Khan Jamal Creative Art Ensemble: Drum Dance To The Motherland Vinyl LP

One of the rarest private press jazz LPs of the 70s finally gets a definitive vinyl pressing by the music lovers at Aguirre, under license from Eremite Records, who were the first to make this oft-mythologized album widely available via their 2006 remastered CD edition. Recorded live at the Catacombs Club in Philadelphia on or around October 6, 1972. Bandleader Khan Jamal’s clarinet freakouts and adventurous vibes & marimba phrases color this wholly-unpredictable session; but this is the Drum Dance To The Motherland after all, and Alex Ellison & Dwight James’ dueling drums are the spiritual signpost that guides you through the fog. Live sound engineer Mario Falana’s heavy hand on the space echo really takes this recording to the next level, lending a truly out-of-this-world feeling to a session otherwise firmly rooted in terrestrial soundscapes; think King Tubby producing late-period Trane at his most out. The audio was painstakingly transferred at Sony Music's 54th street studio from a minty copy of the original LP (the master tapes are long gone) with artwork faithfully reproducing the original center labels and hand-drawn cover from the original private press. Recommended.

• black vinyl pressing
• remastered audio
• faithfully-reproduced artwork
• printed insert w/ extensive liner notes by Ed Hazell
• limited edition
• original release year: 1973
• music label: Aguirre Records 2022

reviewed by nick nightingale 01/2018