Free Slave
Cecil McBee's funky bassline sounds the first telling notes on this reissue of Roy Brooks's best-ever LP. Hugh Lawson's jaunty piano eggs on McBee, deeply in the groove. Brooks is next into the mix, spraying a light patter of percussion then stomping on the beat as Woody Shaw's trumpet and George Coleman's tenor duke it out. In the background, a very lucky audience hoots in anticipation--exhorting Brooks to "Do your thang, man!" Brooks and Co. don't need much encouragement. OnFree Slave, their "thang" is a rousing combination of everywhere-at-once playing: funky rhythms and hard bop all underscored with a chilly blue current of jazz hipsterism. An absolutely ripping reissue of a 1970 classic.--Steve Duda