Recorded and released after a two-year stint in Europe,
Until marks alto saxophonist
Robin Kenyatta's American debut as a leader, after sideman tenures with
Sonny Stitt,
Bill Dixon, and
Archie Shepp. For anyone (of the few) who followed the rather obscure reedman's career, this set -- originally released on the Atlantic jazz subsidiary Vortex and produced by
Joel Dorn -- is indicative of the restless nature of
Kenyatta's career on his own records: he was not only interested in, but attempted to play, the entire range of jazz. For starters, there are three different units scattered across the album. The opener, "Until," written by
Barry Miles, is a tender, straight-ahead ballad that showcases
Kenyatta's alto accompanied by pianist
Fred Simmons, bassist
Walter Booker, and drummer
Horace Arnold. The lyricism
Kenyatta possesses here is celebratory; it's a near perfect union of technical mastery and soulfulness. "This Year," written by trumpeter Mike Lawrence, is an adventurous piece informed by the vanguard lyricism of
Ornette Coleman and
Don Cherry, as it meets the swinging hard bop tradition. It is performed by a pianoless quartet that includes Lawrence. A quintet with
Simmons performs the closing "Little Blue Devil," a
Kenyatta original that swings harder and stays closer to the hard bop vest. The strangest number here, and one that completely locates
Kenyatta in the exploratory nature of the era, is his own "You Know How We Do," recorded by a pianoless septet with
Roswell Rudd on trombone, percussionist
Archie Lee, and second bassist
Lewis Worrell. The stark, gospel-style head (also deeply influenced by
Coleman), where it exists at all, is supplanted by the dual bass fury and a solidly rhythmic attack -- even the solo phrasings on the brass and saxophone underscore this. While
Until may have been a tad schizophrenic for the time period as jazz was choosing sides along with everything else in the culture, it sounds timeless and even contemporary in the 21st century, making for a wonderful starting point for anyone interested in pursuing the mercurial nature of
Kenyatta's music. This date was finally issued on CD in 2008 by Wounded Bird Records, marking the first time his material had been made available in the digital age. ~ Thom Jurek