Customer Reviews

Juju Street Songs

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Unless a jazz freak collector like me, you probably know Gary Bartz from Miles Davis' Live-Evil. Bartz was in what I consider one of Davis' best units in 1971. He replace the lightening fast Steve Grossman with a more spare but more gutsy sound.

Bartz recorded a good deal both before and after working with the Dark Magus, and this is one of the better pieces. This is a mix of funk grooves and African influenced pieces.

Nothing on this album stands out, but that is a good thing. This is far from smooth jazz, but if you like that even varnished, Fender Rhodes 1970s sound that loops and groves infinitely in the background, this is for you.

Not that the playing is not outstanding, it is, especially when Bartz strolls along with his soprano sax playing. He can achieve a good deal of speed, but this is not what he is after. He likes more to carve big statements from a few notes, and rest comfortably in the groove, working with economic musicality.

The music itself works in the same way. This is not about climaxes, or even to a big degree dynamics. It is more about hypnotic movement within smoothly played frameworks: that 1970s jazz that was in the background, until you really heard it; then it was quickly front and center.

I don't have a huge chuck of Bartz's work but I have been highly impressed with what I have luckily found so far and with albums like this, I will be getting a good deal more of his archive.