...don't ask if there will ever be a Volume 2. We don't know
yet. What we do know is that if we ever come across a similar tour de force as
Don McCaslin's composition,Praise Poems, then there will certainly be one...
These were
the final words of the sales notes for Praise Poems Volume 1 - which we proudly
released earlier this year. And indeed, since then, we have discovered a tune
which led us to continue to curate this series of obscure, soulful, jazzy and
spiritual sounds from back in the day.
The song to
which we refer to is Abraham Battat's jazz-samba masterpiece, Fly Away. Fly
Away is a righteous combination of sonorous jazz guitar, crackling drums and
warm acoustic piano. Floating through the tones as if in a private concert for
you in your very living room, it is an earnest, honest vocal performance
bringing a rainbow message of freedom and liberty to the world. This is the
standard by which we judged the entirety of this compilation.
Though they
may be known in some circles, selections by Richard Martian, Larry Covin, and
The Gingerbread Express are in the same category of pure beauty. Of course,
good luck finding a copy of Larry Covin's Masquerade or the Portis Brothers'
Summer Love. The single hit you receive while doing an online search is the
exact same copy from which we took the master. To find a needle in a haystack
is a cakewalk compared to turning up a copy of some of these gems to be found
here.
Rarity is
important, quality is more important, and whether a song has been compiled yet
is of the highest consideration. In this case, all but one of them have yet to
be compiled elsewhere. By and large, this compilation highlights a unique
historical context in the development and splintering of the streams of funk,
soul and jazz. There are plenty of true funk elements. There is a spectrum of
electronic synth experiments. There is rich post-post-bop instrumentalism, and
at least one instance of wah wah flute! And of course, and perhaps most
importantly, there is a pervasive message of the attainment of freedom, whether
it be through non-attachment, space travel, social action, spirituality, or
musical genre blending.
The Praise
Poems series is an attempt at a faithful snapshot of this revolutionary music
before it began its inevitable backslide into the bourgeois excesses of the
jazz-fusion genre. Call it proto-fusion; exemplified in performances like the
cosmic bossa-odyssey of Third Stream, the jazz-pre-fusion of Seeds of
Fulfillment, modal-tribal and chant explorations by Bobby Boyd Congress, the
cinematic audiophilia of Belgium's Soul Scratchers, the electro-acoustic blend
of folk, percussion, and jazz by John Finnigan and Maureen Finlon, or the
undeniable funky theatricality of Larry Dismond that would make Galt Macdermot
proud.
All of them
are finally getting the attention they deserve.
Trackslisting:
Fly Away / Abraham Battat
Dawn, Pt. 1 / Richard Martian & Co.
Dawn, Pt. 2 / Richard Martian & Co.
Missed Another Day / The Gingerbread
Express
Would You Believe / Gloria Rosebud Black
Spanish Guitar (feat. Willie Moore's
Quintet) / Jimmy Briggs
In a Galaxy Far Away / Third Stream
The Dude / Joe B
The Provider / Seeds of Fulfillment
Masquerade / Larry Covin
In a Strange Strange Land / Bobby Boyd
Congress
Wild Wild World / Larry Dismond
Take You for a Ride / St. John's Wood
Seasons of Doubt / Finnigan & Finlan
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