It is a received wisdom that there was not much going on in jazz in the 1970s. This somewhat revisionist history first appeared in the 1980s with the advent of the 'Young Lions', with people such as Wynton Marsalis and his cohorts. While this generation of musicians’ focus on such traditional values as blues and swing was welcome, and possibly even timely, their blanket dismissal of what went on the 1970s was inaccurate and did a disservice to much great music that came out of the jazz tradition in that decade. In this post I’m going to revisit music of the 1970s, and highlight seven fantastic recordings performances that are really worth checking out, and will show the richness of the music in that decade.
The 1970s was a musical
decade that was both influenced by what had happened in the 1960s via rock music
and free jazz, but also looked to the future, and set the ground work for so
much that came afterwards. The music often displayed the intensity with which both
free music and rock music were played, yet also fostered the environment in which
a distinctly European jazz dialect could emerge. In addition, many great
figures from the previous decades were still active and producing great music.
Here then are seven great pieces from the 1970s
Here then are seven great pieces from the 1970s
In choosing the music I’ve
been conscious not to breach copyright. I’ve used material from YouTube from
albums long out of print, or/and from Spotify. I still think Spotify sucks but
since ECM gave up their entire catalogue to Spotify I’ve decided to give up the
struggle!
1. Shakti
While what are known as ‘world music’
projects are very common these days, in the early 70s they were rare, and often
not very good. The great guitarist John McLaughlin however put together one of
the earliest, and by far one of the best bands in this genre in the mid 70s.
Shakti was a band heavily influenced by Carnatic music but also used techniques
from the jazz world. Highly virtuosic, Shakti’s incorporation of the various
elements into a very convincing whole created some spectacular music which set
the standard for these kinds of collaborations, and remains one of the benchmarks of how to work with Indian music if you’re a jazz musician. One of the
reasons these projects often fail is because of the lack of in-depth knowledge by the jazz musicians of the music that they are incorporating into the genre. McLaughlin
however did an in-depth study of the Veena and really understood both Indian
ragas and rhythmic constructs. Because of this, he could interact seamlessly
with the percussionists and the other musicians in the band. Here is a
blistering performance of joy from the Montreux festival in 1976.
2. Joanne Brackeen
Brackeen cut her teeth back
in the 60s with Art Blakey, and making a name for herself in the very
male dominated world of 60s jazz. She was also well known for stints in the
bands of stellar players such as Stan Getz and Joe Henderson. In the mid-70s
she began releasing her own albums as a leader and I first became aware of her
from the duo album ‘New True Illusion’, with the great bassist Clint Houston. She
is a very powerful player with definite influences from both McCoy Tyner and
Chick Corea, but with a looseness and a way of unleashing great bursts of notes
that’s all her own. She’s also a very interesting composer, writing pieces that
were more involved and developed than those of a lot of her peers at the time. Here’s a
typically personable Brackeen tune, ‘Off Glimpse’, from the album ’Keyed In’
with Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette , (one of my favourite bass and drum
teams). After the very characterful melody we get a typical Brackeen burn!
3. John Abercrombie
The 1970s produced a rich
crop of great guitarists. John Scofield, Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin, (though
he was active in the late 60s too), Ralph Towner, and John Abercrombie. In a
way the 70s was the decade where the guitar came into its own as a major jazz instrument.
Of course there had been great guitarists before - Wes, George Benson, Jim Hall, Grant Green,
and the father of it all, Charlie Christian – but in the 70s - post-Hendrix and
the rock revolution - the guitar took centre stage ,and the result was much great
music.
John Abercrombie was a
singular voice on the guitar, influenced by both rock and jazz, he could really
burn with the best of them, but also had a crafty improvisational approach to
everything he played, redolent at times of a very electric Jim Hall. His first
album ‘Timeless’, with Jan Hammer, and Jack DeJohnette, (on his first ECM
album), became an instant classic, due in no small part to the extraordinary
opening track ‘Lungs’ which leaps out of the speakers at you. It’s completely
no prisoners music – organ trio, yes, but not as we know it!
(You’ll have to go to Spotify
for the complete track – or, even better, buy the album!)
4. McCoy Tyner
Of course McCoy is a product
of the 60s and produced so much great music then, both under his own name and
of course with Trane. But there’s something about his 70s music that is just
extraordinary. All of the qualities he had in the 60s are there, the incredibly
swinging right hand, the restless left hand, the rhythmic drive, the unique
harmonic approach etc. But in the 70s he added something else to that – massive
power. He was always a powerful pianist of course, he had to be playing with
Trane. But in the 70s it was if he had, musically speaking, bulked up even
further, and achieves a relentless physical power that has perhaps never been
equalled, not even perhaps by Cecil Taylor in his pomp.
