Creed Taylor's "Cool Revolution"

As it happens and just like that, something is made out of nothing. Yes, just like that, like I was sitting idly that October 2010 evening wondering what would be my next step from a whole lot of complicated issues -- books I'm still thinking if I should put together, the troubled and political atmosphere around the globe and all that stuff, I reflected back the days of my childhood and how jazz music was changed forever when Creed Taylor founded CTI and Kudu Records.

In 1970, Duke University psychology trained-turned producer and engineer founded CTI and its sister label Kudu Records. Its style and discriminating quality transformed jazz when Taylor assembled and developed a historic cast of artists creating the kind of albums that would set a standard in what is today jazz-fusion. The success of CTI's recording in a profound influence of jazz, pop and R&B is what is now echoing with the release of "Cool Revolution," remastered for the first time using the original two-track analog tapes. This brand new 4 CD sets celebrates the vintage years of CTI, when a "distinctive style and sound was born. Each disc represents an aspect of CTI personality straight-up jazz, big hits, the Brazilian influence, and cool, classic sounds."

But despite all the masterpieces in this great project of CTI's 40th Anniversary of crossing over to what had been coined as jazz-fusion, the blend of all musical genres, something seemed to be amiss in this amazing collection: Hank Crwaford's "Tico Rico."

As a teenager and all that jam sessions Lagos was known for, the album "Tico Rico" had been all over the air waves including the record shops blasting it all out loud. It was just fresh from the stables of Creed Taylor International (CTI). And I have begun to know the meaning of jazz fusion and how the magnificent producer Creed Taylor had assembled the best during the Kudu years. And going deep into what was at Kudu Records -- George Benson, Grover Washington Jr., Esther Philips, Stanley Turrentine, Wes Montgomery, Idris Muhammad, Johnny Hammond, Deodato, Mongo Santamaria, Hubert Laws, Bob James, Earl Klugh, Ron Carter, the Cajun man himself Crawford, Eric Gale, Joe Beck, Phil Upchurch, Tennyson Stephens, Grant Green, David Mathews, Thus Spoke Z and others -- jazz fussion came into the fore of my interests in music.

And while "Tico Rico" was driving everybody nuts, I had not been familiar with Crawford's other projects. There was "Help me make it through the night," Jazz Funk," "We Got a Good Thing," and "Wildflower" which was among Crawford's finest projects, which is why "Cool Collection" shouldn't have negated the Cajun man in such finest of projects. But there are reasons though.

The tracks in these amazing collection includes: Milt Jackson's "Sunflower," George Benson's "White Rabbit," Paul Desmond's " Pure Desmond," Jim Hall's "Concirto," Deodato's (Brazilian infleunce) "Prelude," Ron Carter's "All Blues," Hubert Laws' "Morning Star," Stanley Turrentine's "Sugar," Chet Baker's "She was Too Good To Me," Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Stone Flower," Kenny Burrell's "God Bless The Child" and several other tracks that makes this 39 tracks on 4 themed CDs, remastered to capture the classic sounds of the original LPs lavishly illustrated 20 page booklet containing rare photographs and new liner notes including comments by CTI artists and jazz enthusiasts one of the best projects I have encountered in recent times.

Great project from Sony's Masterworks!

Friday Night Jam @ The World Stage Performance Gallery

Friday, December 18, 2009, for sure, was not the typical noisemaking and do nothing Nd'House of Los Angeles' end of year party.

It was not about erstwhile Black President, Fela Kuti's talking drummer, Najite Agindotan's Olokun Prophesy and Leimert Park Drum Circle.

It was not about the controversial drum churches in Black Township's Leimert Park led by the hood's renegade who want out in order to define the hood rats.

It was not even about the all women drum essembles chereographed by Renee.

It was something totally different in "da neck of the woods". Friday night, December 18, 2009, at approximately 8:00 p.m., The World Stage Performance Gallery sitting on 4344 Degnan Boulevard in Los Angeles presented "Munyungo Jackson: An Oral History Interview" with opening remarks and introduction by Chet Hanley who is host, "Jazz in the Modern Era" on Tuesdays at Channel 36 where jazz scholarships are discussed.

Yes, Munyungo Jackson who plays all sorts of instruments including odima, bells, bongos, congas, djembes shakers and adudu known as talking drums had a packed house full of performers and players of instruments from all walks of life coupled with jazz freaks like my humble self.

It was a hell of a blast!

I popped up a little bit late, I mean, about 10-minutes before the introduction and jam session began, and I got it all.

