Elvin Jones - "Time Capsule" (1977)

 

Elvin Jones' final album for the Vanguard label in 1977 was his most melodic and "produced" album from the period. His trademark fiery style is slightly reigned in within these highly arranged and produced tracks, which delve further into group-based jazz-funk fusion - quite different from the looser, post-electric Miles jamming which infused the previous year's "The Main Force", which I posted yesterday.

That said, there's some great playing and textures on "Time Capsule", with ample solo space offered and taken with gusto within these tighter structures. After this album, Jones would return to more 'traditional' post-bop territory and acoustic instrumentation with his newly-named "Jazz Machine" on 1978's "Remembrance" for the MPS label.


Guitarist Ryo Kawasaki and percussionist Angel Allende return from the previous album. Whereas Kawasaki's electric edge somewhat stood out on "The Main Force", here it has become something of the norm. Once again he holds composition credits for the opening track : "Frost Bite".

With the reeds players working more in unison melodies, and Kawasaki contributing single lines and wah-chops, Kenny Barron's fender rhodes holds much of the harmonic background for the album. He had appeared on one track of 1975's "New Agenda", but here he's a strong presence throughout.

Barron's solo work is great on tracks like "Time Capsule", "Spacing". and my personal standout track "Moon Dance" (see preview at top of post). The album catches Barron in his peak period as a rhodes player, coming after his albums "Sunset to Dawn", "Peruvian Blue" and "Lucifer" ; and just before "Innocence", after which he would mainly return to acoustic piano. So one more for the Kenny on electric piano discography.


Only Frank Foster remains from the previous album's reeds lineup, here just contributing his soprano sax to Ed Bland's track "Digital Display".



Drummer alert! Mark Feldman has transcribed some of Elvin's patterns for "Digital Display" over here at "Bang! The Drum School".

The dominant new guest here is alto saxophonist Bunky Green, who composed three of the five tracks here. After a decade-long recording break he had returned earlier in the year with his Vanguard album "Transformations", also produced by Ed Bland. Much of that album borders on proto-"smooth jazz", with highly modal covers of pop hits, but on "Time Capsule" he has a rougher, more interesting edge, perhaps from the company he's keeping here.

Tenor saxophonist George Coleman had played on some of Jones' later Blue Note releases, as well as a few Strata-East releases like Charles Tolliver's "Impact!" ; the Jazz Contemporaries' "Reasons In Tonality" and Keno Duke's "Sense Of Values". In 1977, the same year as this album, he also played on Charles Earland's "Smokin".


At this stage, prolific flautist Frank Wess was straddling both the jazz world and the disco-funk session game - recent credits had included albums as diverse as Sister Sledge's "Circle of Love"; Van McCoy's "Disco Baby"; Oscar Brown's "Brother Where Are You"; Woody Shaw's "Rosewood"; and Crap Jazz Covers' favourite, "Sweet Buns and Barbecue" by Houston Person.

In the few years preceding this album, bass player Juni Booth had worked on Larry Young's "Lawrence Of Newark" ; McCoy Tyner's "Song of the New World" and "Atlantis"; and Joe Bonner's "Angel Eyes" . 2nd bassist Milt Hinton has been described as probably appearing "on more records than any other musician", so feel free to peruse his thirteen pages of credits.

Hoping you enjoy this one folks!

TRACKLIST

01. 'Frost Bite' - 7:53 - (Ryo Kawasaki)
02. 'Digital Display' - 7:31 - (Ed Bland)
03. 'Moon Dance' - 6:20 - (Bunky Green)
04. 'Time Capsule' - 8:07 - (Bunky Green)
05. 'Spacing' - 10:35 - (Bunky Green) 

MUSICIANS

Drums - Elvin Jones
Bass - Milt Hinton (1-2), Juni Booth (3-5)
Electric Piano - Kenny Barron
Flute - Frank Wess (1-2)
Guitar - Ryo Kawasaki
Percussion - Angel Allende
Alto Saxophone - Bunky Green
Soprano Saxophone - Frank Foster (2)
Tenor Saxophone - George Coleman (1, 3-5) 

PRODUCTION

Vanguard Records, 1977
VSD 79389
Producer - Ed Bland
Mixed By - David Baker
Engineer - Charlie Repka , Jeff Zaraya
Photography - Joel Brodsky
Design - Jules Halfant
Montage - Hy Radin 

OTHER ELVIN JONES at this blog :

1975 "New Agenda"
1976 "The Main Force"
1976 "Summit Meeting"
POST CREDITS

Rip from deleted Vanguard CD re-release by Simon666

Other albums linked in this post are at the blogs : Ile Oxumare, Strata-East Fan Club; Magic Purple Sunshine, Nine Sisters, Orgy In Rhythm, My Jazz World, Everything Is On The one, Pharoah's Dance, Raider of the Lost Ark, Jamz for the Soul, Mientras Otros Duermen, My Favourite Sound, Marramua, and Musica Y Programas.
Please thank these people if you visit them.