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He also started to compose
very simple pieces based off modal vamps, and then expanding on that by sheer
power and drive. The complexity of his playing at this point, the torrent of
notes and never ending harmonic movement, is unprecedented both in his own
playing, or in anyone else’s. Here’s ‘Ebony Queen’ from 1972 which is a classic
example of his music at this period. With a powerhouse quartet of Sonny Fortune,
the mysterious bassist Calvin Hill, and Alphonse Mouzon on drums, they take
McCoy’s simple theme and deliver nine minutes of raw power, rhythmic drive and sophisticated
musical science. The piano solo on this is a wonder of the musical world.
5. Enrico Rava
One of the major developments
in the music in the 70s was the maturation of European jazz and its development
of a separate identity (or identities). Europe had always had fine players, but
they were usually closely based on the American model. In the 1970s there was a
divergence of approach by many European musicians and the music more reflected
a European aesthetic, with less swing rhythms, and much less echoes of the blues.
The rise of the ECM and ENJA labels did a lot to promote this other approach,
and gave a home to many European heavyweights such as Jan Garbarek and Bobo
Stenson, not to mention Jarrett’s ‘European Quartet.’
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At this point there was a
preponderance of Scandinavian musicians represented on ECM, but not all were
northerners and the great Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava made many fine
recordings for the label. Rava, despite his obvious admiration for Miles, is
very much his own man, with a genius for making the most out of very simple
material. His composition ‘Tribe’, from the album ‘The Plot’ from 1976 ,is a
classic example of this. He takes a simple, almost banal 16 bar melody, and,
with the aid of his very creative cohorts John Abercrombie, and the legendary
bass and drum team of Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen, slowly works it up
to an intense maelstrom via collective improvisation, rather than through a
series of solos. This is a classic piece of European jazz, and its slow burning
brilliance still shines more than 40 years later
(You’ll have to go to Spotify for the complete track – or, even better, buy the album!)
6. Woody Shaw
Shaw of course emerged in the
60s playing and serving his apprenticeship, from a very young age, with some of the
legends of the music. He was a very individual trumpet player from the very
beginning but really came into his own in the 1970s with a series of
outstanding albums under his own name and the perfecting of his unique approach
to the trumpet and to music.
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Woody Shaw was an
extraordinary trumpeter with a rich, burnished, full sound, and a very unusual
intervallic approach on the instrument. Lots of 4ths and wide
intervals, which are very difficult to play accurately and affectively on the
instrument, made him stand out among his peers. When you add to that a complete
immersion in the jazz tradition, and tremendous physical strength and
intensity, (more echoes of the 60s…), you are confronted with one of the
greatest soloists in jazz in the modern era. He was at his best in live
performance, (I had a life changing experience seeing him at the Vanguard in the
early 80s), and ‘Stepping Stones’ from 1978 is one of the best recorded
examples of Shaw in full flight. Here’s ‘In A Capricornian Way’ a Shaw original
in which all the trademarks are on display – the burnished sound with vibrato
at the end of phrases, the brilliant outside/inside harmonic approach, and
blistering intensity. Truly one of the greats.
7. Kenny Wheeler
A very different trumpeter to
Shaw, (and indeed Rava), Kenny Wheeler is nevertheless a musician who also came
into his full maturity in the 1970s. Active in the 1960s, and becoming known as
a big band writer and composer of lyrical and somewhat poignant tunes, as well
as a very individual soloist, Wheeler’s sound and harmonic approach matched
perfectly the way he wrote. Canadian, but in the UK since the 1950s, Wheeler
was very well known on the UK jazz scene, and in certain parts of the European
free scene. But the announcement to the world of the arrival a major new
trumpet and compositional voice came via his first ECM album ‘Gnu High’ in 1976.
The stellar quartet of
Wheeler, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette was completed by Keith Jarrett, in his
last ever appearance on a recording as a sideman. The importance of Jarrett’s
presence on this recording can’t be overstated, he brings all of his improvisational,
technical, and harmonic brilliance to bear on Wheeler’s beautiful compositions,
and when listening to this recording it’s difficult to believe that the one and
only time they played together as a group was on this recording. Kenny told me
that Keith was a reluctant participant in the session initially, and didn’t
really look at the music before the recording. So what you’re hearing is him basically
sight reading the music. This is extraordinary given how much Jarrett contributes
to the greatness of this recording, plays brilliantly with the others, and negotiates
Wheeler’s challenging pieces with ease. Here’s a great example, ‘Smatter’, with its classic descending ¾ tag
which traps lesser players into a rhythmic and harmonic straightjacket. Not
here. A Desert Island Disc.
(You’ll have to go to Spotify for the complete track – or, even better, buy the album!)
This just a tiny sample of
the huge amount, and wide variety of wonderful music which came out in the
1970s. I could have easily tripled the examples here, there is so much stuff –
Billy Harper, Weather Report, Joe
Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Headhunters, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Charles Tolliver,
Bob Degen, John Surman, and on and on…. Ignore the naysayers, creatively, the
70s were great for jazz – check it out.
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