Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison (Jazz Is Dead)
Ali Shaheed Muhammad / Phil Ranelin / Adrian Younge / Wendell Harrison
Released January 2023
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2023
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l5VDVQrgI90nkMZ_isLrJDO1gdk0V_JJE
Spotify:
About:
To be an independent artist means to not only be free to share your most ambitious artistic impulses, but to retain ownership of them, working tirelessly to market and produce a body of work that stands apart from corporate decision-making and interference. For Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison, it was this guiding principle that led them to found the Detroit-based Jazz label Tribe Records in the early 1970s. Focusing on self-reliance and communal support, Tribe provided a platform for local jazz artists such as Ranelin and Harrison to record and release albums, and had community members taking full control of the promotion and distribution. The label and its magazine set an important early precedent for community-driven arts organizations, and still stands as a testament to their potential and efficacy. Today, the legacy of Tribe lives on in labels like Jazz Is Dead, making these recordings at Linear Lab Studios in Highland Park all the more significant. In their latest dispatch, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad craft a poignant batch of new material that celebrates the lasting impact of Tribe, and the perpetual greatness of Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison.
Emerging from misty trumpets and tremoring keys is album opener “Genesis”, which takes its time introducing each element before breaking out into a fiery funk. On “Open Eye” kaleidoscopic percussion takes over, leading into a cool, Samba-inflicted guitar that flutters in between a formidable saxophone solo, courtesy of Harrison. From the moment the cymbals and bass take off on “Running With Tribe”, the exhilaration remains high, before tempering into a slithering strut, the string section lingering in the background, both glistening and nervous.
Coming in at the album’s mid-point, “Fire In Detroit” blossoms from a gentle swing into a kinetic push and pull, showcasing the broad range of Younge and Muhammad’s arrangements. Like its celestial namesake, “Ursa Major” illuminates and leads listeners through a sonic roadmap of the album’s repertoire, contrasting softer meditative moments with jagged, fuzzed-out guitars and urgent drums. Entering with bass and quickly building into a trenchant groove, “Metropolitan Blues” features an exceptional trombone solo by Ranelin that feels as fresh as the maestro’s work on classic albums like “The Time Is Now”. Building around a call-and-response between the horns, keys, and percussion, album closer “Black Census” is a supercharged funk burner that peppers in woodwinds alongside hi-hats for an eclectic blend. You can hear the sheer joy of the musicians throughout the recording, so it more than makes sense to hear Harrison laugh at the end of the take.
As each Jazz Is Dead record focuses on bringing a different legend from the past to the forefront and highlighting their deep contributions to Jazz and popular music, the label’s most recent collaboration with Ranelin and Harrison is more than that: it is a symbolic passing of a generational torch, celebrating both groups’ continued dedication to remaining independent, and continuing to produce compelling and unique Jazz music.
Track Listing:
1. Genesis 06:50
2. Open Eye 03:30
3. Running With The Tribe 04:03
4. Fire In Detroit 04:59
5. Ursa Major 03:33
6. Metropolitan Blues 05:18
7. Black Census 04:07
Personnel:
Phil Ranelin: trombone
Wendell Harrison: tenor saxophone (1, 2, 7), bass clarinet (3-6)
Adrian Younge: Fender Rhodes piano, electric guitars (1, 2, 3, 5), marimba (1, 2, 4), clavinet (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7), electric sitar (1), alto and sopranino saxophone (1), percussion (1, 2, 3), monophonic synthesizers (2, 5), mellotron (3), flutes (4), Hammond B3 organ (4), acoustic guitar (4)
Ali Shaheed Muhammad: electric bass guitar, congas (3)
Greg Paul: drums
All music composed by Phil Ranelin, Wendell Harrison, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad unless otherwise noted
Produced, recorded and mixed by Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad at Linear Labs Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Mastered by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters
Executive Produced by Andrew Lojero
Associate Produced by Adam Block
Design by Julian Montague
Photography by The Artform Studio
Review:
Jazz Is Dead’s label motto includes the words “…to foreground legends from the past” and “… highlight their contributions.” This set by Detroit’s Tribe founders Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison is poignantly symbiotic. Founded by the pair in 1971, Tribe was a musical collective and a record label; they also founded a coffeehouse/meeting place for the Motor City’s artistic community, and published a magazine. Harrison and Ranelin are jazzmen, but coming from Detroit they indulge in their extracurricular musical activities, too, including Harrison’s appearances on early Motown sessions, Ranelin’s on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ debut album and Build an Ark’s, and the pair’s jazz-EDM fusion work with producer Carl Craig.
The seven tunes here were group-composed and cut at Adrian Younge’s and Ali Shaheed Muhammad’s Linear Labs studio and played by the quartet and drummer Greg Paul. Harrison — tenor saxophone, bass clarinet — and Ranelin — trombone — assume their time-honored roles. Muhammad plays electric bass throughout, and Younge delivers on guitars, keyboards, synths, and myriad percussion.
The name of the game here is spacious groove. Opener “Genesis” begins eerily and abstractly, like an electric Miles Davis outtake. It gathers drama, momentum, and dynamic before horns, electric guitar, and layered, skittering snare breaks and Latin-tinged Rhodes piano insert a loose, spiritual soul jam that morphs into modal jazz. “Open Eye” finds Younge’s marimba and electric guitar meeting Paul’s rumbling tom-toms and snares as horns develop a knotty lyricism in spirited interplay, then trade fours. “Running with the Tribe” is introduced by Muhammad’s walking bass and Paul’s acrobatic cymbals. Harrison winds his way in with a bass clarinet solo and Ranelin embellishes the backdrop. Halfway through, a glorious funk backbeat claims the fore and the tune gels to the horn players’ call-and-response above insistent Rhodes and percussion. The melody is spacious, nocturnal, and infectious. “Fire in Detroit” starts out as a gorgeous psychedelic soul interlude with pillowy synths, organs, and bass until Ranelin’s expressive trombone and Muhammad’s punchy bass construct a vamp that Harrison’s bass clarinet responds to atop rolling snares and a kick drum shuffle. The melody briefly references John Barry’s “Midnight Cowboy” before moving off into deeper, murkier jazz-funk. “Ursa Major” is composed of martial drumming, a circular bassline, and screaming electric guitar kissed by Rhodes piano, clarinet, and muted trombone. “Metropolitan Blues” is arguably the best cut. Muhammad offers a bass vamp met by breaking drums and punchy horns. Rhodes piano atmospherically paints the backdrop before Ranelin starts his moaning trombone solo, which ultimately bleats and roars. The band increases force but never leaves the groove. When Harrison solos, Ranelin claims his place on the vamp. Closer “Black Census” is a fingerpopping, funky groover that recalls the WeatherReport of Black Market and Heavy Weather, centered in frenetic, jazzed-up Detroit funk. JID016 finds the two octogenarian musicians in startlingly excellent form. They not only continue to offer canny instrumental and conceptual mastery, but clearly inspire their younger counterparts.
Thom Jurek (AllMusic)
