avant garde with the JCOA), and so I regret that he has so often proven dull for me. Perhaps he lacks the chop s (but I doubt it) or the passion. Whate ver, I cannot hone stly convince myself why I ca nnot "get into " his mu sic, and sincerely presume the fault is my own.

Otherwi se, the tunes on Spaces are most­ly improvi satory sketches or mood pieces (Gloria 's Step by Scott La Faro , R ene's Tl,eme by Rene Th oma s, the other s by Larry or Julie Coryell ), all especi ally graced by the rhythmic constanc y of Cob­ham and Vit ous, with the latt er contribut­ing several lyrical solo and lead moment s. Unfortunately , the ensembl es generally tend toward monot ony as both McLaugh­lin and Coryell become consistently !icky (all those bubbly finger runs) and appear more as if alwllys fee ling ea ch other out rather than ur ging each other forward; but again , the listening involvem ent is sadly lost trying to grasp the somehow retarded o r at least sta tic mu sical propulsion.

And so I can hear this album and I can enjoy the tasty sounds throughout, but dynamic electric mu sic it is not, and once more I mu st despair of my inability to con­clude preci sely where Larry C oryell hits .

-Bourn e

CREEDEN CE CLEARWATER REVIVAL

COSMO ' S FACTORY-Fantasy 8402: Rambl e Tambl e· Be/ore Y ou Auuse i\le; Travelin ' Band ; Ooby 'Dooby; Looki11' 0111 i\1y Back D oor; Run Thr ough The Ju11gle; Up Around The Bmd; My Bab)' Left M t ; Who ' ll St op The Rain ; I Htard II Thr ough The Grapevine ; Long As I Can Set Th t Light.

Personnel: John Fogerty . lead guitar, lead vo• ca ts; Tom Fogerty , rhythm guitar; Stu Cook, eleClric bass; Doug Clifford, drums.

Rating: * * * * PENDULUM-Fantasy 8410: Pagan Baby; Sail­

or's lAmtnt: Cha111e/eo11; Hav t Y ou E,,.,,r Seen Tht Rain; Hideaway ; Born T o Mo ve; Hey T o• nighli ll 's Just A Th ought ; M olina; Rude Au·a1u11i11g #2.

Personnel: Same as above , except John Fogerty also plays organ, piano and saxophones .

Racing: *** Cosmds Factory sounds just like the

previou s four CCR albums. It's terrifi c : its rewards are the sati sfactions of returning to a meaningful and worthwhile ritual amid the empty ritual s other bands re­create out of despe ration or fisca l am­bition.

Some returns to earlier form: Ramble and Grapevine are long cuts with plenty guitar space, like Susie Q. The latter is out of sight - soul cum misterioso. Fo­gerty' s vocal hits the falsetto phra ses right on, every time. His second guitar sp ot be­gins with some incredibly beaut iful warp ­ing, and climaxe s with a relentless, sym­metrical chord series that keep screaming to be broken off into single -line runs. No way. Fogerty keeps sticking them damn understated chords to you till you'd like to bust.

That's the really fine thin g about CCR' s first five sessions , incid e ntally. You can run through the jungle as mu ch as you want without finding a s ingle moment when the integrity of the material is sac­rificed to melodrama, histrionics, or ego. Control, logic, and - abo ve all- natural ­ness.

You 'll also dig Tra1•c/i11' Band (a re -

24 0 DOWN BEAT

working of Good Golly Miss Molly with a soup1;on of Jaillw use Ro ck) , Ra in, which is effective medium-tempo melancholia , parts of Ramble (thou gh for my taste it' s maybe a minute or so too long) , and Back Door, in which Fogerty dem onstrat es that he 's the only vocali st since Budd y Holly who can get away with singing, "Oh , boy" con vincingl y.

However. It seem s a tim e of sea rching for many band s, and CCR is looking for new material and , as their recent pub­licit y extravaganza demonstrate s, a wider audience, or more critical approval, or something .

Con sequentl y, the newe st album t ries to be experimental, but isn't . (A wakening is an instrumental featuring mostly organ: lots of distortion and free playing , speeded­up ver sion s of My Countr y 'Tis of Thee. It's very boring.) It tries for a new sound , with Fogerty multi-tracked on saxes and organ and guitar, but suc ceeds only in adding eminently predictable backup sound s to recognizab le CCR material. Fogerty's ego seems finally to have broken loo se from the group ethos; he's trying so hard to prove something that he appears to have forgotten that the music is where it is.

