First thought, hey Miles' On the Corner, maybe with some of the rougher edges sanded off by Weather Report. But that doesn't quite get it after a traveling through a few times. Steve Reid drummed behind a lot of people and I hear a lot of people in this.
Martha and the Vandellas as a high schooler and there is a funky Motown hum underneath, with Ornette (jammed when the two worked at Macey's), Fela Kuti, '70s and '80s Freddie Hubbard, Jacke McLean, Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp and even Horace Silver wrapped around it. These are just impressions. The band does a great job of incorporatng it all into set pieces that range from Afro-beat (Lions of Juda) to free jazz in a Coltrane's Ascension or Pharoah Sanders' Karma mode (Sixth House). I like Les Walker on electric piano and organ, Joe Rigby on saxes and the two bass array (acoustic and electric, note how the former bowed colors Free Spirits-Unknown). Ahmed Abdullah on trumpet doesn't so much stand out as round out the sound but does a fine job of it.
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