Saturday Night Special in Bloomington, MN

Saturday Night Special
is certainly a contemporary jazz cult classic album if there ever was one. Merging the heart and soul of Detroit jazz and rhythm & blues while also tossing in a little Latin music, keyboardist
Lyman Woodard
was at the forefront of defining an instrumental identity for the Motor City on this recording. With top-notch guitarist
Ron English
, saxophonist
Norma Jean Bell
, drummer
Leonard King
, and percussionists
Lorenzo Brown
and
Bud Spangler
,
Woodard
provided solid, head-nodding groove music punctuated by heady, at times spacy jazz improvisation that set the standard for any rival or modern-day jam band. Although he became an organist exclusively,
added Mellotron and electric piano to his arsenal for this date. The muddy production values diminish the overall quality of the sound, but the music itself is undeniably unique, and set apart from the
CTI
recordings or the fusion music
Miles Davis
was producing in this mid-'70s time period. The two-part title track is an industrial mythic anthem signifying a steadily streaming automobile production line within a slow, slinky melody via
's various keyboards, flute, and handclaps, a chicken scratch synthesizer insert by the leader, followed by a funky electric bass solo and a jam.
"Belle Isle Daze"
"Cheeba"
are also dual part pieces, the former a light samba cum boogaloo with
's organ and synth gliding alongside the guitar of
English
, the latter a straight Latin groove with
's burning B-3 and the percussionists working out in Afro-Cuban fashion. The most beautiful track is
"Joy Road,"
a soul ballad with sighing, serene synth and the lilting alto sax of
Bell
.
King
wrote the song of self-determination
"Creative Musicians"
in a choppy beat as he sings "keep on rollin' right along," while
"Allen Barnes,"
a tribute to Detroit's enduring saxophonist , is a mix of
Milestones
meeting
Jimmy Smith
, an unsung hero of post-
Kenny Burrell
guitardom, penned and leads out on the melodies of the commercial tune
"On Your Mind"
and the more complex
"Help Me Get Away,"
a complex, churning, jazz-oriented piece in 5/4 time that reflects the bop aesthetic of the '50s that brought so many Detroit musicians into prominence. Immediately after
's death in 2009, the
Wax Poetics
label reissued this recording on limited-edition vinyl, made the tracks and unreleased material available for downloading, and reissued
on CD. It's a testament not only to the vibrancy of the Detroit scene and what
offered as one of the forefathers of the burgeoning fusion movement, but more importantly, it signifies how local Detroit musicians prevailed against adversity to keep their traditions very much alive and well. ~ Michael G. Nastos