Doug Carn: Jazz Is Dead 5

Doug Carn is one of the finest Hammond B-3 organists alive. Also known as a fine pianist among jazz aficionados, hes spent the last six years leading the post-bop West Coast Organ Band. To producers/multi-instrumentalists Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Carn is a primary influence, the creative mind behind four seminal spiritual jazz-funk albums made for Black Jazz during the 1970s, including the oft-sampled Infant Eyes and Adams Apple. He is a perfect subject for the fifth Jazz Is Dead project. Recorded on vintage gear at L.A.s Linear Labs Studio, these analog recordings meld grooves from jazz, soul, funk, hip-hop, Afro-Latin, and Brazilian styles in startling new ways. Carn plays organ exclusively on ten of these eleven collectively written cuts. Muhammad and Younge, in addition to co-composing and producing, play electric bass and Rhodes piano respectively. The house band also includes drummer Malachi Morehead, alto saxophonist Shai Golan, and trumpeter Zach Ramacier. Dimensions emerges with a glimmering, reverbed Rhodes and softly swelling B-3 in a circular, chromatic progression. The band responds with tight, butt-shaking, interlocking grooves. The scalar progression remains but is dominated by Moreheads slamming beats, Carns meaty organ fills, and Muhammads aggressive, rubbery bass line; combined, they provide the master key for the jazz-funk lock. The horn/bass/drum vamp on Autumn Leaves (not the jazz standard) is slightly angular. Introduced by Morehead, his beats preface a compelling dialogue between Carn and Younge. Processions offers another climb up the chromatic ladder. Initially led by the horns, they eventually give way to a slow-burning solo from Carn as Younge and Muhammad support with a locked-in vamp. Ramaciers trumpet solo is rich and expressive. The melody on the single Desert Rain is modal and breezy. Shimmering Rhodes and warm horns hover above the rhythm sections syncopated, in-the-pocket hip-hop breaks and accents. Into this seductive swirl floats Carn. He expands the harmony with bluesy, expressionist fills and a canny, understated solo. Freedom at Sunset builds out the classic soul-jazz vibe. Carn, Golan, and Ramacier deliver an economical, riff-based melodic frame, before Moreheads funky breaks rise above with skittering snare and hi-hat. Carns organ solo digs way deep into the modal blues, as the rhythm section and horns buoy him. Single Lions Walk includes a guest appearance by Carns peer Gary Bartz on alto sax. (Hes also the subject of JID006.) Their dialogue is rich, complex, and nearly symbiotic to rise above a roiling progressive funk statement from the rhythm section. Carn, Muhammad, and Morehead go full samba on Nunca um Malandro, with the leader adding Rhodes piano, mono synth, and vocoder to his organ in the mix. Its bright, fluid, celebratory, and infectiously danceable. While Doug Carn JID005 is certainly a fine entry in this series, it is also, more importantly, a clear, innovative standout among the years groove jazz entries. ~ Thom Jurek

〈Jazz Is Dead〉の巨匠コラボ第4弾はブラック・ジャズ名盤で知られるダグ・カーン。ミッドナイト・アワーが提供するビート感の強いトラック上でホーンや鍵盤が乱舞する様子は、エイドリアン・ヤングの諸作を思わせる怪しい劇画調のムードが充満している。朝靄のようなメロウ風景をオルガンが切り裂く"Down Deep"や、ゲイリー・バーツも参加したジャズ・ボッサ"Nunca Um Malandro"には往年のリスナーも聴き入るだろう。
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