Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison JID016 in Bloomington, MN

Jazz Is Dead
's label motto includes the words "...to foreground legends from the past" and "... highlight their contributions." This set by Detroit's
Tribe
founders
Phil Ranelin
and
Wendell Harrison
is poignantly symbiotic. Founded by the pair in 1971,
was a musical collective and a record label; they also founded a coffeehouse/meeting place for the Motor City's artistic community, and published a magazine.
Harrison
Ranelin
are jazzmen, but coming from Detroit they indulge in their extracurricular musical activities, too, including
's appearances on early
Motown
sessions,
's on the
Red Hot Chili Peppers
' debut album and
Build an Ark
's, and the pair's jazz-EDM fusion work with producer
Carl Craig
.
The seven tunes here were group-composed and cut at
Adrian Younge
's and
Ali Shaheed Muhammad
's Linear Labs studio and played by the quartet and drummer
Greg Paul
.
-- tenor saxophone, bass clarinet -- and
-- trombone -- assume their time-honored roles.
Muhammad
plays electric bass throughout, and
Younge
delivers on guitars, keyboards, synths, and myriad percussion.
The name of the game here is spacious groove. Opener "Genesis" begins eerily and abstractly, like an electric
Miles Davis
outtake. It gathers drama, momentum, and dynamic before horns, electric guitar, and layered, skittering snare breaks and Latin-tinged Rhodes piano insert a loose, spiritual soul jam that morphs into modal jazz. "Open Eye" finds
's marimba and electric guitar meeting
Paul
's rumbling tom-toms and snares as horns develop a knotty lyricism in spirited interplay, then trade fours. "Running with the Tribe" is introduced by
's walking bass and
's acrobatic cymbals.
winds his way in with a bass clarinet solo and
embellishes the backdrop. Halfway through, a glorious funk backbeat claims the fore and the tune gels to the horn players' call-and-response above insistent Rhodes and percussion. The melody is spacious, nocturnal, and infectious. "Fire in Detroit" starts out as a gorgeous psychedelic soul interlude with pillowy synths, organs, and bass until
's expressive trombone and
's punchy bass construct a vamp that
's bass clarinet responds to atop rolling snares and a kick drum shuffle. The melody briefly references
John Barry
's "Midnight Cowboy" before moving off into deeper, murkier jazz-funk. "Ursa Major" is composed of martial drumming, a circular bassline, and screaming electric guitar kissed by Rhodes piano, clarinet, and muted trombone. "Metropolitan Blues" is arguably the best cut.
offers a bass vamp met by breaking drums and punchy horns. Rhodes piano atmospherically paints the backdrop before
starts his moaning trombone solo, which ultimately bleats and roars. The band increases force but never leaves the groove. When
solos,
claims his place on the vamp. Closer "Black Census" is a fingerpopping, funky groover that recalls the
Weather Report
of
Black Market
Heavy Weather
, centered in frenetic, jazzed-up Detroit funk.
JID016
finds the two octogenarian musicians in startlingly excellent form. They not only continue to offer canny instrumental and conceptual mastery, but clearly inspire their younger counterparts. ~ Thom Jurek