The long awaited debut release from Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society on Eremite Records is here!
Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society and Eremite present Father of Origin.
The ethos and origins of African music have affected the landscape of music since the beginning of time. The heart of the percussion and the voice that surrounds the spirit of everyone creating is very spiritual in scope and reason. The 60′s was a period where African music reintroduced itself into the western modern pulse of creation. The 60′s brought a wave of motion in one of the heaviest ways seen in modern times. Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Henry Grimes, Rashied Ali, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, McCoy Tyner and many other artists of the early 60′s shifted their approach in music to include the rich heritage and legacy of the African arts, philosophy, socialism and advanced forms of musicianship. There was something very different buzzing in the air and the ascension that Coltrane took the world on was massing in a very strong way by the time the late 60′s rolled around. A group centered in this same foundation, discipline and approach as the artists mentioned above but has been rarely presented outside of the audiences lucky enough to witness them live is Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society. With the sparking idea for AMS created in 1964 with the meeting of multi-instrumentalist Juma Sultan and saxophonist Sonny Simmons, the two later reconnected in New York in 1966 and finally gave life to a system of thought that put emphasis on the light and bright moments from the beauty and history of their African origins. Juma had also spent a lot of time studying visual arts at UCLA during the 60′s. As a multi-artist, Juma reaches the ranks that few have with quality being presented in both worlds.
Consisting of core members Juma Sultan and Ali K. Abuwi, the Aboriginal Music Society was always set in rich textural groupings of fusion elements from all regions of the world. They were open to all areas of sound but maintained their center of creation around their African roots and the polyrythmic trance like states their different arrangements of percussion and stand up bass make. As some of you may know, Juma Sultan was percussionist for Jimi Hendrix during his Gypsy Sun and Rainbow Woodstock band along with providing many recordings with Jimi Hendrix in 1969 and 1970. These landmark recordings include Message to the Universe (Message to Love), Freedom, Beginnings, Pali Gap and Hey Baby (New Rising Sun). He is also on two of the most earth shattering LP’s from the great Archie Shepp’s catalog with Impulse during the 70′s: Things Have Got To Change (1971) and Attica Blues (1972). Juma really spread his talents across the board of genres and enjoyed a healthy working relationship with Archie Shepp and many other prolific artists that still exists today. With Ali Abuwi studying extensive world techniques in various percussion settings under legends like Sunny Murray, the possibilities were set high for Juma and Ali and those who would periodically join AMS for performance. Their relationship grew very strong from their roots and further work in the upstate New York community and the loft jazz scene in New York City. They had the slogan, “any song, any key, anytime, anywhere”. Judging from the body of work I have researched, this slogan could not be more true.
The Aboriginal Music Society would become one of the most important figures in the lower Manhattan loft jazz scene after their relocation to that area in the early 70′s. With their Studio We and promotions all over town, Juma took AMS to new levels and the concert bills on the 12″x12″ booklet in the box highlight many of these shows they were doing. The front of the liner note book shows a beautiful shot of Juma standing outside of the Studio We headquarters. The detail put into the color schemes around the photo that depict one of Juma’s paintings is one of the most marvelous touches I have seen put into a box. Anticipation was out of the roof as I turned the first page. It’s really hard to believe that the recordings of this group have been kept out of the hands of the public for well over 30 years. With over a decade of activity and owning a studio that other pivotal artists of that era released albums out of, the group never managed to release an album. This is a reality that has now thankfully been changed with the help of the prestigious label, Eremite Records.
