As promised, the second and final album by the Buffalo, NY band Birthright from 1976, once again a private press release on Freelance Records, and apparently I'm not the only one who wants this. This time we've got Greg from Blackclassical to thank for the rip - thanks also to Reza for some details and again to KG from Killergroove for alerting me to this in the first place.
Quite a different album two years on from the previously-posted "Free Spirits" - with not so many free excursions, this is more of a band, with Greg Millar's guitar adding a new layer. Although we're still floating on the spiritual cloud, there's a greater concentration on song structures and overall textures this time around, with vocals from Beverly Simms on some tracks.
Highlight for me is the track "Love", Strata-East-goes-samba with Kenny Barron-ish rhodes from Tom Schuman, with Simms sounding like she's on her first E with her lyrical celebration of nature and happiness. Many other great tracks here too - the communication between saxophonists Joe Ford and Paul Gresham's saxaphones is as strong as ever.
Where are they now ? I talked about Paul Gresham, Joe Ford and Nasar Abadey in the "Free Spirits" post. Of the new people here, keyboardist Tom Schuman and guitarist Greg Millar both sadly moved on to smooth-jazz "pioneers" Spyro Gyra; and vocalist Beverly Simms seemingly vanished into thin air.
Bassist Gerry Eastman released his first solo album "Songbook" in 1996, which featured Birthright members Joe Ford and Nasar Abadey alongside Andy Bey on vocals - Bey fans : check the "Blackaphobia" preview there. Eastman is also a member of Abadey and Ford's "Supernova" band, and Ford appeared on his second solo album "Brown Skin Gal" last year. Hope you enjoy this one!
TRACKLIST
01. ‘Travis’ (5;57)
02. ‘Love’ (4:42)
03. ‘Breath of life’ (5:08)
04. ‘Hope’ (3:59)
05. ‘India’ (6:19)
06. ‘So To Speak’ (7:30)
07. ‘Left foot rag’ (7:39)
MUSICIANS
Nasar Abadey – drums
Paul Gresham - tenor saxaphone
Joe Ford- alto and soprano saxaphone
Beverly Simms - vocals & percussion
Greg Millar – guitar
Tom Schuman - piano & fender rhodes
Gerry Eastman – bass
DETAILS
Freelance FLS-2
POST CREDITS
Vinyl rip by Greg
30 comments:
Once again you are the man! Glad to keep you on my blog roll at www.straigthnochaserjazz.blogspot.com.
All the best!
Big up Simon!!!
Thanks Greg!
Thank you.
Great post... waited a long time for this!
Incidentally, I talked with Nasar Baday and Tom Schumann about this LP a long time back... Nasar was hunting around for a re-release but didn't get far....
Thanks for the comments guys.
Orangefunk, I'm surprised that both Birthright albums are out of print. Watch the Japanese companies re-release them then everyone follows .. :)
thank you both
Woo!
Thanks
thank you Greg!
Thanks Greg and Simon.
A lovely post.
Big thanks to the both of you. This album is absolutely brilliant. "Love" is indeed a killer track, but "Breath of Live" is also superb.
Cheers,
Jur
Awesome post! I love it! Thanks so much!
Thanks for putting up such an informative post.Thnks for all the information you have put here. Looking forward to such more cool stuffs in future. I have come across some cool stuff in the site http://www.raresoulgrooves.com, about the R&B and Soul music.
Thanks a lot Greg & Simon.
First impressions are that I'm going to like this more than Free Spirits...more tuneful!!! (or am I getting old!!!)
Brilliant post..keep up the good work...your site is the Holy Grail for me.
Hi Simon
Just got to say thanks for your advise, I'm now enjoying some good music.
Cheers dear brother.
Glad you're enjoying it jazzstronaut :)
this blog is amazing. mad love from the kid. keep it up!!
simon...
i just got around to listening to 'free spirits' and was coming back to leave a word of thanks, when i found this second post. i really enjoyed the first, and now look forward to hearing this one too. thanks to everyone involved for the shares --- yourself, greg, & reza!
What a great record. Finally listening to this. Amazing to me that great stuff like this stays hidden. Thanks Greg & Simon.
Never knew about this band.
Many thanks for this, and all your hard work!
Greaaaaaaat.
Thanx a lot
This is great Simon.
Thanks for your support on my sites, as well!
no problems slim, new latin site is looking cool :)
liked the "free spirits" and really looking foward to this one.. thanks
Thanks for this and all the other rare stuff you post here.
-Jack the Bellboy
Thanks for this one, it´s a great album!! would really love to hear the Paul Gresham´s every sound we make album..
Adore the track Love and looking forward to the rest of the album. Thanks.
Awesome - thank you!!! Please keep posting...
-Frankie Mules
Many thanks
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