The Jazz Is Dead project curated by producer/multi-instrumentalists
Ali Shaheed Muhammad and
Adrian Younge operates with a particular m.o. The duo enlist a revered jazz musician whose work and influence have reached past the genre. They surround him with players -- including themselves -- and the same vintage equipment used on their storied catalog dates to create new music. Alto giant and composer
Gary Bartz checks all the boxes. In addition to early stints with jazz masters
Miles Davis and
McCoy Tyner,
Bartz cut a series of groundbreaking albums under his own name and with his
N.T.U. Troop between 1969 and 1980. To varying degrees, they wed spiritual and post-bop jazz to funk, soul, gospel, disco, and the blues. Many of those recordings have been heavily sampled by hip-hop and EDM producers.
The setup employed here includes drummer Greg Paul (
Kamaal Williams), the producers on a variety of instruments, and a four-voice backing chorus --
Bartz regularly used vocals on his
N.T.U. Troop and funky dates for Capitol. These eight tunes, composed by everyone but
Bartz, register a scant 27 minutes, but the quality of the content more than compensates. Opener "Spiritual Ideation" is introduced by a harpsichord and a funky snare shuffle. A gently bumping bassline welcomes
Bartz's alto. He enters on the modal melody, and immediately begins to embellish, append, and expand it. The backing singers wordlessly create an ethereal dimension. It recalls work
Bartz did with producers
Larry and
Fonce Mizell on 1975's underrated
The Shadow Do! On "Visions of Love," amid a wrangling bassline, elliptical keyboards, and soulful singing,
Bartz and Paul (whose phone should never stop ringing after this date) engage and propel one another to ecstatic heights. "Blue Jungles" is offered as nocturnal soundtrack funk. Wah-wah guitars vamp across the bassline and Mellotrons and synths as
Bartz and Paul journey through the humid melody. "Day by Day" is spiritual soul-jazz that uses an elliptical Rhodes piano atop a languid bassline and a martial snare vamp to set the groove.
Bartz is its hub. He leans deeply into the melody and drives it as funky breaks and soaring chorus vocals envelop him. Paul's clattering snare and ticking rim shots initially sound looped on "Distant Mode." Add a shimmering Rhodes and bassline that engages the drum kit under
Bartz's knotty soloing, and the piece builds in tension until it explodes into a wall of passionately distorted sound behind a filthy wah-wah guitar riff. "The Message" juxtaposes electronic and soundtrack funk with modal blues. It moves toward open spaces thanks to the pulsing guitar vamps and the saxist's breathtaking upper-register solo. In 2020, just before his 80th birthday,
Bartz cut the wonderful
Night Dreamer Direct-to-Disc Sessions with Brit jazz-funk ensemble
Maisha. This collab with Paul and the Jazz Is Dead crew adds heft to that performance. Here, he is showcased not as a composer but as a soloist and groove interpreter of unparalleled creative imagination, skill, and sensitivity. ~ Thom Jurek