DRUM DANCE TO THE MOTHERLAND by KHAN JAMAL CREATIVE ARTS ENSEMBLE

A special treat for the vinyl hounds! The long-awaited first vinyl reissue of the Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble's almost-impossible-to-find 1972 "Drum Dance To The Motherland". Newly remastered and sounding great, this is a unique, uncategorizable (but here we go, nevertheless...) expression of Afrocentric America, freely improvised (but not necessarily "free jazz"), pulsing, moving, restless yet restful. Recorded in the group's hometown of Philadelphia, the players masterfully combine all the currents of Afro-American music - jazz, r'n'b, blues, funk and more - in a manner not imitative of but somehow informed by the spiritually Afro-Astral work of Sun Ra. Drums, percussion, bass, guitar, clarinets and the balaphon-influenced marimba and vibes of bandleader Khan Jamal are all wondrously integrated, and propelled into other dimensions by the heavy, dub-like use of live echo and reverb by "sixth member" sound engineer Mario Falana (Lola's brother). There is an abundance of fine playing in these grooves: tasty guitar, propulsive bass lines, layers of percussion, wailing clarinets, Jamal's vibes and marimba, all periodically carried farther out on waves of echo, and farther in via cavernous reverb. Check!Personnel: Khan Jamal – vibraphone, marimba, clarinet Alex Ellison – drums, percussion Dwight James – drums, glockenspiel, clarinet Billy Mills – fender bass, double bass Monnette Sudler – guitar, percussion Probable recording date 6 or 7 October, 1972 at The Catacombs, Philadelphia, PA Original recording produced by Khan Jamal, issued on Dogtown Records Original recording by Mario Falana