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Download MP3

Elvin Jones - "New Agenda" (1975)

ELVIN JONES on VANGUARD

Regarded as one of the world's greatest drummers, with his alternately thunderous and light-skipping percussive styles, Elvin Jones will always be remembered as Coltrane's drummer from the 1960-66 period, but also has an interesting output as a leader in his own right.

His Impulse and Blue Note albums straddled both avant-garde and post-bop influences, always allowing plenty of space for his collaborators, and by the 1970s, albums like Merry Go Round were beginning to annoy purists like l'il Scotty Yanow in their eclectic grab-bag that began to explore influences like latin and brazilian styles.

He continued to explore all corners of jazz in when he moved across to Vanguard Records in 1975, in a group of albums that I'm going to present in a series of posts. I didn't have this one, so my friend WK stepped forward with a nice 320 vinyl rip.

"New Agenda" was his first release for the new company in 1975. There's a pretty heavyweight reeds section behind him here - mainstay Steve Grossman with help on different tracks from Azar Lawrence, Joe Farrell and Frank Foster. That's how many winds players you need to compete with Jones' snare drum.

As if the power of his kit wasn't enough, on this album he brings in three percussionists - Candido, Guillermo Franco and Frank Ippolito, but this doesn't result in the bombastic chaos you might expect - rather, Jones works with them in a cohesive unit, often exploring subtle cymbal work to complete the percussive textures; and really letting them have their heads on the closer "Agenda".

No review for this album on AMG, presumably because it contains the dreaded, jazz-destroying electric piano, adroitly handled here by Kenny Barron on the opening soul-jazzer "Someone's Rocking My Jazzboat" ; and by Gene Perla on the aforementioned "Agenda" and "Stefanie" (penned by producer Ed Bland and later recorded by James Moody, see file within his discography here ). Anyway, Barron's presence gets this added to the Kenny on electric piano discography.

The pianoless tracks are anchored harmonically by guitarist Roland Prince, a veteran of many fine early 70s albums like Buddy Terry's "Awareness", Larry Willis' "Inner Crisis"; Shirley Scott's "Lean On Me"; Roy Haynes' "Senyah", Pete Yellin's "It's the Right Thing" and Compost's "Life Is Round". Here he's got a restrained style that on tracks like "Haresah" that almost mimics the tonality of Barron's and Perla's rhodes on other tracks.

Hope you enjoy this one!

TRACKLIST

01 'Someone's Rocking My Jazzboat' - 6:49 - (Foster)
02 'Naima' - 6:10 - (Coltrane)
03 'Haresah' - 8:09 - (Grossman)
04 'Anti-Calypso' - 5:18 - (Prince)
05 'Stefanie' - 4:39 - (Bland)
06 'My Lover' - 3:36 - (Hito)
07 'Agenda' - 7:55 - (Jones)

MUSICIANS

Drums - Elvin Jones
Bass - Dave Williams
Guitar - Roland Prince
Percussion - Candido (5,7) , Frank Ippolito (1,2,4,5,7) , Guillermo Franco (3,4)
Piano - Gene Perla (5,7) , Kenny Barron (1)
Reeds - Azar Lawrence (3,4) , Frank Foster (1,2,5) , Steve Grossman
Saxophone - Joe Farrell (5,7)

PRODUCTION

Producer - Ed Bland
Engineer, Mixed By - David Baker
Mixed By - John Kilgore

ALSO BY ELVIN JONES at this blog :
"The Main Force" (1976) "Summit Meeting" (1976)
"Time Capsule" (1977)

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip @ 320 donated by WK (thanks!)

Other album links in this post go to Orgy In Rhythm, Office Naps, My Jazz World, the Shad Shack, and Oufar Khan.Please thank these folks if you visit them and download their albums, commenting keeps music blogs alive and well.

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James Moody - "Feelin' It Together" (1973, Muse)

Back : Kenny Barron, Larry Ridley, Freddie Waits. Front : James Moody

Although James Moody is predominantly famous as a long time saxophonist for Dizzy Gillespie and as the composer of "Moody's Mood For Love" - check Moody himself singing it at that link - he's enjoyed a career as a leader in his own right for over sixty years and is still going strong.

The clip above is an interview with 82 year old Moody, shot in August this year by the people from Blackademics ("the premiere online roundtable for young black thinkers"). While he eats his soup, Moody talks about his first musical collaborations while stationed in the Air Force in 1943; his disenchantment with racism in the USA which caused him to move to Europe for several years; contemporary racism; and bebop, swing and musical evolution. He finishes by opining “When you stop growing, you’re through”.

