Search - Michael Gregory Jackson, Oliver Lake :: Karmonic Suite

Worth it! every penny!

Grant Johnson | MAPLEWOOD, MN United States | 11/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The other review contains a mistake: the duets are with Oliver Lake. But -- my advice is to buy every Michael Gregory Jackson cd or lp you can get your hands on. I think there are only five: "Clarity", "Karmonic Suite", "Gifts", "Heart and Center", and "Cowboys, Cartoons and Cotton Candy". In addition he plays on two Oliver Lake records that I know of "Life Dance Of Is" and "Shine". Uhhhhh, how do I vote for the release of Arista's

back catalog on cd?"

Missing pieces, peaceful missa !

Peppino | 02/01/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"From the ashes of the Wynton Marsalis neo-classical Reagan era jazz resurrection to the current day, jazz has suffered another injustice.
Much creative sounds remain unavaliable, while cd after cd of newly annointed jazz mediocrity keep a furious bombardment as the corporate musics world wants to sell "safe" Post Reagan era Republican jazz, by and large!
(OF course, there are many "diamonds in the dung",you must look and listen, I do not mean to generalize that it is all substandard musics, and that the musicians are not "competant"). I tell you like this, even as interesting cd reissues appear daily it seems ,(and are quite welcome, this classic musics of years past),it is curious that a major oversight has occurred!
With few exceptions,the great catalogues of the "Strata East", "Black Jazz", "Arista Freedom", "Arista Novus", and "A & M Horizon", etc. labels of the mid / late 70s decade are still not avaliable, more or less, except as expensive collectible LP discs or an occasional licensed re release. (One exception is the great "Evidence" label, dedicated largly to the sounds of Sun Ra, por ejemplo.)A real shame, but always hope never too far away!
As for "MGJ", he was part of the New York loft scene/avant-guarde "underground, and contemporary of musicians as *Arthur Blythe, Jerome Harris, Pheroeen Ak Laff, Jay Hoggard*, etc etc...Most of these artistas maintained some "presence" in later years, but MGJ disappeared to the woodwork! (A last gasp as a more "fotogenic" *Michael Gregory" incarnation lead to nowhere for him, and the real horror, his Arista Novus recording "Gifts" was not released cd format as I understand, and the LP version all but disappeared!
I only hope when England or Japan labels "rediscover" that recording eventually, it will receive at least a bit of recognition it deserves, it is a wonderful recording. This cd represents "MGJ" in solo performance,(electric and acustic guitar,and marimba), and in a couple nice duets with Arthur Blythe .The recording demonstrates MGJ's quase-unique harmonic concepts, a touch of his single line solo concept, and in that meditative tradition many jazzmen step into in their musical searching.it is not a great cd, and really I review it to call attention to "Gifts", his delicious ensemble recording or "Clarity", also with grupo and one of the last ESP Disc releases! As for "Karmonic Suite", it really is nice for the MGJ enthusiast (Are ther any besides myself, hehehehe??),it is an open window to the musical concepts of this underappreciated musician, and a pensive meditation for the uninitiated.The "neo classicists" keep evoking the glory years of Art Blakey-inspired sounds as their inspiration to almost the exclusion of the avant explorations that followed,
but jazzmusics( or as the late Lester Bowie classified "Great Black Musics" ) is a multi- faceted diamond.3 stars , with the rocket ship headed further into the musics galaxies to rediscover more MGJ musics.."