Lenny White: Renderers of Spirit (1996)

Drummer Lenny White doesn't explore much new territory on Renderers Of Spirit, which contains nothing that will make you forget that he played drums on the legendary Bitches Brew sessions for Miles Davis, or that, along with Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea and Al DiMeola, he helped define 1970s jazz-fusion as Return to Forever.

But even though the compositions here survey what amounts to the by-now familiar R&B meets jazz domain, White and company make the journey enough of a comfortably swinging stroll to make it worth the trip. White's sound and plump backbeat on drums in "Ho-Cake" sound straight outta hip-hop (that is, before they dissolve in a limpid pool of what's now called "smooth jazz"), and bassist Victor Bailey bounces off the walls in his own title, "Pick Pocket."

Renderers includes contributions from fellow Miles alumni Foley and Bennie Maupin, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, and Michael Brecker (In fact, "Countdown 2000" would not sound out of place on Davis' album Tutu). It closes with a challenging jazz-funk mind-meld of Jackie McLean's "Dr. Jackyle" wih Sly Stone's "Africa Talks To You," and also includes covers (with vocals) of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" (which nominally works) and of Christopher Cross' "Sailing" (which absolutely does not).

Tracklist:

01 - Whew! What A Dream
02 - Ho-Cake
03 - Walk On By
04 - Pick Pocket
05 - Savant
06 - Sailing
07 - The Abyss
08 - SwingTime
09 - Beggin'
10 - Countdown: 2000
11 - Dr. Jackle/Africa Talks To You

Personnel:

Geri Allen - Piano
Victor Bailey - Bass, Arranger
Don Blackman - Organ, Synthesizer, Keyboards, Fender Rhodes
Michael Brecker - Saxophone
Randy Brecker - Trumpet
Jerry Brooks - Bass
Dean Brown - Guitar
Stanley Clarke - Tenor, Bass Solo
Jon Dryden - Synthesizer, Arranger
George Duke - Moog Synthesizer
Vince Evans - Synthesizer, Piano, Arranger, Keyboards, Fender Rhodes
Foley - Lead Bass
Javon Jackson - Sax (Tenor)
Dechown Jenkens - Guitar
Mark Johnson - Guitar, Vocals
Darryl Jones - Bass
Mark Ledford - Guitar, Trumpet, Arranger, Vocals
Kim Lesley - Vocals (bckgr)
Pete Levin - Synthesizer, Arranger, Keyboards, Programming, Orchestration
Bennie Maupin - Clarinet (Bass), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)
Jean McClain - Vocals (bckgr)
Audrey Northington - Vocals
Nicki Richards - Arranger, Vocals
Patrice Rushen - Synthesizer, Piano, Keyboards
Michael "Patches" Stewart - Trumpet
Danny Walsh - Saxophone
Lenny White - Organ, Arranger, Cymbals, Drums, Keyboards, Programming, Producer
Bernard Wright - Synthesizer, Piano, Keyboards, Moog Synthesizer
Pookie Zari - Synthesizer

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The Bennie Maupin Quartet: Early Reflections (2008)

The veteran Detroit-born multi-reedman Bennie Maupin has been criminally under-recorded as a leader with just five previous albums under his own name in the last 35 years. But Maupin, whose sinewy bass clarinet solos helped define Miles Davis' landmark fusion album, "Bitches Brew," and who spent most of the '70s riding shotgun with Herbie Hancock, appears to have found a champion in Cryptogramophone, a boutique label based in Los Angeles.

"Early Reflections" is a follow-up to the excellent "Penumbra" from 2006. Maupin is joined by a core quartet of Polish musicians with whom he has developed a rewarding affinity through frequent European sojourns. Based on a collectivist spirit, the music rejects standard melody-solos-melody structures for a brushstroke flow of color, textures, dialogue and modal improvisation. Short, sketch-like compositions give way to more expansive floats of lyricism.

Maupin's circular tenor patterns on "Within Reach" wander languidly through Michal Tokaj's gentle chordal landscapes, bassist Michal Baranski and drummer Lukasz Zyta twitching alongside. Much of the music whispers, and whether Maupin is playing tenor or soprano saxophone, bass clarinet or alto flute, his playing is defined by patience. Even when things heat up, as on "The Jewel and the Lotus," Maupin's best-known composition, arranged here as a swirling, Coltrane-like waltz over an infectious vamp, Maupin's soprano retains a wailing poise. --Detroit Free Press

Tracklist:
1. Within Reach
2. Escondido
3. Inside the Shadows
4. ATMA
5. Ours Again
6. The Jewel in the Lotus
7. Black Ice
8. Tears
9. Not Later Than Now
10. Early Reflections
11. Inner Sky
12. Prophet’s Motifs
13. Spirits of the Tatras
Personnel:
Bennie Maupin - bass clarinet, tenor & soprano saxophones, alto flute
Michal Tokaj - piano
Michal Baranski - bass
Lukasz Zyta - drums, percussion
Hania Chowaniec-Rybka - voice (4, 13)
Early Reflections
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Herbie Hancock: Secrets (1976)

Having long since established his funk credentials, Herbie Hancock continues the direction of Head Hunters and its U.S. successors here, welding himself to the groove on electric keyboards while Bennie Maupin again shines sardonic beams of light on a variety of reeds. In "Doin' It," the most successful track, Hancock makes a more overt bid for the dancefloor, for the tune is basically one long irresistible groove with a very commercial-sounding bridge.

Again Hancock chooses to recompose one of his standards; "Cantelope [sic] Island" is almost unrecognizable converted into a sauntering, swaggering thing. A streamlining process has set in -- the drumming has been simplified, some of the old high-voltage drive has been muted -- yet there are still enough enjoyable, intelligently musical things happening here to hold a Hancock admirer's attention.

Tracklist:
1. Doin' It
2. People Music
3. Cantaloupe Island
4. Spider
5. Gentle Thoughts
6. Swamp Rat
7. Sansho Shima
Secrets
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Herbie Hancock: Thrust (1974)

The follow-up to the breakthrough Headhunters album was virtually as good as its wildly successful predecessor: an earthy, funky, yet often harmonically and rhythmically sophisticated tour de force. There is only one change in the Headhunters lineup -- swapping drummer Harvey Mason for Mike Clark -- and the switch results in grooves that are even more complex. Hancock continues to reach into the rapidly changing high-tech world for new sounds, most notably the metallic sheen of the then-new ARP string synthesizer which was already becoming a staple item on pop and jazz-rock records.

Again, there are only four long tracks, three of which ("Palm Grease," "Actual Proof," "Spank-A-Lee") concentrate on the funk, with plenty of Hancock's wah-wah clavinet, synthesizer textures and effects, and electric piano ruminations that still venture beyond the outer limits of post-bop. The change-of-pace is one of Hancock's loveliest electric pieces, "Butterfly," a match for any tune he's written before or since, with shimmering synth textures and Bennie Maupin soaring on soprano (Hancock would re-record it 20 years later on Dis Is Da Drum, but this is the one to hear). This supertight jazz-funk quintet album still sounds invigorating a quarter of a century later.

Tracklist:
01. Palm Grease
02. Actual Proof
03. Butterfly
04. Spank-A-Lee
Thrust
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