Norman Connors - "Dance of Magic" (1972) + discography

originally posted by Bacoso at "Orgy in Rhythm", November 2006

Norman Connors' first album as a leader is a beautiful collision where the post-Bitches Brew crew meet up with post-Pharoah Sanders spiritual jazz across the rhythms and harmonies of latin america. Check the personnel on the cover, all you could want really!

While almost all of these people would end up in jazz-influenced RnB/disco within a few years of this album - in particular Connors himself - their work in the 1972-75 period is fascinating in its search for, and creation of, new hybrid forms. There are several albums that contain a large crossover of the musicians that are on this one, and taken together they make a wonderful journey. Here's what you need to check out :

Norman Connor's next two wonderful albums, "Dark of Light" and "Love from the Sun" which both develop ideas fermented here; Stanley Clarke's "Children Of Forever", and Carlos Garnett's "Black Love", "Journey To Enlightenment" and "Let This Melody Ring On". Plus of course, we've got Hancock, Henderson and Hart from the Mwandishi band, who we've discussed recently. For them, this comes the same year as "Crossings".

Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater appears on most of the above albums, but not this one - unless she's one of the mysterious U.B.F Singers on the first track?

On the immediate front, many of the people here seem to have come straight off the back of Pharoah Sanders' "Black Unity" and "Live at the East" sessions - Connors, Clarke, Garnett, Cecil McBee and Billy Hart - while some of the sessions that make up Sanders' "Village Of The Pharoahs" (Clarke, Connors, McBee) occur soon before and after this album.

Original 1972 Cobblestone cover
I prefer the 1976 Buddha release (at top) due to Norman's jacket.

I listed all of those albums from saxophonist Carlos Garnett because he's a strong force across the first three Connors albums, and his own subsequent albums can be seen as a continuation of this particular fusion of spiritual jazz and latin elements. There's a strong melodic/harmonic influence from him in the main themes of the "Dance Of Magic" tracks, and he arranged the title track, which takes up all of Side One.

Garnett had worked with co-saxophonist Gary Bartz on Mtume's "Alkebu-Lan - Land Of The Blacks" as well as various Miles Davis sessions. For Bartz, this session occurs in the same year as "Juju Street Songs" / "Follow the Medicine Man".

At this stage Herbie Hancock is stretching his rhodes textures as far as they can go, now fully integrating the keyboard's delay, distortion, wah-wah and ring modulation effects into his playing and composition, just a year before he would shift his sonic experimentation to synthesisers. For Hancock, this session falls between Joe Farrell's "Moongerms" (where he'd been with Stanley Clarke) and Miles Davis' "On the Corner" (which he'd go on to with Garnett and Billy Hart)

I hadn't listened to this album for a few years until today, and it's the percussion that really 'strikes' me this time - Connors has assembled Brasilian wunderkind Airto Moreira and up to six others, and it's just a total funky joy to listen to. Conga player Nat Bettis had been with Gary Bartz on his NTU Troop "Harlem Bush Music" series of three albums, and he and Anthony Wiles had played on Pharoah Sanders' "Thembi" the year before alongside Cecil McBee.

1972 is a huge year for Airto - he recorded his album "Free" (with Stanley Clarke in tow); Buddy Terry's "Pure Dynamite" included Airto, Clarke, Hart and Henderson; both Airto and Clarke continue on to Deodato's best-known effort "Prelude", and he's all over Cannonball Adderley's "Happy People".

Session pix, right-click for larger
L-R Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, Cecil McBee, Eddie Henderson, Art Webb, Gary Bartz, Carlos Garnett, Airto Moreira.

Connors' twenty-one minute "Dance Of Magic", which takes up Side One of the original album, starts with the vocal chants of the U.B.F Singers, then rises and falls with barrages of latin percussion over the twin bass attack of McBee and Clarke. Hancock holds the rhythmic centre on acoustic piano, while saxaophonists Garnett and Gary Bartz wail freely over the top, followed by a solo from trumpeter Eddie Henderson and then Hancock, who's initially so caught up in the general percussiveness of it all that he starts plucking and scraping the piano strings.

Cecil McBee's "Morning Change" (preview at top of post) at times melodically presages his album "Mutima" , and is anchored by Hancock's rhodes and a beautiful central sax and trumpet melody that develops into a solo from trumpeter Henderson, here still flying without the reverbs and delays he would soon swamp his sound in, and then a soprano sax solo from Garnett.


Stanley Clarke's ten minute "Blue" is built around a melody line than combines Henderson's muted trumpet with Art Webb's flute. Webb was strongly featured on Clarke's "Children Of Forever" album, and he excels here in a three minute solo. Henderson continues on muted trumpet, then finally Hancock goes crazy on the wah-wah rhodes before the melody is recalled.

The album finishes with Connors' appropriately titled "Give the Drummer Some". He bursts in with a short solo that breaks down to vocal/percussion call and responses, then the conga leads the entire percussion section, joined by Connors, into an exuberant finish.

As mentioned before, Norman Connors went on to develop these ideas across his next two albums, then made a transition into a jazz-influenced RnB that was also highly influential. You'll find all of his 70s and 80s discography, as well as his production work, in blog links at the base of this post.

