Jazz Pyramid

Cannonball Adderley - Pyramid (1974) {Fantasy OJCCD-952-2 rel 1997}
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© 1974, 1997 Fantasy Records | OJCCD-952-2
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Hard Bop / Jazz Funk / Saxophone

Cannonball Adderley is in generally good form on this 1974 recording. His Quintet at the time featured cornetist Nat Adderley, keyboardist Hal Galper, bassist Walter Booker and drummer Roy McCurdy. Guests on some selections include guitarist Phil Upchurch, keyboardist George Duke and (on "Bess, Oh Where's My Bess") veteran pianist Jimmy Jones. The emphasis is on recent group originals including the three part "Suite Cannon," two Galper compositions and Cannonball's "Pyramid." Nothing too earthshattering occurs but this is an improvement over many of Adderley's Capitol recordings.

Its hard to think of another jazz musician, outside of George Benson, who has released as many high level pop jazz recordings as Ramsey Lewis. Ramsey is probably one of the top pianists of the modern jazz era, but he has always been more of a crowd pleaser than an adventurer, but that doesn’t mean his playing is light weight at all. “Ivory Pyramid”, released in 1992, is typical of Lewis’ repertoire with masterful renditions of tunes he wrote plus a few covers.

Jaga Jazzist return with their new album Pyramid, where the legendary Norwegian eight-piece takes a deep dive into post-rock, jazz and psychedelia influences. It’s their first album since 2015’s Starfire, their ninth album in a career now spanning four decades, but it marks the group’s debut on Brainfeeder, the LA-based imprint curated by Flying Lotus. On Pyramid, Jaga Jazzist have crafted a suitably cosmic sound to match their new label home, all the while nodding to forebears spanning from 80s jazz band Out To Lunch and Norwegian synth guru Ståle Storløkken, to contemporaries Tame Impala, Todd Terje and Jon Hopkins. Each of the album’s four longform entries evolves over carefully plotted movements, the tracks’ technicolour threads dreamily unspooling.