Jackson is a Los Angeles native and throughout his stellar career, has played with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Yusef Lateef, Hubert Laws, Lionel Hampton, Billy Mitchell, Elliot Cane, Doc Powell, George Howard, Ronnie Laws, George Duke, Wayne Shorter, Stevie Wonder, Stanley Clarke, Kenny Loggins, Lessa Terry, Joe Sample, Bobby Womack, Barry White, Queen Latifah, Karen Briggs, The Temptations, Supremes and Four Tops.

On top of all that, Jackson has also had engagements with Dwight Tribble, Christian McBride, Dr. Bobby Rodriguez, Mickey Champion, Babatunde Lea, Derf Recklaw, Lionel Ritchie, Gladys Knight, Freda Payne, Patrice Rushen, Norman Connors, Bobby Lyle, Hiroshima, Jonathan Butler, Marcus Miller, Lona Morris, Quincy Jones, Leon "Ndugu" Chanceler, Don Littleton, Joe Zawinul, Anita Baker, Santana, Willie Bobo, Jean Luc Ponty, The Pointer Sisters, Joe Bataan, Eartha Kitt, Claire Fischer, Bennie Maupin and uncountable others.

But Creed Taylor and the Kudu years was not mentioned in all the process even though some names passed through as we all hopped up onto the stage to ask questions and pay special tribute to the great Jackson who was the man of the night.

Jackson played like never before. World Stage manager, Pianist and flutist Mark Gibson was in the house. Jazz historian Jeff Winston was in the house. Waberi Jordan who had opened for McCoy Tyner last month at UCLA's Royce Hall before her engagement in Europe, was also in the house.

After the jam session which lasted into the night, Jackson told me about his book, "The Nu Naybahood: Funetic Ebonic Dictionary Vol 1," signing a copy and releasing it to me, said "It's all about community and helping one another," pointing out with regards to the book's preface:

"First of all, I love my people! (Some of us can be a little hard headed, and hard on each other, BUT -) I love the fact that we have our own way of deoing things, of expressing ourselves, and of communicating. We understand what each other is doing, saying, and feeling. Because of this special way of doing things, we have inflenced the world with our language, our music, dance and sports...Unfortunately, most of us don't share in the rewards and benefits of that influence, and are sometimes the butt of jokes from people who really don't understand the nuances in or culture..."

There is a very strong message in the piece.

A night to remember, I took home his celebrated CD "Munyungo" produced and engineered by David Manley and a cast of back-up musicians including Lenny Castro, Bill Summers, Michael O'Neil, Pedro Eustache, Robert Grennage and Rayford Griffin.

Tracks:

1. Columbiana
2. So Happy
3. Drums, Drums, Drums
4. Trees
5. Be On Time
6. Petyer's Bells
7. Shango Bakaso
8. On Green Dolphin Street
9. Oye Samba

"Oye Samba," being the last jam of the night, and typical of Brazilian samba-playing football fanatics, got everybody clapping, singing to the vibe and stomping untill the wee hours of the night.

The Twitter Nation and Remembering Hank Crawford

Just like that, something pops up and becomes a big deal. Just like that America and its creativity can pop up with something about nothing, and all of a sudden people will be having a blast with an amazing enterprise. Just like that some young fellas would sit under a tree on campus grounds and put their thoughts together and, before you know it they are somewhere in a neigborhood cafe talking about their stocks and millions of dollars stashed in the bank.

"And how come this is just a piece of cake?"

"The land of opportunity -- no doubt, making something out of nothing."

"So what in God's sake are you talking about?"

"I am talking about all the above subject-matter and before you start wondering, it is none other than Twitter, the newest arrival on social networking and how the internet brigades are all crazy about it. It has driven NPR's Jim Lehrer and Andrea Seabrooks nuts. ABC News Chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos cannot do without it. Charles Gibson is in it, too. The quarterbackers, the doves and hawks thinks the time has come to settle their differences. All has joined the bandwagon, and I don't know about you."

"Yahoo had its moment and millions of millions of groups emerged to a point it's no longer relevant. Now there is Hi5, My Space, Face Book, Desktop Networking, and thousands of socio-cultural networks out there presumably making body and soul one depending on what is it that troubles you or perhaps what you are looking for."

I had read about Twitter and trashed it not to be bothered. And I did read an article about it again and thought it was one writing a piece from putting thoughts together.

And I never looked back. But the whole thing popped up again. And I thought, wait a minute; we've got Google. We've got the chat rooms. We've got all kinds of stuff-- from dating service to your local food delivery -- you name it.

