Monday, April 13, 2009

Birthright - "Free Spirits" (1974)




'Nano' excerpt


'Tangerine (For Muhammed)' excerpt


'Free Spirits' excerpt

An amazing share for this blog from REZA. I fell in love with a single track at the ever-wonderful Killer Groove Music Library, and started asking around for the album, thinking that the going price on this thing made such a request a bit of a stab in the dark. Immediately, Reza stepped forward with a 320kbps rip for this blog - and their second album, which will soon follow. I think I owe you about ten now sir - beers, albums, whatever it takes :)

This is a fantastic private-press spiritual jazz album coming from Buffalo, New York in 1974 on the Freelance Records imprint. Having absorbed electric Miles, Coltrane and Sanders; saxaphonists Joe Ford (alto, soprano) and Paul Gresham (tenor) came up with an organic interplay between their instruments that makes for a great album. I'll let the clips "speak" today.

Joe Ford had aleady played with Ken McIntyre and the Mingus band, and went on after Birthright to play on McCoy Tyner albums like "Focal Point" and "The Greeting". Both Paul Gresham and drummer/percussionist Nasara Abadey had played with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Bl*ck J*zz's Doug Carn. After the two Birthright albums on Freelance Records, Gresham went on to release a solo album called "Every Sound We Make" as the label's third and seemingly final release, then seemed to disappear off the map. Adabey went to to a wide variety of session and live work, and has more recently formed a band called Supernova with Joe Ford, who has also established a solo career.

Keyboardist Onaje Allan Gumbs is already well known at this blog, click his name for another five great albums as a starter. Bassist Jim Kurzdorfer went off to more commercial pop-jazz pastures with Spyro Gyra; and pianist Jimmy Manuel is also difficult to track down after this, though he may have passed away last year.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I have, and please thank Reza in the comments.

TRACKLIST 

01. 'Nano' (11:44)
02. 'Do You Know Where Your Children Are?' (1:30)
03. 'Tangerine (For Muhammed)' (7:29)
04. 'Jowcol (To The Life, Memory And Spirit Of John Coltrane)' (11:02)
05. 'Free Spirits' (10:33)

All tracks written by Joe Ford and Paul Gresham 

MUSICIANS

Joe Ford - alto and soprano saxophone; electric piano on Tr. 5.
Paul Gresham - tenor saxaphone
Nasar Abadey - drums, percussion
Jim Kurzdorfer - electric and acoustic bass
Onaje Allen Gumbs - electric piano; acoustic piano Tr.4
Jimmy Manuel - acoustic piano Tr 1-3

 DETAILS

Freelance Records FS-1

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip by Reza.
Other links in this post go to : Killer Groove Music Library, Call it Anything, Taringa, and Elemento Musical. Please thank these people if you visit, and respect their work and time.


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41 comments:

  1. el googApril 14, 2009 at 12:10 AM

    Wow, amazing!! Thank you reza and Simon, KG too. can't wait!!

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  2. jazzobsessiveApril 14, 2009 at 12:55 AM

    Looking forward to this-great stuff.

    Thank you & respect Simon,reza & KG.

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  3. 007fletchApril 14, 2009 at 2:16 AM

    Unbelievable. Thank you.

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  4. SolomonApril 14, 2009 at 2:54 AM

    Thank you!

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  5. AnonymousApril 14, 2009 at 7:10 AM

    damn good, thanks to you and the reza

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  6. johnvApril 14, 2009 at 9:04 AM

    Awesome! Thanks Reza and Simon.

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  7. JTFApril 14, 2009 at 9:38 AM

    Thanks Reza!

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  8. RobertApril 14, 2009 at 11:01 AM

    thanks guys,Reza in particular...
    I can't wait to listen to this!!

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  9. NeilantmanApril 14, 2009 at 1:29 PM

    Thank you Simon + Reza...Looking forward to the second album as well

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  10. fatheadApril 14, 2009 at 4:51 PM

    Thanks Guys, this is great
    Fathead

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  11. ArkadinApril 14, 2009 at 5:34 PM

    Is there a spiritual jazz album you DON'T have, Reza? ;-) Thanks a lot to you both!

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  12. ishApril 14, 2009 at 9:25 PM

    Downloaded, now to listen. Thanks Simon & Reza. Back later with my review. :)

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  13. MorganizedApril 14, 2009 at 11:52 PM

    dopeness, danke.

