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Strutting with some BBQ
13 Sep2006
TRIALS OF AN HONEST JOHN
GOSSIP
MYSTERY AT DAWN
Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society
Barbeque Dog
Antilles : 1983
RSJ, drums, flute, bass flute; Vernon Reid, electric guitar, steel guitar, banjo; Zane Massey, tenor, alto, and soprano sax; Henry Scott, trumpet, flugelhorn; Melvin Gibbs, electric bass; Reverend Bruce Johnson, electric bass.
Ornette Coleman’s Sound Grammar, his first album in ages, was released yesterday. To help commemorate the grand occasion, here are some tracks by one of Ornette’s finest sidemen: Ronald Shannon Jackson.
Not only a stellar drummer, and the funkiest man named Ronald, Jackson is also a crack bandleader and superb composer. His harmolodic funk band The Decoding Society cranked out some of the smartest, fiercest, and just plain finest slabs of fusion during the 1980s. Barbeque Dog is the last in an impeccable run of releases highlighted by Eye on You (1980) and Man Dance (1982).
Because it was the 80s, some of the production choices and guitar treatments occasionally sound a bit dated. But overall, Jackson’s work holds up as well as â?? if not better than – any other jazz musician using electric instruments during roughly the same period. (Don’t believe us? Try spinning Steve Coleman’s Black Science again). For one thing, he didn’t buy into (too) many of trendy synth textures of the day. And for another, his compositions were so good that they can survive any missteps of history.
These tunes are elegantly constructed, morphing through various sections while still leaving room for go-for-broke playing. Dig the contrast of the shifting horn charts and Vernon Reid’s dive-bomb guitar on “Trials of an Honest John.” And note how the song effortlessly slides into a keening free jazz/Middle Eastern mash-up at the 1:30 mark. What’s most impressive is how organic Jackson makes his multi-headed fusion sound.
“Gossip” begins with some spidery funk, then radically downshifts without grinding any gears. Don’t miss Reid’s shredding metal solo at the 3:30 mark. And how nicely it evaporates back into the groove, illustrating perfectly how what comes around, goes around.
Jackson picks up the flute and Reid switches to banjo for “Mystery at Dawn.” It offers a complete change in mood, tone, and texture – but they pull it off beautifully. It’s a serene, Zen koan of a song with an unusual instrument mix that nontheless complements the song quite well.
Check out this discography for more of Jackson’s prodigious output on his own and with others. Apart from his seminal role in the original Prime Time, he also played in Cecil Taylor’s amazing mid-70s Unit and with Last Exit. One of his first gigs? With Albert Ayler, taped as the Slug’s Saloon albums.
21 Responses to Strutting with some BBQ
peter breslin
September 13th, 2006 at 11:40 am
The 1979 Saturday Night Live Ornette Coleman and Prime Time performance (with the Dancing in Your Head lineup, including Jackson as well as Denardo, I think– drums somewhat restrained in a kind of psychotic disco beat) is uploaded at YouTube (with a truly surreal introduction by no less than Milton Berle). I think they’re doing “Times Square.”
Some of the real oddities from improvised music 1975-1990 or so are the solo or duet recordings certain artists did. (David Murray’s “Surreal Saxophone,” for example). Shannon Jackson is no exception. Definitely check out “Pulse” if you can find it- a real window into Jackson’s approach to the drums. The solo at the beginning of “One Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye” (CD only) is a taste of what “Pulse” is like pretty much in its entirety.
Jackson with Taylor: the counterpoint of funky, shuffling, punctuated beats against the roil. Lent steely spine to a form that was otherwise a rushing wash. Hard to imagine the shuffle section of 3 Phasis without Jackson’s presence. (The only close analogy maybe the whirling 3′s set up by Sunny Murray and Jerome Cooper on Brewing Luminous).
“Red Warrior” was a landmark recording for me. Earlier, “Nasty” opened my head to new ways that soul, funk and abstraction could meld, in an unexpectedly gentle electro-acoustic sonic palette.
As always, you guys show impeccable taste. Just because we agree, of course. Thanks.
PB
ledrew
September 13th, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Thanks, Peter, for the great suggestions, and kind words. Have seen the Uncle Miltie/Prime Time clip: amazing, and not just for the juxtoposition.
Will look for Pulse, to which I have a v tenuous connection. Checking it on the discography, I see that a former professor of mine, Michael S. Harper, is on there, which also explains the strong presence of the great poet Sterling Brown. Puttin’ on (BBQ) Dog, indeed. One class with Harper was listening to the Coltrane/Ellington “My Little Brown Book.” I also recall reading Harper’s own Coltrane-related poetry, and liner notes, and having to discuss his work in the class. Dude was intimidating. Okay, exiting memory lane now.
