Living Black!

• Artist: Charles Earland
• Rating:
• Release Date: September 17, 1970
• Total Time: 55:11
• Genre: Jazz

Review

Recorded in 1970 at the Key Club, Living Black! is notable for many reasons, not the least of which is that it showcased Earland in a live setting at his most inspired. From choosing his sidemen to material to reading the audience to pure instrumental execution, there isn't a weak moment on this date, nor a sedentary one. Earland makes the band roll on all burners from the git and never lets up. Consisting of four extended tunes, there's the burning rhythm and stomp of "Key Club Cookout," which blazes with wisdom and rhythm fire. Earland's own soloing is revelatory, but it is the way he drags absolutely unexpected performances from his sidemen that makes him so special as a bandleader. In this case, Grover Washington never played like this again on a record; deep in the soul groove on his tenor, he turned it inside out, looking for new embouchures in which to get the sounds out of the horn. He dug deep inside his trick bag and left no one wanting. Likewise, guitarist Maynard Parker, who came from the Chicago blues school, gets to exercise that side of his West Side soul personality -- check out his break on "Westbound No. 9." The long blues strut of "Killer Joe" is what drives the tune, the longest track on the record. It features a slow, strolling horn line from Washington and trumpeter Gary Chandler that opens out onto a gorgeously pastoral frame before popping out with the blues feel once again. Parker's guitar playing fills all the places Earland chooses not to, so the band's density is total. There is a moving and instrumentally astonishing short version of "Milestones" that closes the set, but it wasn't even necessary. Everybody who was there, no doubt -- as well as any listener with blood instead of sawdust in her or his veins -- had their minds blown long before. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Key Club Cookout	Charles Earland	Charles Earland	(9:31)
Westbound No. 9	Edith Wayne, Daphne Dumas, Ronald Dunbar	Charles Earland	(8:19)
Killer Joe	Benny Golson	Charles Earland	(14:28)
Milestones	Miles Davis	Charles Earland	(4:34)
More Today Than Yesterday [#]	Pat Upton	Charles Earland	(8:20)
Message from a Black Man [#]	Norman J. Whitfield, Barrett Strong	Charles Earland	(9:59)

Credits

Grover Washington, Jr. (Saxophone), Jamie Putnam (Art Direction), Ed Michel (Compilation Producer), Buddy Caldwell (Conga), Jamie Putnam (Design), Lee Hildebrand (Liner Notes), Charles Earland (Organ), Rudy Van Gelder (Engineer), Grover Washington, Jr. (Sax (Tenor)), Bob Porter (Compilation Supervisor), Jesse Kilpatrick (Drums), Al Roberts (Liner Notes), Joe Tarantino (Remastering), Gary Chandler (Trumpet), Al Johnson (Photography), Maynard Parker (Guitar)