Roy Brooks - The Free Slave (1971)


"Roy Brooks The Free Slave may be one of his best though it is not well known outside of collectors of soul jazz. Brooks is credited playing with a lot of famous names, but he leads on The Free Slave, accompanied Cecil McBee, Hugh Lawson, Woody Shaw and George Coleman, in a live session recorded in 1970. We were at the cusp of jazz falling off the mainstream playlists as it became even more inventive (cause and effect? If not on a major label attempting to appeal to a broad audience, the artists had more freedom to experiment). This record, though, is not cacophonous. Just the opposite. The players are all-stars and the compositions sit somewhere between avant-garde and more soulful, lyrical jazz. In the center sits Roy Brooks, as leader and composer with lots of history as a sideman, and a reputation for being more than a little eccentric; Brooks was known for experimenting with novel ways to get his drums to sound different. ..."
The Vinyl Press
allmusic (Audio)
W - The Free Slave
amazon
YouTube: The Free Slave 46:05

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