Vibes from the Tribe

In Detroit, 1971, trombonist Phil Ranelin and saxophonist Wendell Harrison started a band, a recording company, and a magazine, and called them the Tribe. Though the three organizations lasted until 1978, Ranelin's Vibes From the Tribe, issued in 1976, was the last of eight records issued by Tribe/Time Is Now Productions. P-Vine Records in Japan has issued a handsomely packaged one CD compilation of material selected from the label (there's a facsimile of the magazine included in the box), but Vibes From the Tribe is the first of the label's actual recordings to be issued in full, with added bonus tracks courtesy of Ranelin and the Hefty label. Tortoise boss John McEntire has restored the master tapes to their former glory, and added some touches to the unreleased material, with full approval from Ranelin, which give the music a contemporary feel. Musically, this is not only a solid portrait of Detroit's jazz scene in the mid-'70s, but is also a definitive portrait of its cultural mentality. While everyone in the nation had written off the city as a wasteland, a space devoid of anything worth celebrating, its residents were in the process of creating some of the most vital jazz, literature, and art in its history. Vibes From the Tribe is a wildly diverse collection of tunes to be on a single long-player. Ranelin and his friends -- among them tenor saxophonist and flutist Wendell Harrison, pianist Harold McKinney, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, bassist Ralph Armstrong, percussionists Bud Spangler and Barbara Huby, and drummer George Davidson -- offered a portrait of the city through the jazz traditions that influenced it in the previous 20 years. Deep, hard jazz fusion and funk can be heard in the two versions of the title track (one of them an unreleased eight-track version) and "Sounds From the Village." While both echo the influence of Miles' groundbreaking electric band, the identities of these tracks are firmly rooted in a local musical history that includes Teddy Wilson, Donald Byrd, Yusef Lateef, the Funk Brothers rhythm section at Motown, John Lee Hooker, and George Clinton. There is also the more accessible side of Detroit jazz, represented here in "Wife" and "For the Children," which features plaintive but wondrously expressive vocals by Ranelin. Each tune swings with a beauty and airiness that were missing from the jazz of the day -- think of a way more soulful Ben Sidran and you'll get the picture.