JAMES MOODY & the early 1970s

While Moody's albums had played around the edges of bebop, in the 1970s he both embraced and influenced the emerging paths being taken by his collaborators in structure, source and instrumentation - not travelling deep into the avante-garde, but always looking beyond jazz's perceived boundaries.

1970's wistful and laid-back "Heritage Hum" saw Moody turning more to his flute alongside his better-known tenor and alto saxaphone, at the same time as his harmonic structures in some tracks began to journey below the U.S. border.

After recording the relatively straight-ahead "Too Heavy For Words" with Al Cohn in 1971, he released "The Teachers" (1971), on which he began to embrace soul jazz, funk and some New Orleans-tinged blues elements, a smorgasbord that seemed to either reflect or grow from Dizzy Gillespie's fusions on Perception Records at the time, albums such as "The Real Thing" in which many of the same players took part.

Fellow Gillespie comrade Mike Longo, who'd been on "Heritage Hum", also brought Moody on board for his '72 album "Awakening", which furthered some of the textures established on "The Teachers" , particularly pushing up the funk quotient by incorporating Alex Gafa's wah-wah guitar.

The soul jazz factor came to the fore on Moody's first Muse record in 1972, "Never Again", with his tenor sax working hard against Mickey Tucker's great hammond organ work on tracks like "Freedom Jazz Dance".

"Feelin' It Together" was recorded on January 15th, 1973; and represents another stage in the type of growth he speaks of above.

The album opens by looking back to the players' bebop roots with a complex, frenetic nine-minute rendition of "Anthropology", composed by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Walter Bishop, originally derived from a bebop variation of "I Got Rhythm". Moody soars on alto sax here, trading solos with Kenny Barron's acoustic piano and Larry Ridley's bass, while drummer Freddie Waits scats around Ridley's insistent walking improvs.

While the title of his previous album "Never Again" had apparently referred to his desire to stick to tenor playing from now on, "Feelin' It Together" features Moody on tenor, alto and flute for two tracks each.

Keyboardist Kenny Barron was ten weeks away from recording his debut album "Sunset to Dawn", and that album's references to latin rhythm and brazilian harmonic structures can be felt here in nascent form in his two compositions, "Morning Glory" and "Dreams", both of which feature his spacious rhodes work.

Moody's flute work is superb on "Dreams", with finely controlled and varying tremelo that initially engages directly with the inbuilt tremelo on Barron's rhodes, working around the rhodes' metered pulse with subtle variations - dancing with the machine, if you like. Likewise, his alto sax work on Barron's "Morning Glory" sits above the warm bed of rhodes chords in a whisper-to-a-scream display of dynamic virtuosity.

Barron's work with Moody went as far back as "Another Bag" (1962), and since then he'd appeared on the Moody albums “Moody and the Brass Figures” (1966) and “The Blues And Other Colors” (1969), as well as working with him on a multitude of Dizzy Gillespie albums in the 60s. He'd continue to work on at least another four Moody albums, including "Sun Journey" in 1976.

There's a nice extended version of the standard "Autumn Leaves", with an atmospheric opening built over Freddie Wait's percussion rumbling. When the theme comes in, Moody's aching tenor is counterpointed by Barron's complex chord-based improvisations. There's no clear separation to sax "solo" as Moody subtly builds his improvisations out of the song's melody, then hands over to Barron's piano for a floating series of arpeggio clouds.

Moody and Barron also trade solos throughout an interesting interpretation of Jobim's "Wave". Here's a pdf score for Moody's flute part. The track has a sparse, atmospheric opening with Freddie Waits on shakers and tin flute sliding over Barron's rhodes, before it develops into a chugging bossa with Moody on flute. (For a very different, but also great version of "Wave", see Moody performing the track with the RIAS Big Band.)

The album finishes with an unusual version of "Kriss Kross". After the theme is sparsely introduced by Moody's sax over drums, it cuts almost incongruously to a fugue-like sequence with Barron on harpsichord, then Ridley walks us into a more traditional bebop / blues take on the track, with Moody blowing a hard tenor solo. A subsequent rhodes solo from Barron makes way for a bowed sequence from Ridley, before we return to the harpsichord fugue. It's a strange finish.

Busy drummer Freddie Waits had played on Hubert Law's "Carnegie Hall" album three days before recording this one. He'd also worked on Moody's "The Blues and Other Colours" (1969), and went on with Barron to record "Sunset to Dawn" ten weeks later in April.

As a founding member of Max Roach's percussion collective M'Boom, Waits worked on Brother Ah's "Sound Awareness" around this time, and would go on to record both Mboom's "Re: Percussion" and Neal Creque's "Hands Of Time" in August.

