Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise

Detroit jazz pianist and composer Kenn Cox issued just three albums during his lifetime. There were a pair of Blue Note dates -- Introducing Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet from 1968 and Multidirection from 1970. After he co-founded the Strata Corporation, a Detroit based collective that ran a record label, an art gallery, and a performance space, he issued Location with CJQ, the first of six albums the label released. Thanks to DJ Amir, the Strata story didnt end there. His 180 Proof Records via BBE began re-releasing catalog titles such as the Lyman Woodard Organizations Saturday Night Special. During the process, he discovered unreleased masters for 30 titles. Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise is an unreleased 1974 studio album by Cox with a host of Detroit luminaries including the CJQs Charles Moore (who played flugelhorn, co-produced, and engineered these sessions), guitarists Ron English and Skeets Curry, saxophonist Buzzy Jones, and drummers Vic Reeves and Ron Johnsons. These tapes were painstakingly remastered from original analog sources. Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise is markedly different from Coxs CJQ outings; it contains no hard bop or modal music. This is a journey into smooth Latin and Brazilian grooves injected with funky Motown soul-jazz. The opening title cut weds the Arps ocean sound effects to simmering Latin percussion and a grooving keyboard vamp to airy wordless backing vocals from Ursula Walker, Englishs sultry bassline, and a biting guitar break from Curry. It sounds like Mandrill jamming with Stanley Turrentine and Santana. Coxs Rhodes solo slithers across the mix with a spacy sheen. "Samba de Romance" juxtaposes the Mellotrons chamber string capabilities and Englishs 12-string acoustic guitar amid lithe, breezy percussion and a glorious Rhodes solo from Cox, setting contemporary soul inside the frame of Brazilian jazz. "Island Song" marries Latin and Caribbean jazz to South African township jive and hip Detroit funk. Jones reedy soprano solo winds around Coxs massively funky Rhodes and clavinet vamps atop a bumping bassline and bubbling percussion. "Lost My Love" is essentially Roberta Flacks "Feel Like Makin Love" with cascading strings, tinkling, bell-like Rhodes, and a warm, seductive bassline. Cox plays call-and-response with the Arps string capabilities and the Rhodes melodic ones on both ends of the melody. Englishs electric solo is the epitome of taste and economy. Set closer "Beyond the Dream" is, at more than 13 minutes, the longest track. Co-composed by Cox and Maria Kathleen Martin, its intro offers a tender vocal from Walker before morphing into a winding, funky Afro-Latin jazz groover with fantastic soloing from Moore, chanted chorus vocals, and the pianists tough yet wildly complex arpeggiated Rhodes solo atop percussive guitar strumming and an orgy of hand drums. The horns carry it out with a driving lyric theme. The sound on Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise is pristine, the performances inspired, and the music timeless. This set not only adds dimension to Coxs musical persona, it shines a light on a little-known aspect of Detroit music. ~ Thom Jurek