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Bob Moses recorded his debut album, Love Animal, in
1967-68 at the age of 19. But he never released it, he
tells us in his informative and often amusing liner
notes, "for reasons I don't remember." After all these
years, the master drummer/percussionist has decided
to unveil his earliest work as a leader on Amulet
Records, which is run by Moses' disciple and kindred
spirit Billy Martin (aka "illy B"). And so Love Animal
takes its place alongside Moses' avant garde epic
Bittersuite in the Ozone as part of Amulet's Mozown
Series, named for a label that Moses launched decades
ago. (The Mozown Series also includes Moses'
collaborations with Tisziji Muņoz [ Love Everlasting ]
and Billy Martin [ Drummingbirds ].)
Love Animal is a fun but jarring study in contrasts,
from out jazz to full-bore psychedelic rock and blues
to solo percussion to standards. We hear a young
Keith Jarrett, still in his Charles Lloyd period, playing
beautifully on "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," guided by
the hearty tenor sax of Jim Pepper. On "The Worms
Crawl In Blues," the track immediately preceding the
jazz ballad, we hear Larry Coryell cranked to eleven,
wailing like a hybrid of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page
(and also weighing in with a throaty rock vocal). Steve
Swallow plays acoustic and electric bass, except on
"Rock Fantasy," a Coryell/Moses duet featuring the
former on bass as well as overdubbed guitars.
The album begins with "Wholy Moses," a gritty
piece of abstraction that arrives at a hard, medium
swing tempo toward the end. Jarrett plays soprano sax
on this track and on Michael Gibbs' rubato sketch
"Nowhere," presaging the multi-instrumentalism he
would soon explore with his American quartet. Moses
drums alone, and astoundingly well, on the
three-and-a-half-minute "Ntumba's Raindance," lays down the
groove on the aptly titled "Slum Funk," and winds
down with the corkscrew unison lines and out-swing
of "Dancing Bears."
For the personnel alone, Love Animal is a
fascinating piece of modern jazz history. While some
tracks stand up better than others, the album captures
a very particular pre-fusion moment and helps to fill
out our understanding of the music's evolution.
This review originally appeared in
All About Jazz-New York.
~ David Adler
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Track Listing: 1. Wholy Moses (Moses) - 4:12
2. The Worms Crawl in Blues (Coryell) - 6:58
3. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Harbach/Kern) - 6:51
4. Ntumba's Raindance (Moses) - 3:35
5. Rock Fantasy (Coryell/Moses) - 6:56
6. Nowhere (Gibbs) - 3:32
7. Slum Funk (Moses) - 4:34
8. Dancing Bears (Moses) - 4:06
Personnel: Larry Coryell - bass, guitar, vocals;
Keith Jarrett - electric piano;
Bob Moses - drums;
Jim Pepper - tenor sax;
Steve Swallow - electric and acoustic bass.
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