Still two years away from recording his debut album "Sum of the Parts" for Strata-East Records, bassist Larry Ridley came to this album with a twenty year history as a sideman, playing on albums by people like Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver and many others.

Ridley's most recent date had been as a member of the "Jazz Contemporaries" for the 1972 Strata-East album "Reasons In Tonality". He'd also played with Moody on the "Newport In New York : The Jam Sessions (Vol 3&4)" album in 1972, and had worked with Kenny Barron as far back as 1962 on brother Bill Barron's album "The Hot Line".

Later in 1973 James Moody would join up with producer Richard Evans for "Sax & Flute Man" (later re-released as "The World Is a Ghetto"), a more commercial production in the vein of Evans' production of Ahmad Jamal's "Ahmad Jamal 73", even covering two of the same tracks. Some of it's a little too easy-listening for my ears, but there's three or so good tracks, nice rhodes work and some funky moments - worth checking out.

You'll find links for "Feelin' it Together" in the comments, but also check through the sections below for many additional albums and extra treats. Hope you enjoy this one, let me know what you think.

JAMES MOODY - "FEELIN' IT TOGETHER" (1973, Muse)

TRACKLIST

01 'Anthropology' - 9:07
(D. Gillespie / C.Parker / W. Bishop)
pub : Music Sales Corp, ASCAP

02 'Dreams' - 4:59
(K.Barron)
pub : Wazuri pubishing Co. BMI

03 'Autumn Leaves' - 9:31
(J.Mercer / J.Kosma / J.Prevert)
pub : Morley Music Corp. BMI

04 'Wave' - 7:46
(A.Jobim)
pub : Corcovado Music Corp. BMI

05 'Morning Glory' - 7:21
(K.Barron)
pub : Wazuri pubishing Co. BMI

06 'Kriss Kross' - 7:21
(R.Holloway / A.Hillery)
pub : Red Holloway Publishing BMI

MUSICIANS

James Moody - alto sax, tenor sax and flute
Kenny Barron - acoustic piano, electric piano and harpsichord
Larry Ridley - bass
Freddie Waits - drums, misc. percussion, tin flute

PRODUCTION

Muse Records 5020
Produced by Don Schlitten
Recorded January 15, 1973
Recorded at Media Sound, New York City


JAMES MOODY BLOG DISCOGRAPHY 1947 "Jazz in Paris : Bebop" (w/Don Byas & Howard McGhee) at i For india or Music-a-k-o

1948 "James Moody and his Modernists" / alternate FLAC
album track : "Tin Tin Deo" DOWNLOAD

1951 "James Moody With Strings" at Call It Anything

1955 "Wail Moody Wail" at Call It Anything or jazzdisposition

1956/58 "Flute n' the Blues"/"Last Train from Overbrook" at CIA

1961 "Cookin' The Blues" donated by The Jazzmanmediafire covers here
rapidshare audio 1 2 3 4 5
or
megaupload audio 1 2 3 4 5

1962/63 "Another Bag"/"Comin' On Strong" 1 2 3
1963 "Great Day" at Guitar and the Wind

1964 "Running the Gamut" album track : "If You Grin You're In" at Office Naps (check this post on Ed Bland)

1966 "Night Flight" (w/Gil Fuller & Monterey Jazz Festival Orchestra) at CIA

1966 "Moody and the Brass Figures" at Blog O Blog

1969 "Don't Look Away Now"
album track : "Easy Living" at youtube

1970 "The Teachers" from anonymousalbum track : "Unchained" at youtube

1971 "Heritage Hum" from anonymous1971 "Too Heavy For Words" (w/Al Cohn) at Magic Purple Sunshine(released 1974)

1972 "Never Again"

1973 "Feelin' It Together" in comments here.

1973 "Sax and Flute Man" aka "World Is A Ghetto" at My Jazz World / alternate 1976 'Timeless Aura' at Jazzy Melody

1977 "Sun Journey"

1989 "Sweet and Lovely" 1 2 3 4 5

1996 "Young at Heart" at Israbox

1997 "Young at Heart" at Avax

2004 "Moody Plays Mancini" at Avax
* Further uploads or blog links for the other 34 albums appreciated!
* See full discography here
* I'd love to hear Beyond this World (1977)
COMPILATION

14 VERSIONS OF "MOODY's MOOD FOR LOVE"Donated by The Jazzman (big thanks!)
Rapidshare ONE TWO THREE

1. James Moody
2. King Pleasure with Blossom Dearie
3. Eddie Jefferson
4. Annie Ross
5. King Pleasure
6. Eddie Jefferson & James Moody
7. Queen Latifah
8. King Pleasure
9. Robert Moore
10. King Pleasure
11. George Benson
12. Bob Welch
13. Eddie Jefferson & James Moody-live
14. King Pleasure

SOME MORE MOODY YOUTUBE

With the RIAS Big Band :
"Giant Steps"
"I Can't Get Started"
"Wave"
Moody rapping at the North Sea Jazz festival

Video tribute for Moody's birthday this year with words from Moody.