A s a concom itant, for the first time, there isn't one track that makes a new and joyful noise. Oh, Rain will sell a trillion, just like their last 79 singles, and most of the songs are nice. But when one remem­bers Susie Q, I Put A Spell 011 You, Proud Mary, Bom On The Bayou , Bad Moon Rising, Lodi, Fortunate Son, Don't Look Now, among others, Pendulum is pretty pale .

Some good times. After a first sect ion in a very dull straight four, Pagan opens up rhythmically and Fogerty begin s to cut loose on guitar. Mo1•e is the best tune on the album , employing varying tempos and Fogerty's only interest ing organ work­which, howe ver , is heavily indebted to early -middle Ray Charles . (You want to really hear cliches? Dig on his rock 'n' roll tenor garbage on Molina, another Litt le Richard spinoff-roughly Tutti Frutti at a slower tempo.) The second best cut is Thought, a minor melody that manage s to be both pretty and vaguely troubling (same effect as Lodi, though the song s are dis­similar). As for Rain, seems like another group did a very analogous tune a while back. I think it was called Who'll Stop The Rain.

Well , talent wilJ out , as a rule . Unle ss ego gets in the way. Ask Big Broth er, or Ele ctric Flag , or McC artney. One hopes Fo gert y wo n' t finally deserve inclu sion in the long list suggested by the name s above.

- Heineman

EARL HINES A MONDAY DATE : 1928-Mil estone MLP

2012: A Monday Date; Chicago High Life; St ou•­away; Chimes In Bluts ; Dtar Old Southl and; M otherless Child; Panther Rag; Just T oo Soon; Blues In Third ,; OD Tim e Bluts ; 1rabt l; For T/1t Last Time Call M t Swttlhearl ; Congaint .

Personnel: Hines. piano (all tracks); on tra cks 5, 6, 11, 12, add Lois Deppe. vocals; tra ck 13: Deppe 's Screnaders: unknown personn el includi ng Vance Di xo n. saxoph one.

Rating : * * * * *

QUINTES SENTIAL RECORDING SESSION -

Halcy on 101: i\ly Monday Dat e; Ou y· Just T oo Soon: Chimtr In Blu tr• rh·""• II/• Life: Blutr In Thirds; St owawayf i-.,:r;1o 1ft

Personnel: Hine s. piano. t , ~l Rating: * * * * * ·

The neatly simultaneou s reis• c of lii fabeled 1928 solo piano per forma nce llt release of his 1970 reinve stig<1,ion sf an

O same materi al offers a uni que rers ~ on one of the greatest pia nists in ja:cti

The 1928 solos rank with .. ie g · achievements of that rich dec,d~ 10rea1c1 with the four solo s recorded fo1 ci'lht later th at year. The eight ru,\ ued ui:: were made for the QRS lab el and rec. 1

only very limited distributi on at first ;:~ were subsequently reissued on 8 by ~ and on 10" LP by Atlanti c-i n both c wilh better sound qualit y th an the ~: stone). ·

Hines , then not quite 23, w15 the fl i~p ortant pianist to b~eak with the r ~ time and Harlem stnde Ira , •tions :!, establi sh a new langua ge for iazz pialXl He _based his style ~n the linear pla>~ of Jazz horns, due m part k his cart training on trumpet, his youthful admifi. Lion for trumpeter Joe Sm ith , and his , :, counter, in 1926, and subsequ , '11 playillt experience with Louis A rmstro n~. Fitting. ly, Hugues Panassie labeled it "trumpet. style piano."

However, Hines had alre ady mastel?\1 the earlier styles, and utili zed eiements of them to fashion his new app 1ach. Hit sparkling technique , ear for unusual bar. monies, and uncanny mastery of time, combined with a rich music al ir1aginati011 and highly developed sense of cont111t and drama made his imp act on the instro• ment's future role in jazz dec isi· ,

Forty-two years later, these revolution­ary solos still sound fre sh and , ital, and are often startling in their rh ytlimic fret• dom and sudden flights of fancy. How they must have struck the trad it.on-bound ears of his contemporaries is t1:fficult t~ ima gine!

