Initially emerging in the late '60s, bassist
Henry "The Skipper" Franklin
has enjoyed a late-career resurgence, buoyed by reissues of his classic
Black Jazz Records
LPs and his 2022 collaboration with Bay Area collective
Daggerboard
,
Daggerboard and the Skipper
. Released the same year as that recording,
JID014
further underlines
Franklin
's reputation as a West Coast jazz legend and torchbearer for the funky, atmospheric post-bop he championed at the start of his career. The 14th volume in instrumentalist
Adrian Younge
and producer
Ali Shaheed Muhammad
's ongoing Jazz Is Dead Series,
showcases
leading a small ensemble featuring keyboardist/guitarist
Younge
, as well as guitarist
Jeff Parker
, drummer
Jonathan Pinson
, trumpeter
Clinton Patterson
, saxophonist
David Urquidi
, saxophonist/flautist
Scott Mayo
, and percussionist
Nicholas Baker
. While past Jazz Is Dead entries have explored the convergence of jazz, hip-hop, electronic music, and more, here,
, and
Muhammad
shine a light on the former with their original compositions, all of which evoke the fluidly organic, modal jazz of
's classic albums like 1973's
The Skipper
. Some of the tracks, like the Latin-inflected "Cafe Negro" and the moody, minor-key "The Griot," wouldn't sound out of place on a classic
Blue Note
date. Others, like the opening "Karibu," straddle both contemporary and throwback styles, mixing loungey, late-'60s harmonies with a kinetic, EDM, jungle-inspired groove. There's also the hard-swinging "African Sun" and the woozy, '70s Blaxploitation-sounding epic "People's Revolution," the latter of which finds
's woody bass framed by noir-ish horns and acidic wah-wah guitar. With
and
celebrate
's decades-long soul-jazz voyage. ~ Matt Collar