Emergency: Homage to Peace (Free America Series)

EMERGENCY
Homage to Peace

Verve/Free America

You would be hard pressed to find music like that on Emergency’s CD Homage to Peace being released on any kind of major label imprint these days. The music of this cross-cultural group offers a glimpse into free jazz at the time as well as some of the more experimental rock sounds going on at the time. In addition, there are elements of both tranced-out, ambient chillout music, world music, and what the ECM sound at work, but all merely hinted at, never pursued until it becomes the defining direction.

This album features a performance that was recorded live in Paris in 1970, and if you stop to consider what was then conceived of as ‘radical’ in terms of jazz music, you realize that these guys were really out there. Miles Davis wouldn’t reach his most abstract and dense electric period until two or three years later. Emergency features soprano and tenor saxophonist Glenn Spearman and bassist Bob Reid, both of whom were Americans. Spearman came from San Francisco, and Reid from Birmingham, AL. Spearman and Reid found themselves in Paris playing with French gypsy guitarist Boulou Ferret and Japanese pianist and drummer Takashi Kako and Sabu Toyozumi, respectively. Kako is a classically-trained pianist who displays not only an amazing technique, but a real understanding of the modern American jazz idiom. Drummer Toyozumi journeyed to Chicago and found himself working with the Art Ensemble of Chicago a mere year after this recording was made. He proves himself fully capable of playing freely and within the bop and post-bop drum tradition. Ferret is unbelievable, coming on like Django meets Sonny Sharrock and James Blood Ulmer. Hearing his performance on Homage to Peace, it seems amazing that this cat never ended up in Miles’ band.

The album leads off with “Emergency Theme” which begins with a long drone introduction over which activity gradually increases with the arrival of Spearman. On tenor Spearman pushes the piece forward in terms both of density and energy. Kako displays a strong left hand that is at time reminiscent of McCoy Tyner, and Ferret offers both funky comping and some outrageous wah-wah pedal work. “People In Sorrow” seems more like a ballad by virtue of its less dense nature, though it manages to work up some sparks in its second half, with Toyozumi bouncing over a variety of drum and percussion sounds, Kako and Reid again providing a very strong chordal underpinning, with Spearman and Ferret free to provide a more frenetic top layer.

Leading off the album’s second half is ‘Kako Tune”, which is even more stripped down and subdued than the previous track. It begins with some gorgeous, contemplative piano from Kako, interweaving with Bob Reid’s bubbling acoustic bass work. Toyozumi is there with additional percussion texture, but never intrudes on the primary conversation between Kako and Reid. Ferret’s playing on this track is transcendent—he plays economically and with complete clarity on this track, calling to mind some of the work done by guitarists like John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner around this same time. He even provides hints of Wes Montgomery and his own gypsy heritage. During the last four minutes or so, Kako turns to the electric piano, taking the tune out as it began, in conversation with Reid. Kako’s electric work really brings to mind the first of Chick Corea’s Return to Forever albums (in the group’s original incarnation featuring Joe Farrell and Flora Purim). This track is a really beautiful work and could easily appeal to a wide array of listeners.
The final performance, a reading of Reid’s composition “Infidels” is highly kinetic, with Toyozumi providing a regular, swirling maelstrom of energy, while Ferret and Kako provide a state of the art look at the free improvisational voice of their instrument circa 1970. Kako offers a seeming homage to Cecil Taylor while Ferret offers a toss-up between Hendrix and Pete Cosey.