Jeremy Steig - Firefly 1977

Produced by Creed Taylor himself, Jeremy Steig's jazz-funk throwdown, Firefly, is one of the great forgotten masterpieces of the genre. Steig is a monster flutist who may lack some of Herbie Mann's subtlety, but more than makes up for it with his chops. Taylor surrounded Steig with a band that was testosterone-fueled yet knew how to get the sexy grooves. Firefly was designed for the purpose of being a hit in the dance clubs, and it should have been, because it kicks ass on that level as well as on the jazz-funk beam. Arranged and conducted by pianist Dave Matthews, the band included guitarists Eric Gale, Hiram Bullock, and John Scofield, Richard Tee on keys, drummers Steve Gadd and Allen Schwarzberg, conguera Ray Mantilla, percussionist Sue Evans, and vocalist Googie Coppola. As for the commercial edge, tracks like Dave Grusin and Earl Klugh's sublime groover "Livin Inside Your Love," features beautiful double-tracked flute solos going into the red on the funky soul edge; then there's the title track opener where Steig plays inside and out in shimmering interplay with Gary King's popping bassline. But it's on "Grasshopper," a Steig original, that this disc really soars. Overdriven chunky guitars, cutting across one another, electric Rhodes, and acoustic piano in counterpoint on two different melodies, bass bubbling like Sly Dunbar's, and orchestral horns giving Steig a punch lead line he can really mess with in his fills and solo. This is burning. AMG.

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Association P.C. and Jeremy Steig - Mama Kuku 1974

Mama Kuku is the fifth and final Association P.C. recording (they were originally known as Association Earwax for two albums, and inexplicably changed their name). Led by guitarist Toto Blanke, this German supergroup stood outside the Krautrock and psychedelic camps and played their own fiery, non-academic brand of prog rock and jazz-rock fusion. The first half of this recording was performed at the Arkandenhof in June of 1973, and the final half, "Lausanne," at the Radio Suisse Romande during the same month. The legendary Conny Planck engineered the German gig, while Jean-Claud Blanc, Raymond Bernard, and Jean-Pierre Molliet handled the latter show. The original quartet: Blanke drummer Pierre Courbois, bassist Sigi Busch, and Joachim Kühn on Fender Rhodes, were joined by the king of early fusion flute, Jeremy Steig, for both shows. Originally released in 1974 on MPS, this date is a fiery example of both the tight compositional skills that the various bandmembers possessed -- they shared writing duties -- and Kühn and Steig also collaborated, displaying the symbiotic, rambling brand of free improvisation they were capable of. The five cuts on side one begin with the knotty, rockist jazz on the title track, beginning with a lovely upright bass solo by Busch that gets wiped for memory near the two-minute mark when Blanke and the band enter in earnest and move the entire proceeding to intricate wide-ranging changes and contrapuntal improv. Busch is amazing to be able to play above all this electricity and he does so seemingly without effort. The interplay between Kühn, Blanke, who is running through the scalar theme, and Busch is outrageous and exhilarating. Finally Steig enters and makes the thing funky for the last two minutes with a killer solo, with whomping cymbal breaks by Courbois and excellent comping by Busch and Blanke. "Bold 'N" Steig," a flute and Rhodes duo is pure vanguard jazz, and is done delightfully without excess. The engagement of the two players is breathtaking. Given that the track "Dr. Hofmann" is dedicated to Albert Hofmann, the man who discovered LSD, you can already imagine what sonic skullduggery is at work here -- the cool thing is, it works. "Ecnells" is a pure prog freak-out on all counts. But it barely sets the listener up for the second half of the record: a twenty-one-and-a-half minute improvisation called "Lausanne," live on Swiss National Radio. The first half contains a bit of noodling, with instruments feeling each other out, engaging one another in small groups and building tension before Blanke takes off in a wild solo that offers proof of his uncanny abilities as an improviser. The band just loses it after this and goes into complete jazz-rock meltdown form, leaving the listener exhausted and happy. Over three decades later, this single piece remains worth the price of admission as it summed up the entire German scene to that point, and led the way forward. AMG.

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Jeremy Steig - Wayfaring Stranger 1970

Wayfaring Stranger is Jeremy Steig's one and only date for Blue Note Records as a leader. Originally issued in 1970, it was produced by Sonny Lester. Steig had been recording as a leader for a number of labels since 1963, including Columbia, Verve (on What’s New, a co-lead date with Bill Evans), and Lester’s Solid State. The lineup here includes longtime cohort and bassist Eddie Gomez, drummer Don Alias, and guitarist Sam Brown. Steig wrote or co-wrote five of the six tunes here. The title track is an expansive interpretation on John Jacob Niles' arrangement of the traditional folk tune. On it, Gomez lays out a strolling vamp, Steig goes to work building on the melody, and Brown comps and fills behind him. Alias colors the backdrop with shimmering brushwork and snare breaks. About three minutes in, Steig and Gomez both begin to take chances and funk up the melody without ever leaving it completely behind, but the group improvisation is at a premium, they move East, West, and even toward Latin inside it. Opener “In the Beginning" commences with a far-flung flute solo on which Steig displays brilliant flourishes with breath and tongue acrobatics. When the band comes it, it’s Gomez laying down proto-jazz funk on the upright and Alias breaking and popping in counter rhythm. “Mint Tea” weds together rock dynamics, soul-jazz, and hard bop vamps. The set’s final two tracks, “All Is One” and “Space,” sound like they belong on a different album, given that they are on-the-spot improvs that focus on tonal and textural investigations that sit firmly in the vanguard with deliberate use of silences as a mode to carry on very inventive conversations. They are anything but difficult to listen to, however; in fact, they’re both gorgeous and reflect how wide-ranging Steig’s (and by turn Gomez’s) vision was for the time. AMG.

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Jeremy Steig - Energy 1970

Energy is a miracle of alchemy. Jeremy Steig transforms his flute from the ethereal to the elemental, forging a heavy, deeply funky jazz-rock record that defies gravity. Paired with keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassists Gene Perla and Eddie Gomez, and drummer Don Alias, Steig creates Technicolor grooves that float like butterflies and sting like bees; his music doesn't so much fuse jazz and rock as it approaches each side from the perspective of the other, exploring their respective concepts and executions to arrive at a sound all its own. If anything, the tonal restrictions of Steig's chosen instrument push him even farther into the unknown, employing a series of acoustic and electronic innovations to expand the flute's possibilities seemingly into the infinite. AMG.

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Jeremy Steig - Fusion 1970

Fusion pairs the entirety of Jeremy Steig's landmark 1971 Capitol release Energy alongside unreleased material from the same sessions. Energy is a miracle of alchemy -- Jeremy Steig transforms his flute from the ethereal to the elemental, forging a heavy, deeply funky jazz-rock record that defies gravity. Paired with keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassists Gene Perla and Eddie Gomez, and drummer Don Alias, Steig creates Technicolor grooves that float like butterflies and sting like bees. His music doesn't so much fuse jazz and rock as it approaches each side from the perspective of the other, exploring their respective concepts and executions to arrive at a sound all its own. If anything, the tonal restrictions of Steig's chosen instrument push him even farther into the unknown, employing a series of acoustic and electronic innovations to expand the flute's possibilities seemingly into the infinite. While some of the unissued content here is no less astounding, as a whole Fusion feels like too much of a good thing; one can't help but miss the focus and shape of Energy in its original incarnation. AMG.

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