James Moody general search at youtube.

JAMES MOODY's WEBSITE
is here

POST CREDITS

CD rip of "Feelin' it Together" in WAV/MP3 by Simon666CD rips of "The Teacher" and "Heritage Hum" by Anonymous"Moody's Mood for Love" compilation by The Jazzman"Cookin' The Blues" rip by The Jazzman
Special thanks to Ish for advice.

Apart from blogs noted in the discography, album links in this post go to :

ile oxumaré, El goog ja, Orgy in Rhythm, original funk music, Jazzdisposition, magic purple sunshine, Blog-o-Blog, my favourite sound, call it anything, the cti never sleeps, fm shades, jazz’n’rakugo, romanticwarrior-jazz, República de Fiume, gutar and the wind, My Jazz World, Lysergic Funk

Please thank and support these bloggers if you click through and download.

DOWNLOAD WAV - MP3

Kenny Barron - "Innocence" (1978) & discography

This is a 1978 album with Kenny Barron on both rhodes and acoustic piano, ripped from vinyl and donated to the blog by swboy, who also gave us the Brasil : Samba Bossa MPB compilation back in July. I think this one is a first for the blogosphere ...

- THE SIDEMAN -

Kenny Barron's first 'appearance' on record was as both arranger and composer on Yusef Lateef's "The Centaur and the Phoenix" in 1960 when he was only seventeen, although he didn't actually play on the record.

He spent most of the 60s as Dizzy Gillespie's pianist, as well as recording on albums by his brother Bill Barron and saxaphonist James Moody, who also came from Gillespie's band.

After being replaced by Mike Longo in the Gillespie band in 1967, Barron formed the Jimmy Owens - Kenny Barron Quintet with trumpeter Owens, and they released the album "You Had Better Listen" the following year, featuring Bennie Maupin on sax and flute.

In 1967 he also made his first electric piano recordings on the Joe Henderson albums "The Kicker" and "Tetragon", though it was not until Freddie Hubbard's "The Black Angel" in 1970 that he began to use it as a major instrument in recordings. He rounded out the 1960s as a player on a wide variety of albums by Tyrone Washington, Booker Ervin and others.

As the 70s began, Barron explored an increasing range of musical styles on albums by Freddie Hubbard / Ilhan Mimaroğlu, Idris Muhammad, George Freeman, Charles Sullivan and many others.

For the first half of the decade, he joined Yusef Lateef as pianist (and frequent composer) for many albums and live dates, continuing to record on Lateef albums throughout the 70s such as "The Gentle Giant" , "Hush n Thunder", "Ten Years Hence" and "The Doctor Is In ... and Out".

- THE LEADER -

By the time of his debut solo album "Sunset to Dawn" in 1973, it was clear that he'd absorbed the global musical visions of leaders like Gillespie and Lateef. The rhodes-led sessions are awash with latin rhythms and percussion, with occasional melodic and harmonic suggestions of Brazil and the Caribbean.

These influences continue into some of "Peruvian Blue", his second Muse release in 1974, which alternates between acoustic standards and great latin-funk rhodes workouts (particularly the title track, which to me recalls Carlos Garnett's work at the time).

1975's "Lucifer" sees Barron branching out both musically and instrumentally, adding clavinet and string synthesiser to his keyboard arsenal across a range of tracks that expand his palette into fusion, acoustic spiritual, jazz-funk and other forms. Later in the year, he also recorded the live acoustic duet album "In Tandem" with guitarist Ted Dunbar (who'd been on "Peruvian Blue") while both were teaching at Rutgers University.

- "INNOCENCE " (1978) -

1978's "Innocence" features four of Barron's own compositions and one by trumpeter Jimmy Owens. Barron himself plays rhodes, acoustic piano and minimal string synth in a sparser grouping than on "Lucifer", with the latin elements of his keyboard style back at the forefront. For the most part, he's working here with musicians that he'd begun associations with in the preceding few years.

There are essentially two sessions and lineups here. The first three tracks feature Barron trading lead lines with saxaphonist Sonny Fortune, who he'd first worked with on Buddy Rich's "Tuff Dude" in 1974.

Fortune had subsequently brought Barron on board for his albums "Awakening" (1975) and "Serengeti Minstrel" (1977), which had featured the first recordings of the Barron tracks "Sunshower" and the uptempo "Bacchanal" respectively, both of which are strongly covered here. The other track from this session is the title track "Innocence", for which Barron multi-tracks both rhodes and acoustic piano. (Fortune's album for this year was "Infinity Is", which steps texturally towards a more commercial Mizell-style production while continuing some of the samba-play evident in the rhythms here).

