Kawaida
| Kawaida | ||||
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| Tootie Heath's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | O'be, Trip, Mercury, DJM | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
5 |
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running time |
44:57 |
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Kawaida is a jazz album by Tootie Heath . It was recorded on December 11, 1969 and initially released in 1970 under the name of Tootie Heath ( Kuumba-Toudie Heath ) on the O'be Records label. In 1975 the recordings appeared as a joint album by Herbie Hancock and Don Cherry on the British label DJM Records.
The album
Albert "Tootie" Heath has worked with Herbie Hancock since returning to the United States in 1968, featured on his Blue Note album The Prisoner . Hancock's first band after leaving Miles Davis premiered in November 1968; In 1969 he went on tour with her. Both the pianist's music and his personal attitudes were more strongly influenced this year by political and social discussions on African American culture in the USA; Hancock also took the Swahili name Mwandishi (dt. The composer ) at this time . At the same time as the rhythm-and-blues- influenced album Fat Albert Rotunda , the recordings of Kawaida (German tradition ) were made in early December 1969, preceded by a month-long engagement at the London House in Chicago.
In addition to Tootie Heath ( Kuumba ), bassist Buster Williams ( Mchezaji ) also played in Hancock's band ; were added in the recording of Kawaida two musicians from the band of Ornette Coleman , drummer Ed Blackwell and trumpeter Don Cherry ( Msafari ), further Tooties older brother, saxophonist Jimmy Heath ( Tyari ), percussionist and flutist Billy Bonner ( Fundi ) and Tootie's nephew James Mtume at the congas. Mtume was a student of Maulana Karenga , who taught at the Black Studies Department at California State University , dealt with the identification of African Americans with African culture , identity and spirituality and coined the philosophical term Kawaida for it .
The music of Kawaida , to which James Mtume contributed almost all of the compositions, is based on various elements of the then contemporary jazz avant-garde by John Coltrane and the musicians' cooperative Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in Chicago , which had been founded five years earlier . The harmonies of the first track, Baraka, are reminiscent of McCoy Tyner , Dunia of Elvin Jones' game with Coltrane. Maulana is a free improvisation for flute and bells about which the musicians speak and sing Swahili texts. After 1:30 am, Hancock and Williams play an elegiac theme on bowed bass that leads to a rhythmic riff reminiscent of John Coltrane. This is followed by an extensive saxophone solo by Jimmy Heath, then a melodic trumpet solo by Don Cherry, before percussion and clapping set in again. In the title track Kawaida , the band members recite the seven principles ( Nguzo Saba ) of Kwanzaa over a percussive carpet of sound
The titles
- Kawaida (O'Be 301, Trip TLP 5032, Mercury BT-5015 (Japan), DJM Records DJSLM 200)
- Side A:
1. Baraka (Mtume) 9:53
2. Maulana (Mtume) 13:20
- Side B:
1. Kawaida (Mtume) 8:08
2. Dunia (Tootie Heath) 8:29
3. Kamili (Mtume) 3:34
Editorial notes
After various LP releases on independent labels, the recordings were released as compact discs on the Dutch label Mandarim Records (MR-04028) in 1996, as well as in the low-price series The Jazz Masters - 100 Anos De Swing (Folio Collection EF 20015).
Reception of the album
In his book about Herbie Hancock's band projects around 1970, Bob Gluck pointed out that compositions on the album such as Dunia and Maulana anticipated musical stylistic features of the future Mwandishi band Herbie Hancocks - collective improvisation, textural emphasis, extended solos and small instruments, especially percussion.
According to WS Tkweme, the project was heavily influenced by James Mtume, even if it was published under the name of his uncle Tootie Heath.
The Allmusic rated the album four stars; it was " an adventurous octet date ".
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Notes at Discogs
- ↑ Herbie Hancock discography at jazzdiscography
- ↑ a b c Bob Gluck: You'll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band
- ↑ a b W. S. Tkweme: vindicating Karma: Jazz and the Black Arts Movement , p 63
- ^ Entry of the album on Allmusic (English). Retrieved August 29, 2012.