DAVID AXELROD
The Edge: David Axelrod at Capitol Records 1966--1970
Capitol
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David Axelrod: Drums, Strings, and a Lot of Soul
David Axelrod stands as one of a handful of
record producers who created a sound that, regardless of
the artist with whom he was working, was recognizable as
an Axelrod production. Phil Spector possessed a similar
ability, as did Willie Mitchell. But Axelrod specialized
in a gritty yet elegant sound that owed a great deal to
the black urban experience. Few hearing Axelrod’s
productions would have guessed that he worked out of Los
Angeles. Deeply cinematic, full of the reality of the blues
and contemporary R&B yet overlaid with a grandeur that
helped it rise above its urban roots, it is a sound that
many recent hip-hop producers have found completely irresistible.
One can hardly listen to any hip-hop productions without
hearing samples of Axelrod’s work. And Axelrod was
most comfortable, when not working on his own projects,
collaborating with black American performers. He worked
particularly closely with Lou Rawls and Cannonball Adderley
as well as with artists like Letta Mbulu and white rock
performers such as the Electric Prunes and David McCallum.
Axelrod created Capitol Records’ black music division
in the 1960’s, and he was the chief architect of its
sound.
Some of Axelrod’s work with Capitol’s
roster of performers has been unavailable for some time,
making vinyl copies of these albums much sought-after items.
The two David McCallum tracks that open this set barely
find McCallum in residence (some wordless, echo-ey vocals),
but Axelrod’s imprint is all over them. The wide open
drum sound, so different from the dry, dead sound that so
many producers sought, imaginative use of orchestra—something
like a West Coast Gil Evans-esque version of the classic
70s blaxploitation soundtrack sound. At the same time, there
could be incredible delicacy and sensuality, as on the flute
solo on the McCallum track “The Edge.” It’s
all silk and whispers over the hard concrete edge of the
city. Axelrod was able to utilize this same sound, in a
bit less wide-screen fashion, beautifully behind the soulful,
often weary, but always smooth vocal work of Lou Rawls.
The tracks included here, “Lifetime Monologue,”
which shows Axelrod and Rawls approaching something between
the old doo-wop spoken monologue and rap, and the classic
“You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” can’t
help but revive interest in this period of Rawls’
career, particularly in light of his recent death.
Most of the rest of the collection focuses
on Axelrod’s own projects for the label, Songs
of Innocence, Songs of Experience, and Earth Rot.
Much of what the listener hears in Axelrod’s work
will depend on the direction from which that listener approaches
it. Soul and R&B aficionados will hear his soul influence,
rock fans will hear psychedelic-laced concept rock. Arrangers
will hear masterful use of available musical elements, musicians
will hear superior musicianship that sharpens the expression
of Axelrod’s musical vision. Two constant musical
companions on Axelrod’s projects were bassist Carol
Kaye and pianist Don Randi. Listen to the percolating bass
line Kaye lays on “The Fly” and Randi’s
harpsichord work. These musicians were able to execute the
music that Axelrod had in his head, and their familiarity
with a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, blues,
R&B, and more from their frequent studio work, fueled
their ability to provide both exciting and loose-sounding
rhythm work that menaced and rippled beneath Axelrod’s
orchestrations.
The next to last track is Don Randi’s
performance of Lalo Schifrin’s "Theme from The
Fox", which again bears Axelrod’s imprint
in the drums and the orchestral arrangement. Rounding out
the disc is Cannonball Adderley’s “Tensity”
from the album Dialogues for Jazz Quintet and Orchestra.
Adderley’s group consists of Adderley and brother
Nat, Joe Zawinul, Walter Booker, and Roy McCurdy, and they
cook mightily over and around Axelrod’s highly complimentary
string arrangements. This might be one of the few ‘with
strings’ concepts that really, really works! Axelrod
really brought the soul in Adderley’s sax work to
the fore, a fact that didn’t always sit well with
mainstream jazz fans as the saxophonist’s career went
on. This track, recorded in 1970, finds Adderley full of
fire, launching into whoops and cries that belie the influence
of Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler just as much as those
of Parker. Zawinul plays his electric piano around the accompanying
vamps, going from blending in to standing out within the
space of a phrase, a technique he would employ early on
with Weather Report.
You can get more comprehensive overviews of
David Axelrod’s career, but The Edge is a
really well sequenced listening experience and gives a nice
place to begin exploring Axelrod’s recorded legacy.