Father of Origin box set contents. Photo by Erik Otis
The incredible team at Eremite and Juma Sultan have created one of the most stunning box sets I have seen in a long time with Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society Father of Origin. With 3 hours of music on 2 LP’s and 1CD, the set is manufactured in the highest quality possible. Included is a 25+ page 12″x12″ book with very extensive research and photos from Juma Sultan’s vast archives. This set will surely be an item on the need list for the avid collector of avant-garde music and particularly the New York jazz scene of the 60′s and 70′s. The mind set, ethics, dedication and direction of the Aboriginal Music Society’s values are displayed in the highest degree with the packaging done on this box. The use of silk screening, the added info sheet for the 1973 New York based Festival Juma Sultan organized with George Wein, organizer of the Newport Jazz series. The extensive research and history fully brings to light the stories behind Juma Sultan’s vast career with the Aboriginal Music Society, I couldn’t fathom a better way to start this very important mission and presentation of AMS’s output than how this box is set up. Each LP side has a different label from Juma’s photo archive, a stunning addition when going through the box for the first time. The amount of history and perspective included inside of Father of Origin that can be gained is testament to its worth and price. The photo of Jimi Hendrix jamming in a rare glimpse using a 60′s Gibson SG with Juma Sultan, Jerry Velez and others at the Tinker Street Cinema is just one small yet huge reason why Father of Origin will blow your mind every minute you give to it. This release is not just a processed package, it’s a work of art and reflects the quality and time it really takes to produce a historical document and artifact that will last the course of time. Pressed in very small quantities, this is a box that will surely sale out within the first quarter of release. According to Michael Ehlers, who is producer of this set, Father of Origin will only see one pressing. One it’s gone, it’s gone.
The contents of the music for Father of Origin are just as revealing, mind blowing and inspiring as the packaging. The first LP from the set is the perfect start for the first formal release from Aboriginal Music Society. With session work from the groups first proposed release, The Aboriginal Family Album, you know you are in for a big treat. Recorded in Boston at the new state of the art recording studio Intermedia in the fall of 1970, the detailed session tape logs included in the booklet are a perfect touch to these monumental and historical recordings. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band had members who would commonly join AMS for extended lengthy improvisations in various places all over New York. Guitarist Ralph Walsh, saxophonist Gene Dinwiddie and drummer Phillip Wilson had been with Paul Butterfield for some time and their contributions to the AMS Aboriginal Family Album is a very far departure from the work they were doing with Paul Butterfield. Wilson and Dinwiddie had ranks in the Art Ensemble of Chicago in the mid 60′s, so they were very well versed in the world of collective improvisation in the idiom of free jazz and the new spiritual movement occurring then. Ralph Walsh had less history in the world of free jazz but shows just as much exploration and fire as everyone else present. The great trumpet player Earl Cross would round out the cast of musicians, contributing, grand piano, trumpet and a very interesting instrument, the E flat mellophone. Earl Cross had worked with Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Rashid Ali, Noah Howard, Charles Tyler and many other greats; creating a reputation in a very short period of time. His working relationship with AMS since the group was organizing itself in the late 60′s is proof of how established and embedded AMS was into the new shift and public acknowledgement of what Rahsaan Roland Kirk dubbed as the “Black Classical Arts”.
Photo of the 12"x12" booklet/liner notes. Photo by Erik Otis.
The recordings featured on this first LP are from a specific date in the 2 month recording window AMS gave themselves at the Intermedia studios in Boston. The date is September 11, 1970 and the recording is dominated by the collective improvisation ‘Fan Dance’. Separated in three parts, it spans the entire first side of the LP and the first moments of the second side. It is an exercise and communal session in discipline, rhythmic syncopation the unknown and advanced harmonic interplay. It is music that calls upon the spirit that many of the pivotal free jazz artists were invoking in the same era. The John Coltrane band had with Pharoah Sanders reflects the fiery dissipation and climatic rises and crashes among the harmonic relationships that reveal themselves with AMS and this 1970 date. There are no over bearing solos as everyone is under pinning each other with counter melodies and rhythms to the highly complex direction they all follow one another into. The percussion tandem created is highly trance inducing and shows the creative and technical flow that always resides in the most free of moments in this recording. There is always the pulse of the drum and it’s strong in every moment of ‘Fan Dance’. With exploratory guitar lines that shape shift at ease and charging projectile like sax lines, there is fire under the belt of the body created by these 5 men and it only breaks for breath in the shortest of steps. Juma soars in true arco fashion, running his fingers all across his stand up bass that waits for his interchanging to percussion for further syncopated hypnotic rhythms with Ali Abuwi. This is music of a deep language, a language that transcended into lifestyle of communal artist living and advanced forms of creation.