The bass player for these first three tracks is Buster Williams, who Baron had first worked with on the Visitors' 1974 album "Rebirth". Williams, who'd worked with Sonny Fortune on his 1975 album "Pinnacle", used Barron on his low-key 1976 album "Crystal Reflections". In 1978, the year this album was recorded, Barron also accompanied Williams on something of a schizophrenic musical journey across the more structurally experimental albums "Heartbeat" and "Tokudo" (the latter not released until 1989) and the relatively ultra-commercial "Dreams Come True".

Percussion and drums on this first session are handled respectively by Rafael Cruz and Ben Riley. Cruz had been on Sonny Fortune's aforementioned "Serengeti Minstrel" and "Infinity Is". Riley, a veteran of Thelonius Monk's band, had worked with Barron and Williams on Ron Carter's albums "Piccolo" (1977) and "Peg Leg" (1978).

Ben Riley subsequently became Barron's drummer-of-choice for the next twenty years, including eight albums by their 80s band "Sphere", initially a Monk tribute band, then later recording original material - that they formed with Charles Rouse and Buster Williams, with Gary Bartz coming on as saxophonist after Rouse's death.

The other session, comprising tracks 4 and 5, is built around Barron and trumpeter Jimmy Owens. Apart from the aforementioned 1967 quintet album that the two had co-led, they'd worked together on albums by Eric Kloss, James Moody, Curtis Amy, and Yusef Lateef, as well as Owens' 1970 solo album "No Escaping it".

Over the previous two years, Owens had made two albums that had swung harder towards the discofunk dollar than any of his compatriots' attempts : "Jimmy Owens" (1976) and "Headin' Home" (1978), both featuring Barron on keyboards. While the former has some funky, almost Headhunters-meet-the Mizells moments, the 1978 album sometimes pushes into territories of disco dross akin to Chuck Mangione on a sugar jag. Bassist Gary King and drummer Brian Brake from those albums form the backline for the remaining two tracks here.

Barron's track "Sunday Morning" is as harmonically unadventurous as that second Owens album, and seems to precurse a lot of the smooth jazz of the 80s, apart from a good latin rhodes solo that builds towards the end, with Billy Hart joining in on percussion before it once again descends into smooth jazz hell with yukky synth-string overkill. Nah, I dun like this one ... can you tell?

Mwandishi veteran Billy Hart - who's on percussion for these last two tracks - had first worked with Kenny Barron on Buddy Terry's 1972 album "Pure Dynamite", and had since joined him on "Lucifer", Fortune's "Awakening", Williams' "Crystal Reflections" and Charles Sullivan's "Why Not". He'd released his debut album "Enhance" for A&M the year before, featuring Buster Williams and others.

The album finishes with Owens' track "Nothing to Fear", which comes across initially as a less-adventurous Eddie Henderson fusion-jazz number, flipping occasionally to a disco backbeat, but is saved by a great extended rhodes solo from Barron.

- AND THEN ... -

Kenny Barron started to back away from electric keyboards after this album, and aside from his 1996 album "Swamp Sally" with percussionist Mino Cinelu, hasn't used them on his own albums since this one.

Later in 1978, Buster Williams, Jimmy Owens and Kenny Barron took part in his brother Bill Barron's album, the all-acoustic "Jazz Caper".

In 1979 Barron recorded an acoustic piano duet album with Tommy Flanagan for the Denon label called "Together". He recorded his first solo piano album "At the Piano" in 1981.

I also strongly recommend a listen to "Golden Lotus" on Muse from 1982 (recorded 1980) - Barron's exploring all sorts of eastern and spiritual textures alongside Buster Williams and John Stubblefield in a way that recalls his great early 70s Muse sides.

Since "Innocence", he's gone on to record another 37 albums as a leader, and at the age of 65 shows no sign of slowing down - in one of the links below you'll find a live bootleg of him at the Village Vanguard last month, August 27th 2008.