Brian Olewnick
September 13th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I’m partial to “Mandance” from this period. When it came out, I thought it was one of the better things I’d heard in a while. Time has tempered that judgment, but parts of it still get me going.
Saw RSJ with Cecil’s unit at the Whitney, right around the time 3 Phasis was recorded; great show, great album.
But I do have the impression that, after the early 80s, Jackson himself hadn’t too much more to say and was best served as a strong component of other groups, particularly Last Exit. That said, I don’t think I’ve heard anything from him since the aforementioned “Pulse” or the thing on Caravan of Dreams, the recording share with Prince Seven Seven.
Joseph Fior
September 14th, 2006 at 1:01 am
The first RSJ album I bought was Taboo (I was in high school at the time) because it had Vernon Reid on it. It was too much for me at first since the only jazz I was hip to then was Spyro Gyra (is that really jazz?). “Challenge to Manhood” and “Little Things That Count” on that album are two of my favorite compositions by RSJ (after lending my copy of Mandance to an aquaintence, he returned it in disgust claiming the music was completely improvised, which of course is false).
I Love ‘Barbeque Dog’ and ‘Mandance’ but others such as ‘Raven Roc’, ‘Street Priest’, and ‘Montreaux Jazz Festival’ are just as valuable.
Steve Smith
September 14th, 2006 at 1:03 am
Good lord, I had no idea that old pet project of mine (complete with a defunct e-mail address) was still online! Last time I saw it, Jackson’s web master had incorporated it into his own website. Sad to note that, despite not being updated since 1998, my discography is still basically up to date, apart from not including the Knitting Factory issues of ‘Pulse’ and the Caravan of Dreams records (all titles and track names changed for some unmysterious reason) and the couple of nice live dates that came out in the same batch.
I saw Shannon at Joe’s Pub a couple of years ago in a trio with Vernon Reid and Melvin Gibbs; the music lacked the laserlike focus of the ‘Barbeque Dog’ period, but the players all sounded fine. I missed Shannon a year or so later with a new version of Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet. No new records that I’m aware of, apart from a handful of self-released CD-R versions of his earlier records and a live Power Tools date (the Frisell lineup, not the Cosey/Drayton one).
Peter, thanks for mentioning the Prime Time clip on YouTube, which I’d never seen before. And as if that wasn’t enough amazement for one night, I followed a link to the live Last Exit clip posted by the same user. I never saw this band and, good lord, this is not what I expected: These guys were freakin’ AC/DC onstage! I’d forgotten that Laswell could actually move and play at the same time, and Sharrock might as well be wearing a schoolboy outfit and spinning on his back…
Brian, ‘When Colors Play’ and ‘Texas,’ the Caravan of Dreams records that immediately followed the Twins Seven Seven collaboration, are both solid sets if less frenetic than the Antilles dates. The 1995 quartet record with Jef Lee Johnson and James Carter is surprisingly strong, and the playing on the Polish live set issued by Jazz a-Go-Go magazine is smokin’. Only ‘Shannon’s House,’ the last studio recording issued under RSJ’s name, truly disappoints me; it features some pleasant writing, but never ignites. (At least, that’s the way I remember it…but I probably haven’t listened to it in 10 years, and ought to pull it out to see how it’s aged.)
Still, two words: Power Tools. That studio record is as much Shannon’s as it is Frisell’s or Gibbs’s. It’s a classic set that just can’t be cut, no way, no how.
godoggo
September 14th, 2006 at 2:29 am
I’d like to give some props to the oft-maligned Decode yourself. Yeah, there were some ill-advised attempts at commerciality, but most of it’s as adventurous as BBQ Dog or Mandance, and the band has better musicians. Speaking of which, as I mention a while back in a Words and Music comment, I’ve long been curious about the early line-up with Byard Lancaster – I don’t suppose you guys have got that?
Also, I find it amusing that Gibbs went on to join the “Weighting”-era Rollins Band (no, no, not Sonny…). I rather like the live version of Disconnect on youtube. In fact, let me find it…just a moment…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfS75dn-UiE
godoggo
September 14th, 2006 at 4:30 am
BTW I just checked Amazon and apparently “Weighting” is a collection of outtakes from “Weight” with Charles Gayle on some of it! Weird (no, I don’t own any of this stuff).
ledrew
September 14th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Steve, er, belated thanks for the discography! Just bleeped right over your name at the top there. Fine work. Thanks also for the extensive later career highlights. And the Last Exit tip. YouTube: our new lord and master.
