John Klemmer is a badass (a psych Jazz thread)

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

i know there's been some slagging of him on other threads, but i pulled out "Blowin' Gold" and "Waterfalls" last night and i'm totally fucking in love with those two albums. there's all sorts of crazy delay and weird effects on his sax and the songs range from fuzzed out rock to funk (been sampled plenty of times). i (luckily) haven't heard his later albums which i'm sure are smooth crap, but in the late 60s and early 70s, Klemmer kicked some major ass.

anyways, please talk about your favorite pscyh-jazz artists and records

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

because of Vahid, i picked up Joe Henderson Ft Alice Coltrane "The Elements" and it's got all sorts of delay effects, but i bought it when i wasn't really into jazz and it's just been sitting on the shelf

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been digging In The Public Interest by Mike Gibbs & Gary Burton lately. Dreamy like a warm acid bath. don't know if it is on cd though.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I was also blown away by how groovy Paul Winter's Icarus album is. And I'm someone who never went out of their way to buy Paul Winter albums. But hey, the stars were aligned, smoke was in the air, it was 1972, george martin was producing and it makes me feel really stoned. One of the best 50 cent surprises at the thrift store last year.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Stark Reality - The BEST funk, jazz, soul, psychedelic, rockish, kids album EVER!!!

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

eh eh demon fuzz eh eh

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Robin Kenyatta - The Girlf From Martinique

― mucho, Wednesday, 12 January 2005 20:42 (twenty-one years ago)

i was looking up Mike Gibbs and was reminded of Carla Bley's "Escalator Over the Hill"

― JaXoN (JasonD), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Ornette Coleman - Science Fiction !!!

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 13 January 2005 00:21 (twenty-one years ago)

also,
John McLaughlin - Devotion
Tony Williams Lifetime - Emergency!
Ornette Coleman - Body Meta
Any 70s Herbie Hancock & Miles of course

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 13 January 2005 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Anybody heard Cry? It's a solo record from 1978, I passed it up at my local today for $2. Wonder if I should go back. I've never heard anything from Klemmer.

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 23 January 2006 01:41 (twenty years ago)

Impulse never shoulda changed this LP cover when they expanded it:
http://www.universal-music.co.jp/jazz/best200/dsc/UCCU-5193.jpg

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 23 January 2006 02:52 (twenty years ago)

And, of course, this thread is instructive:

John Coltrane on acid

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 23 January 2006 03:03 (twenty years ago)

Anybody heard Cry? It's a solo record from 1978, I passed it up at my local today for $2. Wonder if I should go back. I've never heard anything from Klemmer.

i wouldn't do it. sounds wicked scary

― jaxon (jaxon), Monday, 23 January 2006 05:40 (twenty years ago)

John Klemmer is absolutely crankin' on All the Children Cried and Eruptions (his last for Cadet--a jazz label put out by Chess). Both have liberal doses of Klemmer's echoplexed tenor. His first on Impulse is hard to find--it features vocals by Mrni Nixon, who is singing completely outside her type: she is mostly knnown as the voice for actresses who cannot carry a tune in a bucket. That's right, when you think some 50's or 60's era actress is singing, often it is Marni Nixon. But the overall concept is the same as Waterfalls; electric jazz band playing otherworldly funk with ethereal female vox floating somewhere above the mix. Overall, I favor the Mike Nock, Victor Feldman driven Waterfalls, but Connstant Throb is right up there. Each lp after Waterfalls sees Klemmer slouching towared Tesh-ville. The Intensity still has some Coltrane inspired blowing, but also includes some Rod McUen insipid poetic drivel. After that--and through Arabesque, Klemmer is hooked on smoove jazz, but I'll say this for him (especially on Arabesque): he plays the most energetic and tasty smooth jazz one is likely to hear. A full cut above the Boney James sort of pap.

Still reading? here are some psychedelic outings not likely mentioned elsewhere:

Steve Marcus: Count's Rock Band. This has Coryell and Mike Nock. Marcus plays sax and (iirc) a few other instruments.

Jack Bruce: Things We Like. Bruce plays standup bass on this one, slapping hard to keep up with the horn of fellow GBO alumni Dick Heckstall-Smith (occasionally pulling out his two-horn Rahsaan homage) and Jon Hiseman on drums.

Lary Coryell: Spaces. Features Miroslav Vitous (Weather Report pre-Jaco) and John McLaughlin. A beautiful rendition of Gloria's Step. Recorded in 1969 while Vitous was probably still with Cannonball Adderley and McLaughlin was with Miles.

Larry Young: Lawrence of Newark. Trust me. Mind-blowing.People have taken acid to come down from Lawrence of Newark. If you can't find it under Larry Young, check Khalid Yasin.

Herbie Hancock from Mwandishi through Headhunters--if you're adventurous start with Fat Albert Rotunda. Sextant is about the most stutteringly trippy outing other than the above Larry-Newark.

Breaking out of his usual fonk-blues-jazz, Les McCann put out two very out-there recordings that stand the test of time: Invitation to Openness and Layers. You'll thank me later.

― J Arthur Rank (Quin Tillian), Monday, 23 January 2006 06:52 (twenty years ago)

i wouldn't do it. sounds wicked scary

$2 is lunch, brah.

― mcd (mcd), Monday, 23 January 2006 14:44 (twenty years ago)

This thread makes me wonder: Aside from Miles Davis and his disciples, what other "jazz" musicians have made recordings (psych or not) that are really dependent on studio technology? Not just tape-editing but also panning and phasing and overdubbing, all those things that purists would presumably frown upon?

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:42 (twenty years ago)

"Supersilent". not sure if they're "jazz", but they use a shit ton of "post-processing"

― jaxon (jaxon), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:44 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

wowzers. just picked up Klemmer's 74's Fresh Feathers and it's pretty amazing. just a really nice post-hard-bop funky album. he plays a ton through his usual echoplex, but he also plays through a moog type keyboard and it just sounds outta this world. a lot like Annette Peacock singing through it.

― BROSAMA (jaxon), Friday, 21 April 2006 01:40 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

lol just got Blowin Gold. figures jaxon was 5 years ahead of me

― the first circus ringleader in space (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 23 April 2010 21:12 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

I think this thread should be bumped, just for more recs.

― ███★★★███ (PappaWheelie V), Friday, 21 October 2011 13:40 (fourteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.