Perh aps the mo st beautiful o f the pieces (all Hines ori ginals, some of thr m based on standard patterns) is Blues 111 Third!, with its lovely melody and rcux ed, re· flecti ve mood. Monday Dale, a perform· an ce charged with vitalit y, and Pantht1 Rag, an near surrealisti c rom~ through Tiger Rag procedures, are al so standoull. and none of the other six is far behind-­the high level of inspiration is , ustaincd th roughout.

Reinv estigating these youth ful acbie\C· ments 42 years later, Hines b ring to thclll a lifetime of musical experi ence and 1

pair of hands even nimbler at 64 than 11

23. Though he consistently has s1 rounded nd; him self at e ver y opportunity with ba

big and small , with vocali sts. and with !b( trappings of showman ship so dea. to h~ Hin es is and was at his great est when

1 works with just a piano and bis 0~

boundles s imagination. . , Thus we must be grateful to Mart~

McPart land , who produced the date, , \ comin g up with thi s brilliant ile a ;;: realizing it. There can be no doubt ; Hine s enjo yed the task hugely- among past many solo albums he has cut in the ·tt, seven yea rs , none seems as charged

(Ii;· WI

enthusiasm and spirit. , The album abounds with sta ggc 1ng ti!'

plays of virtuosity. At times, indeed,

·

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music threatens to overflow boundaries of form and development and spill ove r into unrestrained excess, but whenever this is about to happen, Hines pulls in the reins and returns to the structure of the piece, only to take off again.

Since the 1928 solos were restricted to the 3 minutes-plus limit of 78 recording, they have more consistent formal structure. In that sense, and that sense only, they are superior, each seems to stand as the last word on its theme.

The contemporary versions, on the other hand, though not as well thought out or rounded off, enable the pianist to stretch his powers to . the limit-and they are awe­some powers. If, at times, there are laps es of taste ( the introduction of a superficial riff here, of a run for run's sake there) where the older versions were unblem­ished, the many moments of brilliance and true inspiration · more than make up for this, and there is the added spice of free­dom to do as he pleases.

Essentially, Hines has remained him­self . The most striking change is the much greater independence of the left hand. There are also things here and there that Hines has picked up from others-a Tatum run , a locked-hands pasage, a Bud Powell lick, a Garnerism. But all are synthesized into pure Hines, with that remarkable touch and dynamic range that no other hands can duplicate.

The Milestone album contains an added bonus in Hines' very first recorded per­formances. dating from 1923. Exceedingly rare ( and dubbed from originals in less than mint condition) they offer a fascinat­ing glimpse of a 17-year-old on the thresh­old of genius.

Four are vocal accompaniments, and Lois Deppe' s singing, while showing a good voice, is mainly of historic intere st ( the rolling r's, articulated consonants and "proper" pronounciation are strictly on the 19th century salon tradition). But Hines' solo flashes are delightful, showing how well he had mastered the essentials of the Eubie Blake -Lucky Rob erts-James P. Johnson schoo l (one of Johnson 's fa­vorite licks shows up several times).

The band side, Congaine, is rhythmically spirited but corny (the saxophone work is quaint indeed), but when Hines comes in for his solo chorus, the scene changes.

Not since Louis Armstrong's 1957 re­makes of past landmarks has a jazz musi­cian produced such start ling evidence in support of the too often overlooked fact that this music is not a neat series of his­torical progressions but a creative con­tinuum. The music Earl Hines ha s here­yester day and today-is music for the ages . -Morgenstern

CHARLES LLOYD CHARLES LLOYD IN THE SOVIET UNION

-Atlantic SD 1571 : Days and Nights Waiting; Swett Georgia Brighi ; Love Song lo a Baby ; Tribal Danc e.

Personnel: Llo yd, tenor saxophone. flute; K eith Jarrett; piano ; Ron McClure, bass; Ja ck OeJohn­ette, drums.

