Kenny Barron - Lucifer (1975) [re-rip]

Totally excellent Kenny Barron album on Muse, and one of his hardest to find! There's a killer cut on here called "Hellbound" that's got Kenny playing this fantastic electric piano and moog stuff on top of overdubbed acoustic piano, which provides a rhythmic underpinning. The track is long and spacey, with an excellent modal groove that would make an excellent sample, but which also grooves beautifully on its own! Lots of other cool cuts too, all with more instrumentation, and a nice soulful funky sound. Titles include "Lucifer", "Spirits", "Firefly", and "Ethereally Yours" – and players include James Spaulding, Bill Barron, and Billy Hart. Beautiful! ~ Dusty Groove, Inc.

Kenny Barron recorded this album in 1975, at the age of 32 with the help of his brother and host of heavy jazz cats. The result is pure bliss. Not unlike his previous album "Peruvian Blue", Lucifer hands us a bit of a mixed bag as far as styles go. There are some scorching jazz-funk numbers, a spiritually tinged acoustic affair and an almost avant-garde fusion cut. Kenny even coined a term to describe his music called “Electracoustic Fusion” which is talked about in length on the back cover. Regardless of what its called, the music is surely one of the bright spots in Kenny’s career as a leader.

This album was recorded just as Barron was leaving Yusef Lateef’s band. The liner notes on the back are all about Barron’s thoughts and experiences with Fusion and electronic instruments as opposed to Bop, which was Barron’s roots having played with Dizzy Gillespie in the mid-1960s. I don’t know what the big deal was though, because his other albums from the time period all had electric instruments on them as well, but let’s focus on the actual music. The reason to check for this album is the opening Spirits, a fine piece of funky Soul-Jazz with a nice rhythm and a series of solos. Hellbound is also a good Fusion piece with a distorted bass line over which Barron plays electric and acoustic piano as well as clavinet.

Muse Records, MR 5070, 1975

Recorded 28^th April, 1975 at Bell Sound, New York City

Musicians:

Kenny Barron - Piano (#A1,A3,B1,B2,B3), Electric Piano (#A2,B1)
String Synthesizer (#A2,B1), Clavinet (#A1), Cowbell (#A1,B2)

Charles Sullivan - Trumpet (#A1,A2,B2)

James Spaulding - Bass Flute (#A2,A3), Alto Saxophone (#A1,B2)

Bill Barron - Soprano Saxophone (#A1,A2,B2)

Carlos Alomar - Guitar (#A1,B2)

Chris White - Electric Bass (#A1,A2,B1,B2)

Billy Hart - Drums (#A1,A2,B2)

Track Listing:

A1. Spirits {Kenny Barron} (8:56)

A2. Firefly {Kenny Barron} (8:45)

A3. Ethereally Yours {Kenny Barron} (5:45)

B1. Hellbound {Kenny Barron} (12:58)

B2. Lucifer {Kenny Barron} (5:32)

B3. Oleo {Sonny Rollins} (5:03)

Credits:

Producer - Michael Cuscuna

Engineer - Malcolm Addey

Mixing - Tony May

Cover - Ron Warwell