Music Monday: Cecil McBee, Abdul Wadud, and John Coates

The semester feels like it’s finding its legs even as I anticipate a fairly rough week ahead. This meant that I had a bit more time this weekend to enjoy some music.

It started with a random Facebook post that recommended Cecil McBee’s debut album Mutima which turns 50 years old this year. This got me thinking of all the wonderful, but terminally underrated 1970s jazz albums that we’ll have a chance to celebrate in 2024. Mutima has not seen a re-release other than a limited edition vinyl only release in 2018 and is not available on the major streaming services (from what I can gather) despite the renewed interest in Strata-East recordings these days.

McBee’s ensemble is really solid and drew from a cross section of the scene, including the likes of “loft jazz” player Alan Braufman on alto, George Adams from Mingus’s 1970s band on tenor, and on one track Dee Dee Bridgewater, who would have been singing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra at the time.   

Fortunately, it is available on The YouTubes (from a 1995 CD release in Japan):

The opening solo bass track from Mutima reminded me of another 1970s obscurity, Abdul Wadud’s By Myself. It’s solo, jazz cello and it’s amazing. In fact, I posted about it a couple of years ago (here).

It is amazing and well worth the $20:

Finally, I witnessed a little social media dust up between fans of Keith Jarrett and an individual who claimed that Jarrett stole his signature sound from a rather more obscure piano player called John Coates Jr. As it turns out, it wasn’t just Jarrett, but also Bill Evans who ventured to the Deer Head Inn in the Poconos to hear (or, in Jarrett’s case, sit in with) John Coates. Even a casual listen demonstrates that Jarrett and Evans certainly share some common traits with Coates. More than that Coates produced some lovely music (even if it was a bit unremarkable, at least on the recordings I managed to hear). 

Here’s a selection of John Coates Jr. recordings from his time with the Omnichord label: