JazzWax

John Klemmer: Waterfalls

Like the Fender Rhodes electric piano, the Echoplex transports me back to the 1970s. First marketed in 1961, the unit allowed notes played on instruments to echo with a ripple effect. The Echoplex is prehistoric technology by today's digital standards. But back in the 1970s, when the unit became popular during jazz's electric fusion era, the Echoplex captured notes on a short built-in tape loop and played them back with a short delay. The tape's adjustable speed governed the echo effect. [Photo above of John Klemmer courtesy of John Klemmer]

The first jazz musician to record with the Echoplex was guitarist Sonny Sharrock on Willie Nelson, a composition left off of Miles Davis's Jack Johnson album in February 1970. But the musician who put the device on the map was tenor saxophonist John Klemmer, who used it initially on Eruptions (August 1970) and then to much greater effect in June 1972 on his Waterfalls album, recorded live at the Ash Grove on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

In the early days of psychedelic fusion, the Echoplex allowed the jazz-rock guitar and other instruments with an electric pick-up to create the audio "trails"—simulating the colorful streaks and vibrations that people on LSD saw and felt while observing movement. 

In the years that followed, other musicians toyed with the Echoplex. Tom Lord's Jazz Discography shows that the unit was used as recently as 2011. But with the success of Waterfalls (Impulse) in 1972, Klemmer pioneered the Echoplex's reach into electric jazz, giving fusion a San Francisco haze.

I completely forgot about Waterfalls until I was conversing with a source yesterday about the Echoplex. His mention of the device triggered thoughts of Klemmer and his Prelude I and Prelude II tracks on the album. Prelude was the preamble to Waterfall, a spectacular composition of smooth, cascading improvisation. Klemmer's reverberating saxophone lines were trippy, the musical equivalent of an oar dipping into a still lake. The two tracks all but launched the smooth jazz movement. [Photo above of John Klemmer courtesy of John Klemmer]

Re-listening to the album yesterday after so many years, the music reminded me of a vast number of jazz musicians whose albums characterized the fusion movement of the '70s and deserve a re-listen. The list includes Gato Barbieri, Airto, Flora Purim, Grover Washington Jr., Billy Cobham, Grover, George Duke, Joe Farrell, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, John Scofield, Roy Ayers and many others. The music rekindles a electric energy that wasn't always successful as jazz but was omnipresent on early FM radio with rock. As they say, you had to be there.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find John Klemmer's Waterfalls (Impulse) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Prelude I...

And here's Waterfall I, which followed on the album. Dig the fluidity of Klemmer's saxophone runs...

Jimmy Halperin: Cycle Logical

By my count, there are five major jazz tenor-saxophone schools. A school is defined as a particular approach or way of improvising that's so distinct and exceptional other saxophonists adopt it. On my list of tenor saxophonists whose styles became schools are Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Warne Marsh, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane. Nearly all other tenor players fall into one of these five schools. Marsh's approach is thought of as vertical—meaning he typically charted an improvisational course though a song's chords rather than its melody line. His tone was dry—meaning he avoided vibrato, and he favored the high end of the saxophone's register. What's more, he avoided the blues and stock note patterns known as licks, choosing instead to pioneer a sound by embracing pianist Lennie Tristano's cooler chromatic method of improvisation. [Photo above of Jimmy Halperin]

Though Marsh's unique style wasn't nearly as popular with tenor saxophonists as the other schools listed above, he inspired many contemporary players, including Mark Turner, Ted Brown and Jimmy Halperin. The latter began his recording career in 1986 recording with the Warne Marsh Quintet. In 2001, he recorded Cycle Logical, backed by bassist Don Messina and drummer Bill Chattin, both of whom were students of the Lennie Tristano approach. [Photo above of Don Messina]

Recorded live by Cadence Jazz at the Arts Guild of Rahway, N.J. in 2001, Cycle Logical features the trio working through smart originals, a standard (Everything Happens to Me) and Lee Konitz's Subconcious-Lee and Tristano's 317 East 32nd Street. Halperin's Marsh-flavored ideas flow like satin ribbon being pulled off a spool. Don's bass sails along with firm lines, providing Halperin with competitive support, matching him idea for idea. Meanwhile Chattin lays down a misty spray of figures played on the snare, cymbals and hi-hat. The result is cool bliss.

