At 11:38 PM -0500 3/10/03, Steve Smith wrote:
Some of my very favorite fusion of this vintage remains the three Herbie Hancock Sextet discs that immediately predate his turn to more "professional, polished" funk with the Headhunters (not that I'm dissing the Headhunters, mind you, but it was a different thing and sounds like what you're trying to avoid). That sextet, with Dr. Eddie Henderson, Bennie Maupin, Julius Priester, Buster Willims and Billy Hart (along with Patrick Gleason on ancient analogue synths) is to me one of the most successful blends of fusion groove with outside playing and sheer ambience. Long, complex, atmospheric and soulful.
Damn, Steve beat me to it.:-) But, yeah, the Mwandishi band is some amazing stuff.
Two Eddie Henderson albums from the same period and featuring most of the same musicians have just been reissued on a single import CD. I've read good things about that on another forum, but it's still pricey anywhere I've managed to find it, and this month's Wire was lukewarm on it. Anyone here have a firsthand opinion.
I will soon, just ordered the new reissue from Dusty Groove.
Other than those, Larry Young's 'Lawrence of Newark,' recently discussed here, is worth acquiring for its insane blend of ethnic trance, Sun Ra space dust and stomping proto-fusion. It's been unavailable for ages and the current CD version on Castle probably won't be around forever. Circle is great, but it's not fusion by a long shot; it's the early, experimental Chick Corea trio mixing it up with Braxton in pretty avant-garde territory.
Another great Larry Young disc, on par with "Lawrence of Newark", at least for me, is Love, Cry, Want's only release. it's a quartet with Joe Gallivan on drums, steel guitar, moog and percussion, Jimmy Molineiri on drums and percussion, Young on organ, and guitarist known only as Nicholas, credited with "prototype guitar synthesizer, ring modulator, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, water, hi-tension wires abd wailing dervish." Evidently recorded in 1972 (the notes aren't real clear on this), but not issued until 1997 on New Jazz (www.newjazz.com). Amazing record, not well recorded, but some very heavy stuff.
West coast keyboardist Wayne Peet has made some pretty stomping recent forays into this territory - well, recent as in within the last ten years. His album 'Blasto!' on 9 Winds is terrific fun and features great contributions by Vinny Golia, Bruce Fowler, John Fumo, Steubig, and Nels and Alex Cline. Never made it to CD, but I bet you can still score the LP from Vinny's 9 Winds site. Peet also did a burning trio session with guitarist G.E. Stinson and a drummer whose name escapes me at the moment, very reminiscent of Tony Williams' first Lifetime but much better recorded.
Lance Lee, on the disc "Fully Engulfed". Oddly enough, I was just listening to this today, for the first time in about a decade.