Tribe (musicians' association)
Tribe was a Detroit musicians association that existed in the mid-1970s and included a record label and magazine of the same name.
History of the Association
In 1972, a group of Detroit musicians formed the Tribe collective , which held concerts, produced records, promoted artists, and published a magazine. Tribe , based at 81 Chandler Street in Detroit, was part of the "1970s Movement of Cultural Self-Determination." It was founded at a time when the Detroit label Motown had moved to Los Angeles and the city's auto industry was in decline.
The saxophonist Wendell Harrison , who (officially W. Harrison & Associates ) ran the company from his family home, was the initiator of the project with Phil Ranelin , Marcus Belgrave , Harold McKinney . The label's music, which offered a spectrum from funk , soul jazz to avant-garde jazz , was rediscovered in later years, especially by producers Carl Craig and Gilles Peterson ; various labels brought Rare Groove re-releases of the Tribe records onto the market. The label's environment also included bassist Ron Brooks , trumpeter Charles Moore and drummer Doug Hammond .
On the 40th anniversary of the collective, Wendell Harrison said in 2012:
- “ The style was Detroit. We had the funky beats from Motown and the George Clinton culture on the bottom, and the bebop stuff on the top. You could dance to it, but intellectually, you could appreciate the solos, too. "
Phil Ranelin adds: “ The aim of Tribe was to provide work opportunities and produce original music. It was an umbrella where composers from Detroit could showcase their music. It was about survival . "
The magazine Tribe , the subtitle of which was Detroit's First Magazine for Black Awareness , reported from a radical Afro-American perspective on topics such as civil rights activist Jesse Jackson , the Watergate affair , Sun Ra and the Detroit radio disc jockey Butterball. Tribe's productions also included plays, poetry readings, and socially critical music. Jazz theater productions included An Evening with the Devil, Message from the Tribe, Farewell to the Welfare and Mary Had an Abortion .
The activities of Tribe decreased towards the end of the 1970s, the members of the collective increasingly developed their own projects. Doug Hammond moved to Europe, Belgrave expanded the activities of his Jazz Development Workshop , Phil Ranelin went to Los Angeles and Wendell Harrison separated during this time from his first wife Pat, who was heavily involved in the project. With his second wife, pianist / composer Pamela Wise and Harold McKinney, Harrison started Rebirth , an organization similar to Tribe . In its 25 years of existence, Rebirth has given numerous concerts and produced a number of records, including a. with artists like Leon Thomas , Eddie Harris , Woody Shaw , Eddie Jefferson and Jimmy Owens
Jim Dulzo sees parallels in the musician's own project with similar undertakings Sun Ras , the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in Chicago and the Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis.
Discography
- Albums
- 1973: The Tribe Presents Wendell Harrison & Phillip Ranelin - Message from the Tribe
- 1973: Wendell Harrison - An Evening with the Devil
- 1974: Marcus Belgrave - Gemini II
- 1974: Harold McKinney - Voices and Rhythms of the Creative Profile
- 1974: Phil Ranelin - The Time Is Now!
- 1975: Doug Hammond & David Durrah - Reflections in the Sea of Nurnen
- 1975: Phil Ranelin - Vibes from the Tribe
- 1976: The Mixed Bag - Mixed Bag's First Album
- 2019: Tribe, Hometown: Detroit Sessions 1990–2014 , with Harold McKinney, Pamela Wise, Phil Ranelin
- Singles
- 1973 Wendell Harrison and the Tribe Farewell To Welfare Part 1 & 2 7 ”
- 1975 Doug Hammond & David Durrah Venus Fly Trap 7 ”
- Revisions
- From the Tribe: An Anthology of Tribe Records 1972-77 (Universal Sound / Soul Jazz)
- Vibes from the Tribe (P-Vine)
- Reawakening (rebirth)
- Birth of a Fossil (Rebirth)
Web links
- Tribe Records at Discogs
- Jim Dulzo: Wendell Harrison, Phil Ranelin and Tribe (2001) in JazzTimes
- Kirk Silsbee: Ranelin Commemorates 40 Years of Tribe (2012) in Downbeat
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Detroit music: the ultimate sightseer's guide ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Information from Soul Jazz Records
- ↑ a b Kirk Silsbee: Ranelin Commemorates 40 Years of Tribe (2012) in Downbeat ( Memento of the original from April 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Steven L. Isoardi: The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles .
- ↑ a b c Jim Dulzo: Wendell Harrison, Phil Ranelin and Tribe (2001) in JazzTimes
