A super-group of sorts led by clarinetist, saxophonist and composer Shabaka Hutchings with Oren Marshall on tuba and both Tom Skinner and Seb Rochford on drums, Sons Of Kemet offer a unique take on jazz, Caribbean folk music and African Diasporan history. [Source]
The Will Come, Is Now is the title track of the free jazz album of same name by the bassist Ronnie Boykins, recorded in February 1975.
Ronnie Boykins is best known for his work as bassist with Sun Ra (between 1958 and 1966), but the odd meters and horn arrangements in this 1975 septet session for ESP (the last release on the mythic free jazz label before it dipped out of sight a year later) recall Mingus more than they do Boykins´ former employer. The opening title track features some solid soloing from James Vass (on soprano), but the recording throughout is oddly mixed (well, pristine sound quality never was a priority for ESP) and several horn solos sound alarmingly far away. More upsettingly, some of the heads and bridges are rather scrappily executed and/or edited (notably “Demon’s Dance”), and the accompaniment behind Boykins´ extended bowed feature “Starlight at the Wonder Inn” sounds somewhat lackluster. Ra´s influence is more evident, as its title might suggest, on the final “The Third I,” where ensemble members double up on percussion for an energetic polyrhythmic romp. Lively and entertaining it may be, but Heliocentric Worlds it definitely is not. [source]
Tracks : The Will Come, Is Now / Starlight At The Wonder Inn / Demon’s Dance / Dawn Is Evening, Afternoon / Tipping On Heels / The Third
Ronnie Roykins – Bass, Tuba (Sousaphone)
George Avaloz – Congas
Art Lewis – Percussion
Monty Waters – Saxophone (Alto, Soprano)
James Vass – Saxophone (Alto, Soprano), Flute
Joe Ferguson – Saxophone (Alto, Soprano), Flute
Daoud Haroom – Trombone
You Stepped Out Of A Dream is from Deeds, Not Words, an album by American jazz drummer Max Roach featuring tracks recorded in 1958 and released on the Riverside label, same year. Words an music for You Stepped Out Of A Dream is originally created by Nacio Herb and Gus Kahn.
The tunes on the date are a well-chosen mix of originals with a single standard thrown in as a nod to tradition. Draper’s potbellied horn is surprisingly agile on the changes, particularly on his own numbers “Jackie’s Dolly” and “Mimi’s Interlude.” Plump and viscous, it’s a sound that skates along the bedrock of the bass register while still managing to fire off quick salvos of notes. Young stays fairly understated, but still chimes in occasionally with fine solos, as on the latter composition and some intriguing exchanges, as on the opening “Terry Anne.” McLean’s devilish alto, brimming with youthful bravado, routinely dances rings around the leader’s fleshy figures. The rhythm section is usually relegated to its regular chores, but Waldron finds space both for a tune and several solo breaks. [Source]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Draper attended the Manhattan School of Music in the mid-1950s. As a leader, he recorded his first album, Tuba Sounds (Prestige Records 1957), at the age of 16, with a quintet. His second album was recorded at the age of 17 with slight changes in his quintet, including John Coltrane.
After his release from prison in the late sixties due to drug use, Draper formed the first jazz rock fusion band composed of established jazz musicians of the day. This preceded Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew, which is normally recognized as the first jazz rock fusion group and recording by two years. Original band members included George Bohannon on trombone, Hadley Caliman on tenor sax, John Duke on upright bass, Paul Lagos on drums and Tom Trujillo on guitar. This band, after its first live performance at Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go — where it shared the bill with Nazz — was offered numerous record deals and booked solid at rock venues for the rest of the year.
Ray Draper began using heroin again, whereupon the more experienced band members quit, except for the youngest member, guitarist Tom Trujillo and his landlord, Chuck Goodn. This led to a search for new members and hirings that included New York trumpeter Don Sleet and Ernie Watts. After two years of searching and many personnel changes, including getting clean from drugs, Draper brought drummer Paul Lagos back, along with saxophonist Richard Aplan, trumpeter Phil Woods, and bassist Ron Johnson. This new group was eventually named Red Beans and Rice, named after their favorite meal cooked by Ray’s wife, Sandy. This group appeared on bills with some of the day’s headlining groups including Jimi Hendrix, Chicago Transit Authority, Jethro Tull, and Gil Scott Heron.
They went on to record the album produced by Jackie Paris titled Red Beans and Rice Featuring Sparerib Ray Draper on Epic Records. But when the band saw that Draper and his manager Forrest Hamilton had put only Ray’s picture on the cover, the whole group quit and Draper was on his own once more. After this, he got hooked back on heroin and he sporadically performed and recorded but he was no longer able to recreate the band sound with other players. He left California and returned to New York in the hopes of becoming clean once again. He remarried and had two children with his second wife, continuing to compose for other musicians.
In 1982, coming out of a bank, Ray was held up by a gang of kids. The 13-year-old leader shot him after Ray had given him his money. Ray had been clean of drug use and had been working on a composition, found in his attaché case upon his death.