Links for this album are in the comments. Bacoso's upload had expired, so I've upped this from the deleted CD re-issue which is apparently itself quite rare and valuable these days. So, since I'm also supplying WAV files, you can all print the cover out, rip it and sell it on Ebay, then we'll all take a nice holiday - which I for one need after the Todd Cochran extravaganza. By the way, the epic Cochran post didn't appear on feeds for some reason, so have a read if you missed it ....

TRACKLIST

01. Dance Of Magic (21:00) - Norman Connors
02. Morning Change (6:29) - Cecil McBee
03. Blue (10:20) - Stanley Clarke
04. Give The Drummer Some (2:22) - Norman Connors

MUSICIANS

Drums - Norman Connors
Bass - Cecil McBee (1,2) , Stanley Clarke
Piano, Fender Rhodes, Electric Piano - Herbie Hancock
Alto & Soprano Saxophones - Gary Bartz
Tenor & Soprano, Saxophones - Carlos Garnett
Flute - Art Webb
Trumpet - Eddie Henderson
Baliphone - Anthony Wiles
Percussion - Airto Moreira (2,3,4) , Alphonse Mouzon (1,3) , Anthony Wiles , Babafemi (1) , Billy Hart (2,3,4)
Percussion, Congas - Nat Bettis
Vocals - U.B.F. Singers, The (1)

PRODUCTION DETAILS 

1972 - Cobblestone, CST-9024
then re-released :
1976 - Buddah, BDS 5674
Producer - Dennis Wilen , Skip Drinkwater
Engineer [Recording] - Harry Yarmark
Mastered By - Sam Feldman
Recorded at Bell Sound Studios, NYC , 1972

NORMAN CONNORS on Planet Blog :

** spiritual norman **

"Dance of Magic" (1972) - in COMMENTS HERE
"Dark Of Light" (1973) MP3- at Pharoah's Dance
"Dark Of Light" (1973) FLAC- at Call It Anything
"Love from the Sun" (1973) at My Jazz World
"Bartz - Henderson - Connors - live at Nemu Jazz Inn" (1975) - also here. 

** transitional norman**

"Slewfoot" (1974) at My Jazz World

** soul-disco king norman ** ( these are great too)

"Saturday Night Special" (1975) at My Jazz World
"You are my Starship" (1976) at Blak's Lair
"Romantic Journey" (1977) at Blak's Lair
"This is your Life" (1978) at My Jazz World / alternate
(12" single of "Captain Connors" at Tuttsi Fruttsi Icecream)
"Invitation" (1979) at Blak's Lair

"Take it to the Limit" (1980) at Soulfunkjazz's Blog
"Mr C" (1981) at Blak's Lair / alternate

** producer norman **

"Norman Connors presents Aquarian Dream" - Aquarian Dream (1976) at Baby Grandpa
("Phoenix" 12" extended version @ tuttsi fruttsi icecream)
"Fantasy" - Aquarian Dream (1978) at My Jazz World
("You're a Star / Play it for me - Aquarian Dream - 12") also at this blog.
"Sharing" - Vitamin E (1977) ONE plus TWO
"Love Will Find a Way" - Pharoah Sanders (1978) at El Goog ja
"Celestial Sky" - Starship Orchestra (1980) at My Jazz World
"Back for More" - Al Johnson (1980) at Here Only Good Music
"Can't We Fall In Love Again" - Phyllis Hyman (1981) at Groove With You

** later jazz norman **

"Beyond a Dream" (live with Pharoah Sanders) (1978) at My Jazz World
"Meditation" - Pharoah Sanders at Ile Oxumaré
(this is a bootleg of a different part of the same concert)

** norman the sideman **

"The Magic Of Ju-ju" - Archie Shepp (1967) at Into the Rhythm
Jackie McLean - session rejected by Blue Note (1968)
"Hues" - Sam Rivers (1971) at Inconstant Sol
"Live at The East" - Pharoah Sanders (1971) at Pharoah's Dance
"Black Unity" - Pharoah Sanders (1971) at Oufar Khan
"Love In Us All" - Pharoah Sanders at Pharoah's Dance
"Streams" - Sam Rivers (1973) at Ile Oxumaré
"Village Of the Pharoahs" - Pharoah Sanders (1973) at Pharoah's Dance "Wisdom Through Music" - Pharoah Sanders (1974) at Magic of Juju
"Odyssey" - Charles Earland (1976) at My Jazz World

POST CREDITS

Album blog links in this post go to :
Pharoah’s Dance, My Jazz World, Blak’s Lair, DJ Uilson Professor Groove, ile oxumaré, el goog ja, Oufar Khan, Nothing Is v2.0, Blog Do Turquinho, Everything Is On The One, The Bodega, It’s Coming out of your Speaker, Afrofunkybrassjazz, jazz-rock-fusion-guitar, Baby Grandpa, Bug In The City, Here only Good Music, Groove With You, Music Download cc , Magic of Juju, Musical Moadom, mec fais tourner les skeuds

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