Artist : Philip Cohran And The Artistic Heritage Ensemble
Title : Singles
Genre : Jazz
Year : 2008
Date : 07/2010
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 07
Label : Midday Music
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 38:38 min
Size : 52,7 MB
Tracklist:
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01.the african look 03:35
02.loud mouth 05:20
03.frankiphone blues 04:13
04.el-hajj malik el-shabazz 07:35
05.detroit red 07:55
06.new frankiphone blues 07:07
07.black beauty 02:53
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38:38 min
Compiling seven inch tracks by Cohran
and his Artistic Heritage Ensemble, this
magnificent collection is the latest
release to cast a spotlight on the
Chicago jazz maestro's remarkable
career. History has previously cast
Cohran as a constituent part of Sun Ra's
Arkestra, taking up trumpet duties as
well as taking a more exploratory role
on a number of string instruments from
time to time. As recent reissues like
The Malcolm X Memorial LP have proven,
Cohran's defining work was to come after
his stint in the Arkestra, and this
Japanese import goes yet deeper into the
maverick bandleader's history. The
complex tribal style of 'The African
Look' serves as a digestible starting
point, functioning as a springboard into
the loosened-up psychedelia of 'Loud
Mouth', featuring a heavy funk presence
from the drums and what sounds like a
highly bizarre electric guitar sequence
(at least I think it's electric guitar,
frankly it's so coated in fuzz it's hard
to tell). The instrument in question
could actually be the Frankiphone, a
kind of thumb piano featured heavily (as
given away by the titles) on
'Frankiphone Blues' and 'New Frankiphone
Blues', two of the most compelling and
unique pieces on the compilation,
largely thanks to the curious staccato
timbres of the titular instrument.
You'll notice a couple of cuts from that
aforementioned Malcolm X LP turning up
here for a welcome outing on a digital
format. The swinging psych blues of
'Detroit Red' finds several reeds
overlapping in a slightly
disorientating, confused state, lazily
wandering through passages of roundabout
musical chatter over an eight-minute
discourse. From the same LP, 'El-Hajj
Malik El-Shabazz' is a more focussed,
even edgy affair, carving out
challenging rhythmic figures, only for
the flurries of percussion to die away,
leaving room for North African-themed
harmonic structures to rise up from
vocal and brass interplay. Finally,
'Black Beauty', while presumably not
Cohran's tribute to the equestrian yarn
of the same name, nonetheless features
some bewitching vocal whinnying over the
course of its ultra lean three-minutes.
It's one of the more pensive
compositions on the disc, but shows off
Cohran's skills as an arranger, bringing
the horns together in a beautiful lead
figure while gentle, faintly unstable
percussion erupts softly all around.
Another tremendously rewarding delve
through Cohran's unique spiritual jazz
universe, beautifully packaged and
limited to boot.