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ARTIST
TITLE
Mother Africa
FORMAT
CD
LABEL
CATALOG #
FFL 095CD
FFL 095CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
11/22/2024
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At the beginning of the 1960s, at the Berklee College of Music, Byard Lancaster met some feisty friends: Sonny Sharrock, Dave Burrell, and Ted Daniel. It is easy to see why he rapidly became involved in free jazz. Once he was settled in New York, he appeared on Sunny Murray Quintet, recorded under the leadership of the drum crazy colleague of Albert Ayler. In 1968, the saxophonist and flutist recorded his first album under his own name: It's Not Up To Us. The following year he came to Paris in the wake of... Sunny Murray. He would come back to France in 1971 (again with Murray) and in 1973 (without Murray for a change). This is when he met Jef Gilson, the pianist and producer who encouraged him to record under his own name again. On Palm Records (Gilson's label), he would release four albums: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement, and Funny Funky Rib Crib. A few months after recording Us, Lancaster recorded Mother Africa along with Clint Jackson III, a trumpeter, partner of Khan Jamal or Noah Howard on other recordings. On March 8th, 1974, Lancaster and Jackson headed up a group composed of Jean-François Catoire (electric and double bass), Keno Speller (percussion) and Jonathan Dickinson (drums). Together, they create an immediate impression. From the first seconds of "We The Blessed", they develop a free jazz which rapidly abandons any virulence under the effect of blues and soul based interventions. When Gilson's composition "Mother Africa" begins, listeners are transported into the studio, listening to the musicians setting up: chatting and joking... Then comes the melody: a dozen or so notes of a repeated theme which is accelerated and deformed according to their whims. This CD edition contains a bonus track, the magnificent "Love Always" that was originally released on the fourth (and last) volume of the Jef Gilson anthology series released in 1975. Recorded on March 8th, 1974, it is a beautiful 15-minute-long modal jazz piece. Four notes from the bass (the relentless Jean-François Catoire, who makes up the rhythm section alongside drummer Jonathan Dickinson and percussionist Keno Speller), and the group is up and running. First ever CD reissue; carefully remastered and restored by Gilles Laujol; graphic design by Stefan Thanneur; digipack. CD Licensed from Palm / Geneviève Quievreux.
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