And Godoggo, while I’m not a huge Rollins Band fan, I’m tickled to learn of Gibbs’ part in it. I love that kind of cross-pollination. Seems like it’s almost always the rhythm section guys that are crossing borders….
Steve Smith
September 14th, 2006 at 11:55 pm
A friend of mine in a position to know told me today that the Prime Time and Last Exit videos were uploaded by Weasel Walter of the Flying Luttenbachers…
godoggo
September 15th, 2006 at 1:11 am
Just thought I’d share some further fruits of my goodling: Rollins also did an album called Everything, on which the backing band consists of Gayle and Rashid Ali. What a dude.
peter breslin
September 15th, 2006 at 9:56 am
Hey Steve et al- There’s a ton of flying luttenbacher vids up at YouTube as well. Had an entertaining few minutes reading the bewildered comments appended thereto. One of the funnier things about YouTube can be the comment strings.
Anyway, the YouTube login name for the OC and Last Exit posts is “nonwave,” and there’s a Defunkt video up under that name as well as the Weasel Walter Sextet.
YouTube is stranglin’ me with its love…
PB
cjc
September 15th, 2006 at 11:08 am
godoggo – I just saw the Rollins Band last month, a reunion of the mid-90s lineup with Melvin Gibbs. They were impressively tight and heavy and a funky in a lumbering sort of way – it was kinda like watching someone juggle concrete pillars. And yeah, Mr. Rollins himself has always expressed impeccable musical taste – championing everyone from Matt Shipp to Gang of Four to electric-era Miles. Cool dude. BTW, Rollins was opening for the also-reunited X who were surprisingly sensational.
And back to yr earlier question – we have RSJ’s EYE ON YOU featuring Byard Lancaster and it will definitely find its way onto the site fairly soon.
godoggo
September 16th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
Yeah, I saw X a few years ago when they headlined the Sunset Junction, and I was also surprised by how awesome they were. Now, I guess it’s unrealistic to expect Billy to do right by some newer material, but I can always dream.
will
September 22nd, 2006 at 7:50 am
awesome! thanks so much for posting this stuff, I had all these records from this band (with vernon reid, melvin gibbs etc) but they have been lost over the years, I recently picked up BARBEQUE DOG in london but have no record player to listen to it,
so many thanks again, you guys have great taste!
will
September 22nd, 2006 at 7:56 am
also there is an awesome version of GOSSIP on one of the LIVE cds put out by the Knitting Factory, can’t remember the name…rockin!
Delmore
October 1st, 2006 at 11:40 pm
Harmolodic & Misanthropic Folk-Rock
CHRIS GARVER‘s “e4/e5″
david
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Why diss Steve Coleman? “Black Science” has some great tracks, and some excellent Cassandra Wilson vocals + Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith is one heck of a drummer
cjc
October 2nd, 2006 at 2:02 pm
We like Steve Coleman quite a bit – he’s done lots of exceptional work over the years. But in returning to “Black Science,” an album we loved back in the day, we were surprised to find how dated much of the production sounded to our ears. The compositions are still excellent, but those synth tones just screamed 80s – and not in good ways, either. Our point wasn’t to diss Coleman but note how many albums from the 80s have not worn well due to faddish production choices and/or synth and guitar tones that now seem hopelessly stuck in time. And not just in jazz, either. Maybe it’s just us, but that issue seemed esp. pronounced on “Black Science.”
You’re right though: Smith’s drumming sounds as ferocious and creative as ever. Amazing stuff. And we’ll post some other Coleman work soon as penance.
david
October 7th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Yes, I agree about the 80s synths in Steve Coleman’s music: ‘On the Edge of Tomorrow’ is the main culprit, in my opinion. I just hadn’t noticed it so much with ‘Black Science’ (perhaps because it contains an acoustic gem, ‘Beyond all we Know’, completely different in tone from some of hte other tracks on the album).
Carl
April 25th, 2007 at 10:53 am
This is a good album but his first album “Eye on You” is my favorite, as good as “Tales of Captain Black” and “Dancing in Your Head”, if not better.
ronald shannon jackson
January 16th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Destination Out…….David Brown, sent me a birthday message, which is how I found your website…..I am very happy you listener’s, and hear’er are out there…… otherwise the history of jazz is being rewritten and changed, into many dis-misinformation version…… this could easily be rectified if the writer and critic of jazz, would ask the people who where there, the musician……all of the Decoding Society music is available on compact disk at ronald shannon jackson.com……or….. myspace.com/ronald shannon jackson……in rhythm, Shannon