The song that finishes the first LP’s recordings is ‘Ode to a Gypsy Son’. As a dedication piece to Juma’s close friend and musical associate Jimi Hendrix, the recording is all too personal considering it was created one week before Jimi Hendrix passed away in London. The surrealism and spiritual tone is achieved by only three men on this song. Earl Cross, Alii Abuwi and Juma Sultan stay behind in the studio after the members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band who were in the first part of the recording had left. More somber with great emphasis on the hand made instruments and flutes AMS was well known for, there is a very heavy vibe that shows the weight and inspiration Jimi Hendrix gave to AMS. The small audience tape that exists of Jimi Hendrix’s performance with AMS at the Tinker Street Theater in 1969 is proof that Jimi was diving into new sounds. Another very interesting part of Jimi and Juma’s history together is the jam with Juma, Jimi and keyboardist Mike Ephron. Jimi plays phenomenal rhythm along with Juma as Mike takes the dominating role. It is probably one of the clearest examples of the close bond Jimi and Juma shared. The horizon would have been endless with these two if Jimi had lived. The ‘Ode to a Gypsy Son’ really sums up in deep emotion the type of effect Hendrix, Juma and those around during that period had on their community, colleagues and the generation who were inspired to create their own art from what they were doing.
‘Ode to a Gypsy Son’ has beautiful percussion that is laid out in a very loose and hazy way. The trumpet and flutes serve as the joining pieces that reflect the rays of new rising sun Hendrix was capturing with his new frontiers in sound. There is a state of somberness that is shocking to hear when realizing Jimi would no longer be with the world just one week later. It’s almost as if AMS picked up on this energy and were a tool of the universe to express thanks in his honor. It’s inspiring to hear this work finally reach the public as the thought of it still sitting in the barn that all of Juma’s taped laid untouched for 30+ years is frightening. To think of what is still in his collection that may see the day of light brings new energy into the equation and advancement of historical perspectives in 60′s and 70′s era New York jazz artists and the rest of the world Juma was connected to. The pulse of this connection is going to explode into the consciousness of our world as Juma further documents his archives and Eremite Records is the first and most important label to open up this flood.
Photo of the vinyl for Father of Origin. Photo by Erik Otis.
The second LP in this prized collection, Father of Origin comprises a private session recorded in April of 1971 with saxophone great Frank Lowe. This represents his first recorded documents, coming months before the stellar work he would complete for harpist and pianist Alice Coltrane on World Galaxy. AMS had gone through a lot of shifts in the end of 1970 and into 1971. Juma’s working relationship with Jimi Hendrix on his forthcoming double LP First Ray of The New Rising Sun was cut short from Jimi’s untimely death. The creation of his “AMS Recording Farm” in Krumville, NY would soon cease to exist from a member of the house stealing rent that would pay the lease for the house for the next year. Juma had purchased an 8 acre parcel of land in upstate New York and only a year into this endeavor the plug was pulled from forces outside of his control. Juma was shaken by all of this commotion occurring in such a short interval in his life that he relocated back to his native region of California for a few months of rejuvenation.
Juma would be back in lower Manhattan within months of this departure to the West Coast. With a renewed spirit, energy and determination to further expand the vision of AMS, Juma and his colleagues took their vision to the next phase. Juma was on a new mission to further cement his foundation created many years before and now he had the proper vision and networks to make it fully achievable. AMS set up their new headquarters and personal studio at 315 Broadway and this served as the home of AMS and where the contents of the second LP from this box were recorded. The 315 Broadway location served as an informal location for many legendary jams to take place with little planning occurring before the jams. Frank Lowe possesses a skill that afforded him this opportunity to dive directly into the thickness of what Juma and Ali had established with AMS already.