If you dig Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh, you'll be blown away by the music created by Jimmy Halperin, Don Messina and Bill Chattin on this album and others. Listening to them and other Marshians, it's gratifying to know that his school still has relevance and is being recorded. [Photo above of Warne Marsh]

JazzWax tracks: Cycle Logical is a rare album, but it can be found here and at eBay and Discog.com.

JazzWax clips: Here's Don Messina's The Dean's List...

The Dean's List

And here's Everything Happens to Me...

Everything Happens to Me

Soho Scene '64 and '65

London of the mid-1960s is often imagined as a city of older derby-wearing and umbrella-carrying gents and glove-wearing and pocketbook-toting women. Mixed in are young people in colorful paisley shirts, bold-striped pants, pink sunglasses, Chelsea boots, mini skirts and white lipstick. Forgotten in this cultural square-off between Savile Row and King's Road was a mod jazz scene crowded with talented artists blowing pure heat. While jazz's popularity was loosing ground in the U.S. during this period in the 1960s as rock and soul surged, London's mainstream jazz scene was churning with talent and power in both small groups and big bands. [Photo above of Ronnie Scott in 1965]

Out now is yet another brilliant entry in the spectacular U.K. "Jazz Goes Mod" series is Soho Scene '64 and '65 (Rhythm & Blues). The four-CD set of 78 tracks features a wide range of British jazzers on two discs with U.S. artists from the same period on the other two. I love this series. Since every track is different, dynamic and tasty, you can listen straight through without ever looking up. British jazz artists and arrangers could cook with cool hipness and polish. And it wasn't just one or two players. Dozens of bands were first rate and featured tiger soloists. Unfortunately, many jazz fans haven't been fully exposed to the vast vault of talent in London during these years.

This set will help bring you up to speed. It includes tracks by Johnny Burch, Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Harold McNair, Ernest Ranglin (I had no idea he went back this far!), Dave Lee, Ken Jones, David Mack, John Dankworth, Peter Compton, John Stevens, Pete King and many, many more. The drummers in these groups are particularly furious and nutcracker sharp. [Photo above of Harold McNair]

By contrast, the U.S. sides from 1964 and '65 are funky and off the beaten path. Included are Clare Fischer's Way Down East, the Jimmy Wilkins Orchestra's Snatchin' It Back, Junior Mance's Running Upstairs, Merle Saunders' Five More, Jimmy Smith's Theme From Bewitched, Groove Holmes's Soul Message and more. One jazz-soul sleeper after the next, making for a wonderful juxtaposition between jazz evolution in London and the U.S. during the exact same two-year period.

What's also fascinating are the cultural influences. In the States, the rising popularity of funk, soul, R&B and television are rubbing off on jazz approaches. In London, there is no pop-rock or soul airing on the government-owned BBC radio nor is there the same level of youth-geared television. Jazz evolved there differently along sophisticated, brassy lines, with recordings similar in feel to the sassy style of British sports cars and fashion. Where American big-band jazz trailed off in the early 1960s as bands led by Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones and Maynard Ferguson ran out of commercial gas, Britain continued to develop the genre further and with gusto. It's all here on this new set and series. Grab your Lambrettas!

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jazz Goes Mod—Soho Scene 1964-65  (Rhythm & Blues) here.

Soho Scene 1959-'60 and be found here, Soho Scene '61 can be found here, Soho Scene '62 can be found here, and Soho Scene '63 can be found here. The albums also come in the vinyl LP format.

JazzWax notes: To view other Rhythm & Blues titles, go here.

To view the Jazz Archive from 1960s London Clubs, go here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Directions In Jazz, featuring Johnny Scott, playing Night Talk in 1964...

Night Talk

Here's Ernest Ranglin's Wranglin' in 1964...

Wranglin'

And here's Ronnie Scott playing The Night Has a 1,000 Eyes in 1965...

The Night Has A 1000 Eyes