Light Up Ya Grill

The Meters: Live Wire
From The Meters (1969)
Art Neville - keyboard
Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste - drums
Leo Nocentelli - guitar
George Porter - bass

Grant Green: Ease Back
Originally from Carryin' On (1969) currently out of print
Also available on Blue Breakbeats
Grant Green - guitar
Idris Muhammad - drums
Claude Bartee - tenor sax
Willie Bivens - vibes
Clarence Palmer - electric piano
Jimmy Lewis - bass

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This week, being the first week of summer, I’m posting a couple of my favorite backyard barbeque bangers. “Live Wire” is a straight-up, get-on-the-good-foot instrumental funk classic. The Meters jump right into the heart of the funk from the get-go, wasting no time in their quest to make even the most unfunky of the funkless shake their money makers.

“Ease Back” is also a Meters tune. This version is by the incredibly versatile Grant Green, who offers a more subdued, crepuscular variation on the Meters groove. There’s a little bit of irony in how popular this record has become in Grant Green’s discography, as it was this album that touched a nerve with jazz snobs who then proceeded to label him a sell out. But history has been kind to Mr. Green, who was often overshadowed by Wes Montgomery and other straight ahead jazz guitarists of his era, as his popularity and critical appraisal have both soared in the past two and a half decades since his death – in large part due to crate-digging hip-hop heads who can’t get enough of the hypnotically funky single-note style he demonstrates so well on this song.

I would be remiss if I signed off without mentioning that these songs also feature two of jazz/funk’s most important and influential drummers: Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste & Idris Muhammad. Both of these gentlemen deserve their own post; down the road, I’ll definitely have to give the drummers some. But until then, remember to keep the coals hot, the beers cold and the music funky.

Read more at:
The Official Funky Meters Website
Grant Green Pages
Zigaboo: The King of the Funky Drums
Idris Muhammad Interview by Britt Alexander

An Influence and an Acolyte

Ornette Coleman: Ramblin'
From Change of the Century (1959)
Ornette Coleman - alto sax
Don Cherry - pocket trumpet
Charlie Haden - bass
Billy Higgins - drums

Tina Brooks: Theme for Doris
From True Blue (1960)
Tina Brooks - tenor sax
Freddie Hubbard - trumpet
Duke Jordan - piano
Sam Jones - bass
Art Taylor - drums

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Last week I mentioned how Ornette Coleman had been a major influence on Jackie McLean's sound. Well, this particular song, which has Ornette playing in a sort of bouncing blues shuffle, offers what I think is a pretty good example of where their sounds overlapped. "Ramblin'" has always been one of my favorite Ornette Coleman compositions. I especially love the section, about four minutes in, where the horns lay out and Haden and Higgins trade fours.

The second song here is by Tina Brooks, who was the understudy for Jackie McLean in the Living Theater production of The Connection, a play about junkie jazz musicians copping heroin between gigs. It was a role that paralleled their lives at the time. Jackie eventually kicked drugs but Tina would be in and out of hospitals and prisons, unable to play for nearly a decade, and dead by forty-two.

True Blue was the only album released under Tina Brooks' name in his lifetime. And, although he was a somewhat obscure character in jazz at that time, his stature has risen considerably in the years since his death, thanks in large part to the highly respected Mosaic Box set which brought to light all of his previously unreleased Blue Note sessions.

“Theme for Doris” is a fairly sunny tune for Brooks, who generally favored minor-key melodies, and it has a distinct Dexter Gordon flavor. It's the kind of song that makes me feel like I should be lounging near the beach, playing dominoes and drinking a mojito.

Read more about Ornette Coleman at:
Wikipedia: Ornette Coleman
Read more about Tina Brooks at:
True Blue: Tribute to Tina Brooks

Inside / Outside with Jackie McLean

Jackie McLean: Melody for Melonae
From Let Freedom Ring (1962)
Jackie McLean - alto sax
Walter Davis - piano
Herbie Lewis - bass
Billy Higgins - drums

Jackie McLean: Eco
From Right Now! (1965)
Jackie McLean - alto sax
Larry Willis - piano
Bob Cranshaw - bass
Clifford Jarvis - drums

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“…we believe Jackie McLean is the most stimulating alto saxophonist on the jazz scene today. We like his style, we adore his sound, and we love his approach.”
~ The Jackie McLean fan club, from the early 1960s

Jackie McLean, who had grown up playing bop under the guidance of Bud Powell and Miles Davis, and helped to usher in hard-bop with stints in both Charles Mingus and Art Blakey’s bands, had by 1962 clearly been paying attention to what the new breed was doing – particularly Ornette Coleman. Let Freedom Ring was his first album to fully incorporate the elements of the new sound that suited his attack so well.

His sound, most often described as a cry, could express melancholy, joy or passionate anger but it always possessed a pleading sense of urgency. And although in the past his fiery solos had occasionally found him painting himself into corners, he was now thinking and reacting to the shifts of his two incredibly sympathetic and rhythmically daring young bands and bringing his solos to more emotionally satisfying resolutions.

On both of these recordings McLean was the only horn, which gave him a chance to really stretch out and swagger, and they offer fine examples of his inside/outside approach. By this time his delivery had blossomed; he was at the peak of his powers. McLean had finally figured out how to bring all of his game: passionate delivery as well as a more inventive, sophisticated song writing and most importantly, a sharper focus to the structure of his solos.

Read more about Jackie McLean (1932 - 2006) at:
Guardian UK Obituary