Rating: * * * * ½ This album was taped during the 1967

Tallinn International Jazz Festival in Estonia. This was the 14th year of the festival, but the first time Americans were

invited to perform . (That's what the line. One of the tl notes say!) classic jazz ( ale

Make no mistake, this is an excelk and Benny Carter album. I'm sure that people who buy jl!: 1967-some 18 album s, and especially those whose ea. was recorded. Ur lean slightly toward free music, will ,; ready an ill man preciate this one. All of the performr title is a misnorr involved play brilliantly. All of the mi musician past his dies are distinctive although Tribal Da Nevertheless , it sounds very much like something J~ a labor of Jove b; Coltrane wrote. DeJ ohnette's accompa: the years has prodi meat is right on the button, almost · on records) has fl peccable. He sets a good fire underll( day, for it has hi both Lloyd and Jarrett. well worth hearing.

Jarrett has become a consistently 1c The supporting c; fying pianist. He has a marvelous ~­ but also consists nique and one can feel the confidenci heard on record t1 has in his qwn musicianship if one !is:. ~uarnieri are supei to his touch. He hits every note preci, ists and soloists· and that takes a great knowledge of fu:, work is good to he; ing in combination wilh one's head. K boss timekeeper. A sometimes plays too many sequential llt.­ good as ever. Due tc positions and imitative motifs which mi of his instrument, G him sound like Bill Evan s. His wort not be to every lis Sweet Georgia Bright is one of the Ill blends very well wit class ic things you'll ever hear. He n while his solo work through so many periods and, at one JI. plays horn-like li nes does a fascinating neo-stride. Along , ful. ' only a handful of other pianists, he Tasteful, in fact tinues to offset my balance which, to· relaxed, easy-swin ;i~ is a mark of creativity . His Days ~haracteristically slasl Nights Waiting is by far the best me mg, he compensate s line here. phrasing, and it is int

My criticism of Lloyd has always

~­

be conserves his strer that he sounds like so many other pe,: untypically) under- st; If you listen to this record from st;; what climaxes he can finish, you will hear mostly John Col He is in somewhat but also Coleman Hawkins , Sonny R B side (tracks 4-7), a and (for the first time for me) nal blues, Friday an, Shorter. But where in the hell is Ch. approximates his healt Lloyd? Not that the tradition in jw The choice of materi learning from one's peers and predw. touches are uniformly has not been positive. But hangin1 recording balance and being with, talking to, and even s • among the best I've evi like, should lead to being. Lloyd illl Harry Lim will have n arrived at being yet, and it's too bi: soon. Lord know s that cause he is an exceptional musician. use a man of his tai that is not a dichotomy!) today.

In a recent conversation I had Clifford Thorton, he related

BRJ familiar'.

bis ex in playing with Sun Ra: How Sun Rl always telling him to "unlearn, u and "don't play anything ROCK a tremendous discipline that mu;t and also a tremendous challenge. (A BY MIKE BOURNE album, Llody make s attempts at

'IRE MAIN DILEMMA in free but he's too committed to tk column is knowing hov. of fifths. His attempts sound coo

There seems to be an overwhelmin; To knock in detail albur Jilely be heard much an} to hold on to the familiar, to tbO!e

which feel comfortable. Freedomlao. .less, but then every artis

·

c wretched, deserves hi s d hard thing to reach, but one you ge•

critical service may you're there, and that's it! d otherwise, any rock Bassist McClure is more than air.

This is by far the best thing makes the stars bit only fair records to' heard from Lloyd.

tus by comparison t

W

gs. But whatever thi! --IL_L_I_E_S_M_IT_H _______ 1ncls, herewith some qui cl ____________ _____ th_ a few select nods to

THE BEST OF WlLLIE SMITH-G.\

. nt rock dat es.

scendo GNPS 2055: Up1own Bluts: r, (Deram DES 18035 Fashioned: Idaho: I Rem embtr Yo•;~ Friday; Who Can I Tum To; Wil/it's _que aspects of Egg is

Personnel: Smith, alto saxophone (aD _ch the three musician s Bill Perkins, tenor saxophone (track! l•l my Gumina , accordion (tracks 4-~ ity of their instrumen Rowles (tracks 1·3 ) or Johnny Guami<: 0 , org~n, and tone gea Irving Ashby, guitar (tracks 4-7); ~bt (tracks 1-3) or Paul Ruhland, bass; SJ., wart; his effects are ni drums. expertly expres sed. Or

Rating : * * * ½ tly amusing Symphon.

26 D DOWN BEAT