preten tain n Records ore reviewed by Chris Albertson, Mike Bourne, Bill Cole, Don DeMlcheol, Alon volved Heineman, Wayne Jones, Lorry Kort, John Litweller, John McDonough, Don Morgenstern, Don down Nelsen, Harvey Peka r, Doug Ramsey, Harvey Siders, Carol Sloane, and Jim Szanto,. viable Reviews ore signed by the writers. Spea these Ratings ore : ***** excellent,**** very good, *** good, ** fair, * poor. trade Riversi recurMost recordings reviewed are available for pu rchase through the down beot/RECORD CLUB. on Ve I For membership information see details elsewhere in this issue or write to hope th REVIEIIWS down beat/RECORD CLUB, 222 W. Adams, Chicago, IL 606061 And wanted time, I Later CLEARING THE AIR sey Lewis? No room here to go into why, tertainment-for dancing, for casual listen­ heavier, but that fringe bought a lot of records. ing , as versions of hit tunes. would b That fringe is gone. How many lovers of jazz now remem­ freak fe RAY BRYANT The jazz fringe audience tod ay maybe ber that working in even the best big Man e RAY BRYANT MCMLXX - Atlantic SD 1564: buys Miles-right now, anyway . It buys bands of the sw in g era (Ellington and a unalloye Sti ck With ft; L,t ft B,; Bridg, Ov,r Tr oubled Wa urs; H,y Jud ,; Shak,-A-1.Ady; U,uhai,ud /11,/­ blues-phony and real, new and reissued. very few others excluded) meant, for the and sim ody: /lfy Ch,ri, Amour; Spi1111ing Wh,e/. It probably buys •a token Coltrane LP, per­ dedicated jazz player, a compromise with groove Pe rso nnel: Bryant, piano; Chuck Rainey, elec• cric bass; Jimmy Johnson, drums, augmented on haps a Billie Holiday. The rest is rock­ his true ambitions, and that the romantic groove, first three tracks by woodwinds and strings, on and maybe some sides like these. Especial­ jazz fans of that day much admired those blues pi founh track by crumpet , trombone, and saxes, arranged by Arif Mardin. ly if the buyers are into black culture­ "fugitive s" from the big band s who pla,ed on wax Rating: *** not the kind you hear demands made for, " the real jazz" for peanuts in the fell' dressed but th e kind that exists because there is joints that would book it? (In retrospec~ Gale's JUNIOR MANCE demand for it. the ones who didn't flee were not neces­ except The records we're talking about are sa rily less dedicated.) and he i WITH A LOTTA HELP FROM MY FRJENDS -Atlamic SO 1562: Thank You Fall ,ti 11 /If, B, bought by people whose libraries also in­ And you don't even need history to make Mayfield At ict Elf Again; Ner 1er Say Naw ,· Don 't Rush clude J ames Brown, Aretha , King Curtis, the point: how many of the "pure" jazz on whic Us ,- Wdl I'll Bt 1J9bite Black,· H ome Groo1 1i11'; Spin11inf Whul; D on' t Cl,a H ear M, Callin' Ray Charles oldies, and, if they're hip, albums of the past deca de were made by If th To Ya. some contemporary blues, like B. B. King. players who, for daily bread , played all Mance, Personnel: Mance, piano: Eric Ga le, guitar; Chuck Rain ey. electric bass; Billy Cobham , drums. There are a lot of people out there like kinds of "c ommercial" musi c? :here is Racing: * * * ½ that, and they buy a lot of records. The point is: jazz is a music, but is al;a the hip Is art divisible from life-should it be? Now, people who review records for a way of p/ayi11g, and it has always been .nd that' But what is life in 1970? Indeed, what is this magazine are, in varying degrees, fascinat ing to see how adaptable to a Cobha art? serious about jazz . They may like some var iety of playing situations jazz musicians who has Don't wince. My tongue is in my cheek. contemporary popular music, and even have been. Even Thelonious Monk used Rainey, Or is it? Everything is ambiguous the se praise it, but they don't much like records to play for dances and revival meetings. own the days. Take record reviewing, the record like the ones we're talking about. Why? That he doesn't have to do that now B !antic, w business, record reviewers, readers of rec­ Because they are conditioned to think of only as it should be. That not every jazz. has been ord reviews, and jazz . jazz mu sicians as "artists" who, if they are man, not even every great jazzman, can up a swin Most records made by jazz arti sts the se not playing "pure" jazz of one sort or always write his own musical ticket is The co days are pretty much like the two under another, must be suspected of compromis­ not as it should be-but if we lived in a if you're scrutiny her e, in one way or another. That ing their talents. Either they've sol d out, perfect world, who'd need record revicw1 (a hamh is to say, they are not "pure" jazz albums, or they're being pressured by the record Compromise with the necessities of life times), g I but attempts to present players usually companies, or maybe they were not "real" does not always inhibit artists. Indeed, n, Junior he I identified with jazz in terms considered artists to begin with, the argument goes. arti st was really free to create as he pleased well with I compatible with what is called "today's The reviewers also feel, and with good until art became a luxury-and you only some oth music." reason, that they are writing for people need to visit your nearest gallery of con­ Lewis et · Which means: tunes, rhythms, and areas who want their jazz straight and are likely temporary art to see how much that bll solution. of sound bought by today's record pub­ to share these prejudices against "com­ improved matters. Ray Br lic . More specifically, hits of the day or mercialism." It goes against the intellectual's grai\ player as blues /so ul /r ock-flavored melodies, played There certainly are standpoints from no doubt, but isn't it one of the grear arrangeme with a pronounced beat, usually in some which such attitudes are justified: personal achievements of jazz that it has beenan -strings var iant of contemporary dance rhythm and esthetics, high artistic standards, notions of intrinsic part of popular music, fint • brass and tempo, often using an organ and / or elec­ a grander design . But is art divisible from this country and soon elsewhere as weL playing a tronically flavored instrumentation, with life? Are such concepts not perhaps too for five decades or more? Despite the fa. But it's sometime additives including str ing s, bra ss idealistic and insufficiently realistic when that it is an art, or because it is? Pondc: well recor riffs, or vocal backing, and generally with­ applied to jazz in the marketplace? that, and ask yourself if it isn't a measurt !ouches, w in airplay length. Not to say that commercialism is good of a musi cian's strength and identity.. banality of More and more such records are among enough for jazz because jazz isn't on that an artist that he can make silk purses011, 1tratively, the fewer and fewer albums made by jazz high a le vel anyway. Not in the lea st. But of sow's ears. and if it isn't an axiom never get players these days, and it ain't likely to to say that the music in its highest form s that if you have something of your on crs.) subside, this trend. For one thing, it sells could never have survived-not even have to say, it will come through no mar.:< On the record s, at least sometimes. For another, co me int o being-if not for the existence what? If you can play, there are rn.101 Wheel gro it seeks and finds its audience not among of an env ironm en t in wh ich fine distinc­ way s to play yourself. And who the Ix 1ersion, p dedicated jazz followers but among peo­ tion s between art and entertainment were says that "art " mu st always be pure and more dow ple who buy records for fun-listening at not commonly made, or even relevant. holy and profound ? Me, I'd rather tap mr full-bod ied home with a groove going, dancing at The rev iewers who put down today's foot to some sou l jazz, orga ns, elect.-i.: be gets fro parties-and there's more of the latter, commercial jazz are almost all in greater bass and all, then be hectored by SOI"! self. friend-plenty more. or lesser awe of the music's legacy, as no-blowing poseur's naked egotrip. Ort Let It B Remember whe n even people who didn't handed down on record s. Until the late may be a commercial copout, the olhc 111pported b care about or particularly liked jazz had 1930 s, however, not one single jazz record seriou s art-but don't bet on it. Theseare me that's a at least a few Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, wa s made to sell as art, or even as jazz. ambiguous times. a highlight C het Baker or Stan Getz records at home Some of the most beautiful jazz records These two survi val albums by jazz pla) Bryant di sp -and later maybe a Cannonball or Ram- ever cut were quite simply made for en- ers, aimed at the non-purist market, dool sages that 24 0 DOWN BEAT retend to be what they are not, and con ­ with a touch that keeps the notes free of .in nothing that the two fine pianists in­ crashes or distortions .