TRACKLIST

01. "Sunshower" - 12:05
02. "Innocence" - 10:07
03. "Bacchanal" - 7:58
04. "Sunday Morning" - 8:40
05. "Nothing To Fear" 7:21

All tracks by Kenny Barron except track 5 (Jimmy Owens, Chris White)

MUSICIANS

Keyboards, Arranged By - Kenny Barron
Acoustic Bass - Buster Williams (1-3)
Electric Bass Gary King (4-5)
Drums - Ben Riley (1-3) , Brian Brake (4-5)
Percussion - Billy Hart (4-5) , Rafael Cruz (1-3)
Alto Saxophone - Sonny Fortune (1-3)
Trumpet - Jimmy Owens (4-5)

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Wolf Records
WOLF 1203
Producer - Joel Dorn for the Masked Announcer
Producer's Assistant - Kathy Tufaro
Engineer, remixer - Vince McGarry
Recorded and remixed at Regent Sound Studios, New York, NY

KENNY ON ELECTRIC PIANO
- Please add links when you come across them

1967 Joe Henderson - The Kicker at Vinyl4Giants
1967 Joe Henderson - Tetragon at Vinyl4Giants
1970 Freddie Hubbard - The Black Angel at Into the Rhythm
1970 Jimmy Owens – No Escaping It at Soul Food
1972 - Yusef Lateef - "The Gentle Giant" donated by Corvimax / alternate
1971 Idris Muhammad - Peace and Rhythm at Into the Rhythm
1971 Pete Yellin - Dance Of Allegra at The Shad Shack
1972 Jimmy Heath - The Gap Sealer at Ile Oxumaré
1972 Yusef Lateef - Hush n Thunder at My Favourite Sound
1972 Buddy Terry - Pure Dynamite at Everything Is On The One
1973 James Moody - Feelin' It Together also on this blog
1973 Albert Heath - Kwanza (The First) at Ile Oxumaré
1973 Kenny Barron - Sunset to Dawn at Orgy in Rhythm
1973 Roy Haynes - Togyu at Orgy in Rhythm
1974 Kenny Barron - Peruvian Blue at Ile Oxumaré
1974 George Freeman - Man and Woman at My Favourite Sound
1974 Ted Curson – Quicksand
1974 George Benson – Bad Benson at Freakywax / alternate
1974 Buddy Rich - The Last Blues Album, Vol. 1 at El Goog ja
1975 Sonny Fortune - Awakening at Ile Oxumaré
1975 Kenny Barron - Lucifer at Everything Is On The One
1975 Elvin Jones - New Agenda at Never Enough Rhodes
1976 James Moody - Timeless Aura at Home of Jazz 
1976 Al Gafa Quinteto - Leblon Beach at Porco's Hideaway
1976 James Moody – Sun Journey at Call It Anything
1976 Roland Prince – Colour Visions at An Ism to Horns and Beats 
1976 Buddy Rich – Speak No Evil at Barin99
1976 Jimmy Owens – Jimmy Owens at My Jazz World
1976 Buster Williams - Crystal Reflections at Ile Oxumaré
1976 Yusef Lateef - The Doctor Is In .. and Out at My Favourite Sound
1977 Elvin Jones – Time Capsule at Never Enough Rhodes
1977 Roland Prince – Free Spirit at Weirdope
1977 Sonny Fortune - Serengeti Minstrel at My Jazz World
1978 Kenny Barron - Innocence at base of this post
1978 Jimmy Owens – Headin’ Home at My Jazz World
1978 Freddie Hubbard - Super Blue at Orgy in Rhythm
1979 Sam Jones – The Bassist
1981 Michal Urbaniak - NY5: Music For Violin & Jazz Quartet
1981 Joe Chambers – New York Concerto
1983 Al Grey, J. J. Johnson - Things are getting better all the time
1984 Sharon Freeman - That's The Way I Feel Now
1988 James Moody – Moving Forward1996 Christian McBride - Number Two Express
1996 Kenny Barron, Mino Cinelu - Swamp Sally at No Na mo

(membership required)

KENNY BARRON leader discography
1973 "Sunset to Dawn" at Orgy in Rhythm
1974 "Peruvian Blue" at Ile Oxumaré
1975 "Lucifer" at Everything Is On The One
1978 "Innocence" at the base of this post
1981 'At the piano'
1982 'Golden Lotus' at Orgy In Rhythm1982 'Imo Live' at Dr Jellyfish's Rare Taringa post
1984 'Spiral'
1986 '1+1+1'1984-87 "Green Chimneys" (released '94) at CIA contributions
1985 "Landscape" R'Share ONE TWO donated by anonymous (thanks!)
1986 "Scratch" at musica que cuelga
1986 'What if?' at Musica Desde Las Antipodas / alternate : @ Barabara Sounds
1988 'Live at Fat Tuesdays' at Musica Desde Las Antipodas
1990 "Live at Maybeck Recital hall" at Call It Anything
1991 "Live in Copenhagen" (with Stan Getz) at CIA1991 "Lemuria-Seascape" donated by Dr Jellyfish. album info
1991 'Invitation'
1991 'Quickstep' at Musica Desde Las Antipodas
1993 "Sambao" at Musica Desde Las Antipodas
1993 "Other Places" at na bula bula com / alternate
1994 "Wanton Spirit" at musica que cuelga / alternate
1994 'The only one'
1994 'The moment'
1994 "Jazz En Tete" at Musica Desde Las Antipodas
1996 'New York attitude' at Musica Desde Las Antipodas
1997 "Things Unseen" at Into the Rhythm
1998 'The artistry of Kenny Barron'

