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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