But the whole thing popped up again. And I still never looked back. Oh, if you don't know by now, everybody is talking about it on every TV channel including Good Morning America; at the market square, on the street corner, at the construction site, inside Mayor Antonio Villaraigos's office, in Supervisor, 2nd District, Mark Ridley-Thomas' branch offices, and all nooks and crannies of Mother Earth. It has been known to be weightier than the Biblical David and Goliath story.

"What are you talking about?"

"You will know in a minute."

"Until I get a heart attack?"

"Nope!"

"And what's taking you so long?"

"Nothing, it's just that so many people have come and gone and it's more than a feeling."

"Okay, keep it to yourself and I ain't listening to you no more."

"No 'am not and would you listen and keep quiet?"

Yes, I ran into Twitter after reading a series of articles in Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. The first thing that pops up upon entering the website is "what are you doing?" asking you to let the world know if you are somewhere doing what you weren't suppose to be doing. I got in there just for the heck of it, I mean poking around. I registered and couldn't believe what I saw. It was indeed a market square and every human being you can think of buys and sells there. They all have handles except a very few seeking attention.

But I have taken a handle myself and start telling the world my business at the moment. I had been glued and I kept telling the world my business. It was not until Hank Crawford popped up from one of my followers that I knew something quite fascinating is about to happen "here." The twitter had talked about the death of legendary saxophonist Hank Crawford who died in January. He had also talked about being a teenager in the mid 50s and how he had moved to somewhere in the South running into a jam session where Hank Crawford was performing alongside Leroy "Hog" Cooper and David "Fathead" Newman in a band Ray Charles had cooked. Every twitter had a blog or website which made the networking interesting.

The twitting continued for several days and all followers learned a whole lot about this legendary alto saxophonist. I had told my side of the story knowing Crawford. As a teenager and visiting Lagos for the holidays and all that jam sessions Lagos was known for, the album "Tico Rico" had been all over the air waves including the record shops blasting it all out loud. It was just fresh from the stables of Creed Taylor International (CTI). And I have begun to know the meaning of jazz fusion and how the magnificent producer Creed Taylor had assembled the best during the Kudu years. And going deep into what was at Kudu Records -- George Benson, Grover Washington Jr., Esther Philips, Stanley Turrentine, Wes Montgomery, Idris Muhammad, Johnny Hammond, Deodato, Mongo Santamaria, Hubert Laws, Bob James, Earl Klugh, Ron Carter, the Cajun man himself Crawford, Eric Gale, Joe Beck, Phil Upchurch, Tennyson Stephens, Grant Green, David Mathews, Thus Spoke Z and others -- jazz fussion came into the fore of my interests in music.

And while "Tico Rico" was driving everybody nuts I had not been familiar with Crawford's other projects. There was "Help me make it through the night," Jazz Funk," "We Got a Good Thing," and "Wildflower" which was among Crawford's finest projects. As it also happened, one of my followers had digged deeply into my works and found out I was a hell of a music freak. He came back twitting and started throwing questions about my musicology. We had been on a long thread of Crawford, and the Kudu years was the beginning of my knowing jazz music which has now stretched to the early part of the Twentieth Century and by twitting I am learning more.

No question, Crawford was magnificent. He had the talent. His skills inspired me. His passion was what got me. He was a master in his craft. His music shook me. Remembering his horns and gone at 74 he will be missed.

Adios, amigo, and let's keep twitting!

Hank Crawford's 'Tico Rico'

Wow! I just dug this excellent LP from my stack of obsolete albums never remastered or bootlegged anywhere. Good thing though, technology has made it easier one can turn LP's, 45s, and 78s into CDs and I will be doing just that. I have searched every archive to see if 'Tico Rico' has been remastered and digitally "waxed" but found out the original recordings and studio may have lost the master tape. Not even Amoeba Records or Sterns Records can brag about having the rights to dig 'Tico Rico' out. Rare though, but possible, depending on the term of contract. If organist Johnny Hammond's "Breakout" LP could be digitally remastered during the same Kudu years, why not the legendary Cajun man, Hank Crawford? But anyway, I just thought whoever must have hidden this masterpiece should pop up and turn it into CD. I'm missing listening to tracks like 'Tico Rico,' 'I've Just Seen a Face,' 'Teach Me Tonight,' 'Funky Rooster,' and 'Lady Soul.'

Absolutely one of the best jazz recordings by Creed Taylor and the Kudu years.