2000 'Live In Tokyo' (w/Michael Brecker) at Taringa via Dr Jellyfish2000 "Spirit Song" at Into the Rhythm
2002 "Live at Bradley's" at Avax2002 "Canta Brasil" (with Trio de Paz) at Um Que Tenha / alternate 2004 "Images" at Jazz a gogo
2004 'A table for two'
2004 'Images' at Jazzsi
2005 'Super Trio' '(Super standards') at Jazzsi
2005 'Live at Bradley's II: the perfect set' at Avax
2006 Live at JazzBaltica (bootleg) at Bogard's Jazztapes
2008 "Live at the Village Vanguard" at Jazz Boot Experiment
2008 "The Traveler" at DMusic Club
KENNY BARRON co-leader discography

1968 Jimmy Owens-Kenny Barron Quintet "You Had Better Listen" at Casquería fina y menudillos de ocasión
1975 with Ted Dunbar - 'In Tandem' at The Dr Jellyfish Jazz Collection
1978 with Tommy Flanagan - 'Together'
1986 with Buster Williams - 'Two as one'1981 with Bobby Hutcherson & others - "One Night Stand" at My Jazz World
1986 with Red Mitchell - "The Red Barron Duo" - gone, re-up someone ?
1989 with Stan Getz - "Bossas and Ballads : The Lost Sessions" at rfccbh
1990 with the John Hicks Quartet - 'Rhythm-a-ning'
1991 with Joe Locke - 'But beautiful'1991 with Stan Getz - "People Time" at seventeen green buicks / alternate
1991 with Stan Getz - "Copenhagen 1991" (bootleg) at Ubu Roi
1991 with Stan Getz - 'Café Montmartre'
1992 with Barry Harris - 'Confirmation1996 with Mino Cinelu - "Swamp Sally" at No Na mo (membership required)
1998 with Charlie Haden - "Night and the City" at Singin' and Swingin'
1999 with Brad Mehldau - "Live at Umbria Jazz Festival" at Music for my people
2001 with Regina Carter - Freefall" at Jazz a gogo or lossless
2002 with George Robert - 'Peace' at Musica Desde Las Antipodas2003 "The Art Of Three : Cobham-Carter-Barron live in japan" at Avax
2007 with James Moody - 'Fly me to the moon' (1962-63 recordings) at CIA2008 with Harvie S (Swartz) - "Now Was The Time" - gone, re-up someone ?

KENNY BARRON WITH "SPHERE"
Kenny Barron, Charlie Rouse / Gary Bartz, Ben Riley, Buster Williams

1982 "Four In One" at Seventeen Green Buicks1983 "Flight Path" at Call It Anything1985 "On Tour"
1986 "Live At Umbria Jazz"
1986 "Pumpkin's Delight" (live)
1987 "Four For all"
1987 "Sphere" at Musica Desde Las Antipodas / alt
1988 "Bird Songs"

KENNY RECORDS "SUNSHOWER"1975 Sonny Fortune - "Awakening" at Ile Oxumaré
1977 Ron Carter - "Piccolo"
1978 Kenny Barron - "Innocence" in comments here1981 KB / Bobby Hutcherson - "One Night Stand" at My Jazz World
1986 with Red Mitchell - "The Red Barron Duo" - gone, re-up someone ?
1989 KB / Stan Getz - "Bossas and Ballads : The Lost Sessions" at rfccbh
1990 KB / John Hicks - "Rhythm-a-Ning"
1990 "Live at Maybeck Recital hall" at Call It Anything
1993 Jeanie Bryson - "I Love Being Here With You" at Singin' and Swingin'

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip by swboy. Big thanks!
Text by Simon666Research from Michael Fitzgerald's Kenny Barron discography.

Album links in this post go to :

Call It Anything, Vinyl4giants, Into the Rhythm, Orgy In Rhythm, The Sly Mongoose, Alainfinkielgrautrock, My Favourite Sound, Ile Oxumaré, Everything Is On the One, Pharoah's Dance, K Kao Shima, El Goog Ja, Blog o Blog, Jazzclub No Na Mo, I Sounds, The Shad Shack, Freakywax, musica que cuelga, banattan, na bula bula com, Music for my people, Singin' and Swingin', Jazz a gogo, YuYazz, seventeen green buicks, My Jazz World, Um Que Tenha, Fender Jazz Music, Where Did All this Steam Come From?, Jazzever, Casquería fina y menudillos de ocasión, and Jazzy2U.

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