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| Vibes from the Tribe |
| Phil Ranelin |
| első megjelenés éve: 2001 |
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| (2001)
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CD |
| 3.481 Ft
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| 1. | Vibes From the Tribe
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| 2. | Sounds From the Village
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| 3. | Wife
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| 4. | For the Children
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| 5. | He the One We All Knew
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| 6. | Vibes From the Tribe [Extended]
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| 7. | Vibes From the Tribe [8 Track Version]
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| 8. | Sounds From the Village [Extended]
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Jazz
Phil Ranelin - Arranger, Mixing, Remixing, Trombone (Bass), Vocals
Barbara Huby - Percussion
Buddy Budson - Piano (Electric)
George Davidson - Drums
Harold McKinney - Piano
Ken Thomas - Piano
Kenn Cox - Piano (Electric)
Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet
Ralph Armstrong - Guitar (Electric)
Wendell Harrison - Flute, Sax (Tenor)
* Bud Spangler - Assistant Engineer, Associate Producer, Mixing, Percussion, Remixing
* Charles Moore - Engineer
* Greg Reilly - Engineer, Mixing, Remixing
* John McEntire - Mixing, Restoration
* Roger Seibel - Mastering
In Detroit, 1971, trombonist Phil Ranelin and saxophonist Wendell Harrison started a band, a recording company, and a magazine, and called them the Tribe. Though the three organizations lasted until 1978, Ranelin's Vibes From the Tribe, issued in 1976, was the last of eight records issued by Tribe/Time Is Now Productions. P-Vine Records in Japan has issueda handsomly packaged one CD compilation of material selected from the labe (there's a facsimile of the magazine included in the box), but Vibes From the Tribe is the first of the label's actual recordings to be issued in full, with added bonus tracks courtesy of Ranelin and the Hefty label. Tortoise boss John McEntire has restored the master tapes to their former glory, and added some touches to the unreleased material, with full approval from Ranelin, which give the music a contemporary feel. Musically, this is not only a solid portrait of Detroit's jazz scene in the mid-'70s, but is also a definitive portrait of its cultural mentality at the time. While everyone in the nation had written off the city as a wasteland, a space devoid of anything worth celebrating, its residents were in the process of creating some of the most vital jazz, literature, and art in its history. Vibes From the Tribe is a wildly diverse collection of tunes to be on a single long-player. Ranelin and his friends -- among them tenor saxophonist and flutist Wendell Harrison, pianist Harold McKinney, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, bassist Ralph Armstrong, percussionists Bud Spangler and Barbara Huby, and drummer George Davidson -- offered a portrait of the city through the jazz traditions that influenced it in the previous 20 years. Deep, hard jazz fusion and funk can be heard in the two versions of the title track (one of them an unreleased eight-track version) and "Sounds From the Village." While both echo the influence of Miles' groundbreaking electric band, the identities of these tracks are firmly rooted in a local musical history that includes Teddy Wilson, Donald Byrd, Yusef Lateef, the Funk Brothers rhythm section at Motown, John Lee Hooker, and George Clinton. There is also the more accessible side of Detroit jazz, represented here in "Wife" and "For the Children," which features plaintive but wondrously expressive vocals by Ranelin. Each tune swings with a beauty and airiness that were missing from the jazz of the day -- think of a way more soulful Ben Sidran and you'll get the picture.
But the heart of the set is in its earliest tune, Ranelin's first composition written way back in 1966, "He the One We All Knew." It's played here by an ensemble that included Ranelin on bass trombone and percussion and members of Detroit's premier vanguard unit, Griot Galaxy, with the legendary Faruq Z. Bey on saxophones, Tariq Samad on drums, and David Abdul Kahafiz on zeetar, a traditional African griot instrument. Also lending a hand is pianist Ken Thomas and Armstrong on bass. The piece begins as a modal workout, with Bey and Ranelin taking the first solos. The zeetar creates a drone not unlike a sitar for the rhythm section to build upon; the horn players then find their place in the melody together and light it up, taking it into harmonic territory that appears to surprise even them! The exchanges between Ranelin's bass trombones and Bey's soprano and tenor are knotty, intricate, and -- even in the freer moments -- rooted in the deep greasy groove inherent in all of Detroit's music from the era. Over 18 minutes in length, it is a masterpiece of vanguard jazz, and because of its rhythmic and tonal characteristics, is accessible even to those not interested in the genre. The extended versions of the title track and "Sounds of the Village" have been made manifestly "more Detroit" by McEntire. He lengthens the range of the bass and drums and sequences phrases so they line up the way the band did in the studio prior to recording them. They groove slow and dark, with long, intricate melody lines and accented backbeats creating a spaciousness not often heard in fusion jazz; but then, this isn't fusion jazz, it's funk jazz. Vibes From the Tribe is the sound of a city no one knew existed, a place vibrant with a cultural vision that included everybody. The Tribe was an organization that was focused on that vision, so much so that it could only last for so long; because it was so busy developing its homegrown identity and getting its talent to voice itself, it didn't have the time -- or the person with the influence -- to carry that vision outside its borders. Having grown up in the city and seen this band over a dozen times, I can say that the Tribe was one of the most unique and gifted jazz ensembles that the '70s ever produced. Until techno, the world didn't know how lucky it was to have a post-Motown Detroit; the evidence is now available to suggest that it should have been paying attention all along. If jazz is your thing, then get this. Period. Thanks, Hefty, for the first in a series of reissues from the Tribe.
---Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Phil Ranelin
Active Decade: '70s
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde Jazz, Free Funk, Free Jazz, Fusion, Post-Bop, Soul-Jazz
Trombonist Phil Ranelin was one of the Detroit jazz scene's unsung heroes, releasing several excellent, politicized albums that blended post-Coltrane avant-garde jazz, post-Bitches Brew psychedelia, hard bop, funk, and African rhythms. Ranelin was born and raised in Indianapolis, and later moved to New York and then Detroit, where he started out as a session man for Motown artists like Stevie Wonder. In 1971, along with saxophonist Wendell Harrison, Ranelin co-founded a band, magazine, and record label conglomeration known as the Tribe, which used experimental jazz as a vehicle to raise African-American political consciousness. That year, Ranelin also issued his first album as a leader, Message From the Tribe. 1974's The Time Is Now! continued Ranelin's accessible avant leanings, but 1976's Vibes From the Tribe pushed more firmly into groovy jazz-funk territory. The Tribe organization folded in 1978, after which Ranelin played with Freddie Hubbard for several years. In 1986, Ranelin led a date for Rebirth titled Love Dream, and ten years later released the self-produced album A Close Encounter of the Very Best Kind -- which featured his new Los Angeles-based sextet -- on Lifeforce. Though Ranelin's albums didn't get much exposure outside of his home base, they found their way onto the acid jazzrare-groove collector's market, creating an underground buzz around Ranelin's music. In 2001, Tortoise drummer John McEntire remixed and remastered The Time Is Now! and Vibes From the Tribe, which were reissued by the Hefty label. The following year, a full-fledged electronic Remixes collection was released.
---Steve Huey, All Music Guide |
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