The 1971 recordings from the AMS studio on 315 Broadway feature Ali Abuwi, Frank Lowe and Juma Sultan. This perspective is a very intriguing one as it shows the rhythmic intensity that Juma and Ali created together. Without the layers of a drum kit, multiple horns and other configurations of sounds that present the first LP, you can really dive into the complexity of the rhythms present. For the first side, the piece is untitled and is a spur of the moment session. Frank Lowe plays in a way very similar to what John Zorn had established later on, with the emphasis on variations of the chirps one can get from the reed. Juma and Ali play in a very odd timing, giving the cycles of the beats different points of interaction. Frank Lowe avoids these measures of time and drifts over the players as he builds up until the end. As the ending section comes, Frank opens up and lets loose on the tenor in a very aggressive and muscular way. Frank Lowe also provides percussion elements in the very beginning of the piece with bells, chimes and other percussion with textured colors. Once Juma and Ali subdivide the beat and double the tempo in the jam, you can really hear how complex things have become and how much unison is among them. This untitled piece is a sketch book on the fusion of world percussion behind the ethos of Africa drumming.
The next piece to the second LP from Father of Origin has to be my favorite song on the entire set, ‘Sundance’. For many years, Jimi Hendrix historians gave title credits for this number to Jimi Hendrix. This occurred from the public getting their hands on session tapes completed in the summer of 1969 with Gypsy Sun and Rainbows that has the song ‘Sundance’ on it. Another song with the same false composer tag is the song ‘The Dance’. The tape with these two songs has been in circulation for years among the hardcore Hendrix fan. Present on the Eremite 1971 version of ‘Sundance’ is 8 minutes of the afrocentric, spiritual and rhythmic defining vibrations of AMS. ‘Sundance’ was a regular fusion work out for AMS in all their stages as a collective and the version here is a very welcomed addition in the overall view of jazz music during the 70′s. Starting with Juma playing saxophone along with Frank Lowe, Juma suggests the theme to Frank that will hold place for the next 8 minutes. Ali Abuwi establishes a very slow presence of percussion and Juma switches to his instrument of choice, the up right bass. With a steady rhythm that never looses balance or shape, the three musicians show all the vibrancy and affects the title meant. This song has always made me feel a sense of celebration through dance and the unifying connecting power we all hold when unified under sound. The version Juma recorded with Jimi Hendrix and the Gypsy Sun and Rainbows band in 1969 was a new vehicle for Hendrix to experience music in ways different than any of his past experiences. From Little Richard to Wes Montgomery to John Coltrane, this was the type of composition from Juma that allowed Jimi Hendrix the sonic pallet to put all the influences gained from these musicians mentioned under one roof.
Photo of the 12"x12" booklet/liner notes. Photo by Erik Otis.
Juma Sultan was shifting music in so many pockets and genres of sound that realizing Father of Origin is the first official Aboriginal Music Society release is somewhat unreal. By the end of this April 1971 recording, Frank Lowe is opening up as far and wide as Pharoah Sanders and all the other giants of the saxophone. This session and others Frank was commonly involved with during the existence of AMS must have had profound affects on the way he approached recordings with luminaries such as Alice Coltrane.
The last recording and the only CD pressed with the package, comes from an unknown date with a pairing of very influential St. Louise based musicians from Black Artists Group (BAG) and AMS. The Black Artist Group was as powerful and unique as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. With the cross connection of all these forms of music and the intensity of the players involved, Juma’s archives document in some of the highest volumes this new wave of cultural and sonic cross emergence from the 70′s. With a session tape label as mysterious as the sounds that drip from the speakers upon listen, the known date has been traced to occurring between 1970-1972 at Tinker Street Cinema in New York. This has been determined from the logistics and places of residence from all of those involved in the recording, but the exact date is still in question. The fact that BAG was recording with AMS further shows how connected this movement of activists and musician were. There was no chance or luck afforded to these artists and they networked in ways that people would probably deem impossible without computers or cell phones.
