Mother Africa

Description

Under the Palm Records label, Jef Gilson's imprint, no fewer than four records were released by the American horn player: Us, Mother Africa, Exactement, and Funny Funky Rib Crib. A few months after the recording of Us, Mother Africa is the result of his collaboration with Clint Jackson III on two compositions by the trumpeter and Jef Gilson. On March 8, 1974, Lancaster and Jackson led a lineup that also included Jean-François Catoire (double bass and electric bass), Keno Speller (percussions), and Jonathan Dickinson (drums). The partnership quickly made an impression: from the very first seconds of "We The Blessed," it develops a free jazz that soon sheds its virulence under the effect of outbursts steeped in blues and soul. When "Mother Africa," Jef Gilson's composition, begins, the listener feels transported to the studio: the musicians settle in, drop two long notes, converse, joke... And then it's time for the melody: about ten notes of a theme that will be repeated, accelerated, distorted at will... The jazz played by the Byard Lancaster / Clint Jackson III partnership is rare: creative AND recreational. "We the blessed," to be able to hear it again today!