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Joe McPhee

Defiant Jazz: a Joe McPhee Taster

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Releases October 31st

Preorder HERE

Who was that masked man?

This question is on many lips having seen and heard the "Defiant Jazz" episode of the hit TV show Severance, the one in which the show's protagonists are allowed a company dance party, accompanied by a light show and increasingly wild, funky, saxophone-driven music. The masked man? None other than Joe McPhee, Poughkeepsie, New York's best kept secret, one of the great figures of contemporary improvised music. A living legend looming large, you might say. And now a presence in households around the globe.

This "taster" is more than a "best of" record. (The "best of" Joe McPhee would be no smaller than a 20-record set!) Defiant Jazz includes "Shakey Jake," the dance party track, a funky upsetter from 1970 that shimmies and rolls at the same time it builds and explodes. The vinyl-only compilation then moves across time, touching on another early track, the spiritual jazz classic "Astral Spirits," from the 1972 CJR LP Trinity and a 1983 version of the Sonny Rollins tune "Oleo" from the hat Hut LP of the same name, with psychedelic guitar outbursts courtesy of Raymond Boni. The second side opens with "I See You Baby Shakin' That Ass," a self-proclaimed "throwdown" with McPhee as emcee and flamethrowing saxophonist, fronting two bands, Cato Salsa Experience and The Thing. A dance floor jack-in-the-box for anyone unlucky enough not to have heard it yet. The program concludes with a sensitive tenor/drum duet between McPhee and Paal Nilssen-Love. The cover features previously unpublished vintage photos of McPhee.

If you already know Mr. McPhee's music, this compilation is designed to fulfill, and if you're new to him, it will thrill and chill. Win-win.

Side One

  1. Shakey Jake (McPhee/13:32)
    Joe McPhee, Tenor Saxophone
    Otis Greene, Alto Saxophone
    Mike Kull, Electric Piano
    Dave Jones, Guitar
    Tyrone Crabb, Bass
    Bruce Thompson, Ernest Bostic, Drums
    Recorded December 1970 in Poughkeepsie, NY
    Originally released on Nation Time (CJR 1971)
  2. Astral Spirits (McPhee/10:40)
    Joe McPhee, Soprano Saxophone, Trumpet
    Mike Kull, Electric Piano
    Harold E. Smith, Percussion
    Originally released on Trinity (CJR, 1972)

Side Two

  1. I See You Baby, Shakin’ That Ass - Cato Salsa Experience & The Thing with Joe McPhee (Groove Armada/13.01)
    Joe McPhee, Vocals, Tenor Saxophone
    Cato Thomassen, Guitar, Vocals
    Mats Gustafsson, Baritone Saxophone
    Christian Engfelt, Bass, Vocals
    Bard Enerstad, Guitar, Organ
    Ingerbrigt Håker Flaten, Double Bass
    Jon Magne Riise, Paal Nilssen-Love, Drums
    Recorded March 2005, Oslo
    Originally released on Two Bands and a Legend (Smalltown Superjazz, 2007)
  2. Oleo [take 1] (Sonny Rollins/5:32)
    Joe McPhee, Pocket Cornet
    André Jaume, Alto Saxophone
    Raymond Boni, Electric Guitar
    Francois Mechali, Bass
    Recorded August 1982, Boswil, Switzerland
    Originally released on Oleo (Hat Musics, 1983)
  3. Body Sound (McPhee/Nilssen-Love/4:33)
    Joe McPhee, Tenor Saxophone
    Paal Nilssen-Love, Drums
    Recorded August 2007, Oslo
    Originally released on Tomorrow Came Today (Smalltown Superjazz, 2007)

LP mastered by Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio.
Side Two, tracks 1 and 3 courtesy of Smalltown Superjazz, with profuse thanks.
Thanks also to Mats Gustafsson ans George Drakoulias
Compilation produced by John Corbett.
Cover image from PBS TV, New Jersey, 1972; rear photo by Ken Brunton.

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