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  14. fusionfanApril 15, 2009 at 4:20 AM

    i can't seem to d/l this, is the link still working?, thanks!,

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  15. Simon666April 15, 2009 at 9:40 AM

    hi cabinboy -
    I just tested again, and the link seems to be OK ?

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  16. kzkApril 15, 2009 at 11:22 AM

    I've always wanted to try this. thank you very much.

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  17. corvimaxApril 15, 2009 at 6:19 PM

    VERY beatiful
    thanks

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  18. taro nombeiApril 15, 2009 at 9:57 PM

    a bit slow on the downtake here... but well worth the wait.
    thanks indeed for this - and you too of course, Reza,
    TN

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  19. swboyApril 17, 2009 at 2:03 AM

    Very nice
    Thanks Reza
    Always great to hear Onaje
    He hasn't recorded enough.

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  20. AnonymousApril 19, 2009 at 11:55 PM

    amazing!!! i like freelance records. have you heard Diom Futa already? anyway thanks a lot both of you :)

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  21. fritz the catApril 20, 2009 at 12:46 AM

    thanks

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  22. catacaldosApril 28, 2009 at 2:53 AM

    Superb share.Thanx a lot

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  23. unitstructureMay 7, 2009 at 8:45 PM

    Music just as powerful as any coming out of NYC at that time. Thanks. Joe Ford went on to make some strong recordings with Andy and Jerry Gonzalez in the 90's that are well worth checking out.

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  24. Sweet JesusJune 16, 2009 at 7:25 AM

    Yet another great share, thanks!

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  25. AnonymousJuly 9, 2009 at 1:26 AM

    Thanks Reza and Simon. Big ups Simon on the great blog. Peace

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  26. JasonGSeptember 25, 2009 at 1:45 AM

    Really a cool find. Thanks for sharing...

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  27. wightdjOctober 6, 2009 at 12:38 PM

    Thanks for this find. Superb.

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  28. AnonymousNovember 28, 2009 at 5:32 AM

    It's well worth digging for the Paul Gresham album too. Killer version of "Nature Boy". Very haunting and very beautiful.

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  29. Simon666November 28, 2009 at 12:58 PM

    Would love to hear that, any chance of an upload, anonymous ? :)

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  30. troodsDecember 20, 2009 at 6:44 AM

    Reza, Simon, I love you guys. Listened to the exerpts and they took me somewhere. Got a month vacation coming up and the music is going to be part of it. Your generosity as always is so appreciated!

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  31. HCMApril 30, 2010 at 6:42 PM

    I downloaded this a while ago and forgot to say thanks... Man, what an album this is!! And so hard to find, im soooooo glad that you guys made it possible for us to hear it!! Does anyone know why Sadaka´s - premonition and Birthright´s free spirits have the same cover??

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  32. Simon666April 30, 2010 at 9:27 PM

    Hi Hoochie Coochie Man, thanks for your comments here and elsewhere.
    Now, apparently this cover was one of a stock set that certain private press companies would offer. I've actualy seen it used a few more times, but can't think where ...

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  33. AlumniJuly 3, 2010 at 4:05 PM

    Paul Gresham is my uncle... no kidding i was just speaking to him at my dads house earlier today. I have original copies of this album for sale. email me if interested. Pastelboutique@gmail.com

    By the wat Paul says thank you so much for all of the great comments. He really appreciates the love!

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  34. Simon666July 4, 2010 at 12:19 AM

    Thanks for your comment David, your uncle and Joe Ford are just fantastic on this album ...

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  35. J ReidApril 22, 2011 at 3:33 AM

    peace & love

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  36. AnonymousJuly 5, 2011 at 2:37 PM

    great!! thank you so much

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  37. AnonymousNovember 3, 2011 at 2:10 AM

    thanks!!! mediafire link still up nov 2011.

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  38. AnonymousNovember 3, 2013 at 8:33 PM

    Hi Simon,

    Link still active Nov '13 - wahey!

    Dave Aquarius

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  39. Guitarradeplastico,scraping odditiesMay 29, 2017 at 7:11 PM

    Many thanks

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  40. GaruJanuary 31, 2022 at 3:00 PM

    Thanks for your great blog which I have used as a reference for many years. Very happy to find this album is still available after all this time.

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  41. Simon666October 30, 2022 at 1:13 PM

    Thanks Lisa, glad you found it :)
    Are you aware of his solo album from 1978?
    https://www.discogs.com/release/4783594-Paul-Gresham-Every-Sound-We-Make

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