he wore well for the rest of his life and it fit just fine, though the New York Times obit reports he made his fortune writing jingles. Of his later recordings I recommend Dr. John: The Best Of The Parlaphone Years. And I’ll never forget stepping into the hall one day to get the mail and seeing in the vestibule, ringing his bell, those two backup singers from Gris-gris come to visit.

Chicagoans’ albums reviewed, author’s edition

My reviews of recordings Â by Chicago pianists Larry Novak, Laurence Hobgood and Robert Irving III, percussionist Art “Turk” Burton, and saxophonists Caroline Davis and Roy McGrath appeared in DownBeat‘s January issue, but the print edition limited their length. DB’s rating system ranges from one to five stars (*s), poor to masterpiece. Here’s my text as submitted:

Josh Berman, trumpet and Jason Adasiewicz, vibes, at Chicago’s recently closed Jazz Record Mart (we mourn its end). No copyright infringement intended.

In Chicago jazz, veteran modernists pave the way for innovators to expand on a fabled legacy. Experimentalists and mainstreamers alike convene supportive communities, yet everyone, whatever their aesthetic, presents themselves as an individualist. The longtime gulf between North (largely white) and South Side (predominantly black) scenes is still only partially bridged, but wherever they live Chicago artists must be talented and resolute, as nothing is readily given or easily achieved. Practicality, originality and integrity are valued. The breadth, depth and ongoing development of jazz from this Midwest capitol continues to impress and please local devotees, casual listeners and visitors from afar who discover its well established, under-promoted and/or newly emerging artists.

Larry Novak, at age 82, is current dean of Chicago’s pianists, an unofficial post previously held by such notables as Jelly Roll Morton, Lil Hardin Armstrong, Earl Hines, Nat “King” Cole, Ramsey Lewis, Art Hodes, Eddie Higgins, Judy Roberts and Muhal Richard Abrams. Invitation (Delmark 5022; 68:30 * * * *) is only Novak’s second album as a leader after 50 years of steady excellence at clubs including the London House, Mr. Kelly’s and the Jazz Showcase. With frequent sidemen bassist Eric Hochberg (also the album’s producer) and drummer Rusty Jones (who died unexpectedly in December 2015), Novak interprets not-quite-standards, applying elegant touch, deft technique and harmonic wisdom along with confident if self-effacing swing.

The pianist is indebted to Bill Evans, as avowed by his tender solo version of “Waltz for Debby” and trio rendition of “Very Early,” but really everywhere, including “The Days of Wine and Roses” to which he gives unusual brightness, and a fast, deft “Minority.” But Novak excels most in simmering late-night ruminations, like the 11-minute “Close Enough for Love” in which he spins free of the theme to enhance its romance.

More than 30 years Novak’s junior, Laurence Hobgood in Honor Thy Fathers (self-released; 60:53 * * * *) updates the trio format they share with understated treatment of would-be-pop anthems (“Sanctuary”), intimations of classicism (“Tryptich,” “The Waltz,” “Sharakumo No Michi”), hymn-like airs imbued with funk (“The Road Home”), a slightly more assertive yet still exquisite attack and carefully considered flow. Keith Jarrett may be one touchstone, The Bad Plus another, but Hobgood distinguishes himself with a plethora of influences in and out of jazz as well as nearly 20 years’ history as singer Kurt Elling’s music director. He attends to both arrangements and spontaneous play, engaging with ultra-responsive bassist John Patitucci and drummer Kendrick Scott, whose independent activity lifts several of tracks to their climaxes.

Five original Hobgood compositions are leavened with a New Orleans-syncopated take on Nat Cole’s “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” unusual ostinato under the oldie “Give Me The Simple Life” — the one tracks here less than five minutes â€“ and a nuanced investigation of Stevie Wonder’s “If It’s Magic.” Overall the ambiance is warm, dark and reflective, which is not to discount the Hobgood’s strategically big, broad voicings, streaming glissandi and consistently perfect articulation.

So different from Hobgood and Novak’s albums it could be from another planet, conga drummer Art “Turk” Burton and Congo Square’s Spirits: Then & Now (TNTCD 101; 74:50 * * 1/2 ) arrives in conjunction with the 50^th Anniversary of Chicago’s AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), the loose-knit cooperative that has from inception rejected jazz staples for unconstrained but rigorously conceived and performed new music. Here, two pieces from a 1983 live public radio broadcast and six tracks recorded in a studio in 2015 strive to meet that standard.

“Cuba: A Tribute to Chucho” and “When Sonny Gets Blue” are the old bits; the first a tight, hot example of Windy City Latin jazz, the second a soul chestnut marred by unfortunately amateurish sax playing. The contemporary recordings feature mostly different personnel: Ari Brown on tenor and soprano saxes (sometimes both at once), his brother Kirk playing piano, Taalib-Din Ziyad on flute and singing, plus bassist Harrison Bankhead (present in ’83), traps drummer Avreeayl Amen Ra, hand percussionists Sammi “Cha Cha” Torres and Luis Rosario.

The rhythmists sync well and reedist Brown is commanding, but some editing would have been useful. The band commits itself to warhorses “Afro Blue” and “A Love Supreme” for 14 minutes each. Ziyad croons his own lyrics to a brief “Moment’s Notice,” then comes Mojuba,” a drums-and-bass vamp, and the jams “Mr. Brown (Cold Sweat)” and “Soul Naturals,” both too long despite bright moments.

