Larry Willis

Here is trio jazz from a veteran pianist, one of the best in America. With Bob Cranshaw on bass and Kenny Washington on drums - a great rhythm section!
Once identified with on-the-edge free music, keyboardist Larry Willis had a profitable flirtation with fusion in the '70s, then moved to hard bop in the '80s and '90s. Willis' playing has been frenetic, ambitious, and interesting, but during his jazz-rock and fusion days it was funky but greatly restrained and simplistic. A devotee of Herbie Hancock, Willis has found a good balance, with expertly constructed modal solos and also lyrical, relaxed statements.

Long a greatly in-demand sideman, pianist Larry Willis excels during this opportunity to lead his own trio. With superb support from bassist Buster Williams and the tasteful drummer Al Foster, Willis explores a variety of standards, obscurities, and a pair of his originals. The interpretations are lyrical, quietly emotional, harmonically sophisticated, and full of subtle surprises. This is the type of jazz recording that grows in interest with each listen, for there is a great deal happening just beneath the surface.

Inner Crisis by Larry Willis is one of the very finest examples of electric jazz-funk from the mid-'70s. With sidemen who included guitarist Roland Prince, drummer Al Foster, tenor saxophonist Harold Vick, and trombonist Dave Bargeron, as well as bassists Eddie Gomez (acoustic) and Roderick Gaskin (electric), Willis assembled a session that was long on composition and tight on the big groove. Willis' long front lines accentuated deep soul and blues' cadences that were hallmarks of music that walked the line between tough lean groove and the pulsating rhythm of disco without losing its jazz roots to sterile fusion tropes, thanks in large part to his willingness as a pianist to play as part of an ensemble rather than as a soloist…

Only bad luck and the follies of the record industry have prevented Larry Davis from being the well-known blues star he should be. Davis has never received either sustained label support or concentrated marketing and thus is only a footnote when he should be a full chapter. His playing is energetic and varied, while his vocals are animated, soulful, and expressive. He recorded the nine tracks on this '85 date (newly reissued on CD by Evidence) with longtime blues and soul producer and instrumentalist Oliver Sain at the controls, and Davis demonstrated his convincing appeal on Sain's title track, as well as the defiant "I'm A Rolling Stone" (another Sain original), Davis' own anguished "Giving Up On Love," and "Please Don't Go," a Chuck Willis composition.

Following in the well-trod footsteps of Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, and Wynton Marsalis, among others, Roy Hargrove has his day with strings, purveying moody, lovelorn ballads at glacial tempos. At first, one's hopes are raised that this could turn out to be one of the best attempts in this field. The leadoff track "You Go to My Head" is gorgeous; Hargrove plays soulfully and inwardly, and pianist Larry Willis's arrangement is emotionally satisfying without being cloying. However, the disc continues on and on in this fashion, one tune seeming to blend into another, one arrangement sounding like the next (besides Willis, who contributes five charts, Gil Goldstein does three others, and Cedar Walton chips in two).

Altoist Jackie McLean has recorded so many fine albums throughout his career, particularly in the '60s for Blue Note, that Mosaic could have reissued his complete output without any loss of quality. This four-CD limited-edition box set contains six complete LPs worth of material plus one "new" alternate take…

In patching together a program of Hugh Masekela's MGM recordings onto a single overstuffed CD, Verve took the original The Americanization of Ooga Booga album, leapfrogged over its successor, Next Album, and coupled it with the third MGM LP, The Lasting Impressions of Hugh Masekela. That made good sense since the two albums originate from the same live date at the Village Gate, recorded when the trumpeter was still in the process of making an impression in the U.S. Masekela is full of wild, sputtering, high-rolling exuberance, developing some of his familiar signature trumpet riffs, freely exploring South African rhythms, harmonic sequences, and chants, and mixing them with soul-jazz at a time when hardly anyone else would bother (the mixture of township jive and jazz works especially well on "U-Dwi").