Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Harold Land - Choma (Burn)

Harold Land is one of my favorite tenor sax players, and really one of my favorite musicians, period. You may know him from his fiery hard bop recordings with legendary trumpeter Clifford Brown, or from one of the wonderful bop albums he released under his own leadership in the 50s. But this is Harold Land 70s style-- intense, free, and funky!

He's joined on this recording by a good sized group: Bobby Hutcherson on vibes & marimba, Bill Henderson and Harold Land, Jr. on piano & electric piano (yes, both playing at the same time), Woody Theus and Ndugu on drums (both drummers play simultaneously also), and Reggie Johnson on bass. This group creates a real wall of sound with many different tonal colors. The title track "Choma (Burn)," features Land on flute, and it opens with a mysterious rubato theme before Reggie Johnson's sinewy bass introduces a sinister ostinato figure. Once the drummers come in, the groove is pretty open and nebulous-- even more so as each soloist pushes the group further out. Ndugu and Theus push and pull the time, building to incredible intensity and then reining it back in. "Our Home" is a solid, soulful 70s groove tune written by pianist Bill Henderson (all the other tunes are written by Land). "Black Caucus" is my personal favorite-- it's an all-out jam in B flat with a simple, bluesy head, similar in nature to Eddie Harris' "Freedom Jazz Dance." The dense rhythmic interplay of Ndugu and Woody Theus again provides a muscular foundation for majestic solos from Land, Hutcherson, and the pianists. The final track, "Up and Down" is Trane-like in its harmonic structure and is the most straight-ahead jazz track on the album.

This album hasn't received nearly the attention of much of Harold Land's other work (perhaps due to the fact that it was released on Mainstream Records, a fairly small label even in its day), but in my mind it's a must-have. In fact, it may be my favorite album of his. Sadly, it's out of print, but should be easy to find on ebay.

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