Conversely Doors: Chicago Storylines (ears & eyes Records ee:15-039; 64:12 * * * Â½) by alto saxophonist Caroline Davis (now living in New York City) with her quartet plus special guests, is arguably too produced. Interspersing local players’ memories of people and places since the mid ’80s with small group instrumental episodes, she’s crafted a hybrid of podcast and suite, without the compelling narrative or structural balance of either form.

The oral history clips name-drop, accruing a sense of activity without informative details. They are either unaccompanied by music or laid over Davis’ mellow, sleek writing that features guitarist Mike Allemana, especially, bassist Matt Ferguson, drummer Jeremy Cunningham and on seven of the cd’s 13 tracks (10 of which start with interviews), trumpeter Russ Johnson. “Lincoln Land,” “Rounds: For the Horses,” “Chicago Sound,” “Delighted,” “Another Way,” “Fields” and “Doors” prove that Davis, a graceful soloist with a silvery tone, and her sympatico ensemble have a full album even without the speaking and sound effects, which, once heard, seem superfluous.

Tenor saxophonist Roy McGrath‘s quartet, on Martha (JL Music; 64:52 * * * Â½) abjures high concept in favor of straightforward presentation of six of the leader’s compositions, Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” incorporating a montuno, and Daniel Iverson’s “Spirit of the Living God.” Born and raised in Puerto Rico, a student at Berkeley and Loyola in New Orleans before he received a masters degree at Northwestern University under Victor Goines’ direction, McGrath has a fully mature tenor sax sound. He employs a hint of vibrato, dips into Dexter Gordon-like languor and can attain Stan Getz-reminiscent gleaming, too.

Pianist Joaquin Garcia accompanies and stretches creatively, attuned — as are bassist Kitt Lyles and drummer Gustavo CortiÃ±as — to McGrath’s mostly subdued moods. The four break into buoyancy midway through “Spirit,” and don’t lack passion, but might be more cheerful. They have the talent and chops to add upbeat feeling, always a welcome quality, to Chicago’s soundscape.

Robert Irving III,Â Generations: Our Space in Time (Sonic Portraits Jazz SPJ 1222)Â * * * *Â Our Space in Time addresses such themes as the links between artists past and present, the balance of legacy and innovation, where we are now and how to move ahead. Robert Irving III, an under-promoted Chicago-based pianist, arranger, composer, educator and producer has created a suite-like album and set his saxophonist wife as well as several mentees to exploring these concepts in progressive yet accessible contemporary jazz forms.

As a member of Miles Davis’ 1981 comeback band and later Davis’ music director, Irving rode a post-fusion wave when it was being supplanted by the Marsalis-led revival of hard bop. Here he resurrects an alternative strategy that Wayne Shorter proposed in albums like Atlantis and High Life: tightly knit, intriguingly complex charts for small ensembles, flexible enough to couch striking personal statements but distinguished by hooks and repetitions to comfort audiences with an identifiable thread.

Baabe, as Irving now calls himself, writes close parallels for his three capable horn players and directs his rhythm section’s approaches, leaving openings for his deft, light-fingered pianism and everyone else, too. Solos are usually backed by unusual group riffs. Dissimilar passages or stop-times effectively separate one spotlit bit from the next. The ten tracks, including two “interludes” under 50 seconds, expand on shared harmonic material that’s advanced from smooth soul-jazz progressions. Drummer Charles “Rick” Heath IV bonds with bassist Emma Dayhuff and Irving himself to inflect the backbeat.

“Posnan Dream,” named for a Polish festival town — spelled on the album with both “s” and “z” — evokes an airy wistfulness that recurs in “Octobre.” Scott Hesse’s guitar skitters through the saxes on “Generations,” and is generously featured on “Maat.” “Energy,” suggestive of McCoy Tyner, packs punches including Ms. d’Estival Irving’s fervent wail and hot, bubbling Hesse. Irving’s interlude recitation about our “once in a lifetime opportunity to get it right” may seem superfluous, but Rajiv Halim’s soprano makes “Our Space In Time” right.

“The Road Less Traveled” advances in stops and starts, the saxes expressing a broken line in unison then each individually, the ensemble picking up speed but suspending tempo entirely for Dayhuff’s wordless cooing and then floats, briefly free. “Amour Incondicional” is lovely before fading out at 40 seconds. Irving uses both electric and acoustic keyboards to lend “Every Today” an ominous undertone, support winding soprano and garrulous tenor solos; he concludes resolutely. The band’s response to the issues its leader raises is to play together, in the moment.

Our Space in Time: Poznan Dream; Generations; Energy; Aurora Australis (Interlude); Our Space In Time; Roads Less Traveled; Octobre; Maat; Amor Incondicional (Interlude); Every Today.Â Personnel: Irving, piano, vocals; Laurence d’Estival Irving, alto sax; Scott Hesse, guitar; Rajiv Halim, soprano sax, flute; Irvin Pierce, tenor sax; Emma Dayhuff, acoustic bass, vocals; Charles “Rick” Heath IV, drums.

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