In 1972, two years after the release of
Robin Kenyatta's seminal
Girl from Martinique outing for ECM, he signed to Atlantic and released another seminal bit of classy jazz-funk.
Gypsy Man, produced by
Michael Cuscuna, has a who's-who lineup of players who would be synonymous with the newly emerging subgenre of jazz: drummer
Billy Cobham (still a member of the
Mahavishnu Orchestra at the time), percussionist
Ralph MacDonald, session drummer
Rick Marotta, guitarists
Keith Loving and
David Spinozza, pianist
Larry Willis on Fender Rhodes, bassist
Stanley Clarke (who released his own classic debut
Children of Forever the same year and played on two of
Norman Connors now legendary dates from the period, Dance of Magic and Dark of Light), and more. The music here is polished, but complex and deeply emotive. The opener is a very compelling reading of
Gato Barbieri's title theme to "Last Tango in Paris," complete with sighed backing vocals, "Shaft"-style choppy wah-wah guitars, strings, and
Kenyatta blowing a slightly edgy alto saxophone with great breaks by
Cobham. The Latin percussion in "Another Freight Train" sets its knotty vamp off nicely, as
Kenyatta goes right into the melody doing his best
King Curtis. It's a
Kenyatta tune that melds meat-and-potatoes blowing, fusion-style riffs, and heavy funk.
Clarke's fat, in-your-face bassline and the electric six-string's power chords in "Werewolf" prefigure
Kenyatta's killer flute break that's worthy of
Rahsaan Roland Kirk. By contrast, "Reflective Silence," with its Afro-Cuban percussion and
Kenyatta's soprano playing, offers a view of the emerging spiritual jazz from the Strata East label. The layers of percussion are
Kenyatta's only accompaniment on the cut. Despite the contemporary bent of these first four tracks,
Kenyatta tosses listeners a curve ball with his beautifully sweet reading of
Stevie Wonder's "Seems So Long," and a drenched-in-Southern soul take on
Otis Redding's "I've Got Dreams to Remember" that closes the set. On the way are a pair of fine originals in the Northern soul-flavored funk of the title track (with vocals by
Kenyatta and
Lalomie Washburn), and the South African jazz-tinged "Melodie Chinoise," no doubt influenced by the township jazz that was making its way to European and American shores in the music of
Abdullah Ibrahim (then known as
Dollar Brand), and
Hugh Masekela's less pop-oriented affairs, and even the bands of
Chris McGregor,
Johnny Dyani, and
Dudu Pakwana. In sum, of
Kenyatta's Atlantic-era recordings,
Gypsy Man stands out mightily as one of the great jazz-funk outings of the '70s; it is an all but forgotten jazz classic. ~ Thom Jurek