Tinker Street was a second home for the Aboriginal Music Society as they held frequent concerts in the day and evenings there. The group was very well respected in the area from this informal residency they held. The recording with Jimi Hendrix mentioned before is very earth shattering and the 2 track masters that Juma owns of the performance should prove to be a very enlightening and rewarding experience if it ever see’s the light of day. The current audience tape is in circulation reveals a lot, but the 2 track cassettes would sound much more audible. Juma really goes off when the horns quite down in ‘Sundance’ from that tape.
The contents of the last disc are mind blowing and as a whole, serve as my favorite set from the three. With 8 players (and an unknown amount of vocalist) on this date, it is very reflective of the scenery Sun Ra, Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and others laid out with the collective improvisation albums being released in the early 60′s. 13 minutes into the first untitled improvisation and you are very deep inside of the dark and sublime world these men have unearthed themselves to. There is a psychedelic and evolving center point that underlines the mix and creates a cosmic voyage of sonic and color exploration through vibrations. All instruments analyzed together create a tapestry that is one of the most ground breaking moments of free jazz I have ever heard. By the time the recording ventures in the last quarter of it’s ride, you are heavily back into the percussion heavy state that defines so many of the AMS recordings and shows the band gave. The ethos of Africa are alive and strong and the strident and powerful sax lines shower over everyone. The further you listen with deep focus the more the antennas of your own consciousness are directed to the heavens. This is music of a higher order. One of the deepest order.
Contents of the Father of Origin box set. Photo by Erik Otis
Like the first album presented on Father of Origin, members of the Paul Butterfields Blues Band are present with Philip Wilson, Rod Hicks and Gene Dewinddie. Philip and Gene were featured on the 1970 Boston date and have brought Paul Butterfield Blues Band bassist Rod Hicks with them this time around. The bass lines Hicks adds to the mix are beyond words, no note is left untouched on his bass in the 45 minutes that create this album. Charles “Bobo” Shaw (percussion), Julius Hemphill (saxophone) and Abdul Wadud (cello) give the group the fullest dynamics needed and everyone rises to heights occasion that is rarely seen from everyone in improvised collective settings. Charles “Bobo” Shaw was a very well connected and versed drummer whose collaborations in Europe during the 60′s includes Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, Frank Wright, Alan Silva, Michel Portal, Cecil Taylor, Richard Martin, and Frank Lowe. He was also a very active member of the Humans Arts Ensemble that was based out of St. Louise. Julius Hemphill has accolades in so many areas of music. From Björk to Bill Frisell to Anthony Braxton to Ike Turner, he managed to do it all over the course of his life. John Zorn released a phenomenal record from this Texas born sax player in 2003 called One Atmosphere. Abdul Wadud was also another specialist in a very unique setting to this set, the cello. From Ohio, Abdul graces the albums of many of the musicians we have covered in this article.
In the wake of this recording and many others in the first half of 1971 Juma and his Aboriginal Society forged a very long lasting relationship with Studio We founder and musician James DuBoise. AMS would set up headquarters at We Studio for almost a decade and would organize some of the best underground concerts the city had ever seen. Studio We was the first musician ran venue and studio in New York’s jazz scene with shows occurring in 1968. Juma was in the thick of this legacy, shaping it’s true value as his imprint became stronger and stronger. Father of Origin is the beginning of this steam and the first official public presentation of AMS’s recorded legacy.
Eremite Records and Juma Sultan have teamed together to start something that needed to start over 30 years ago. Owning this box goes beyond the statement, “is a must”. Info on how to order along with a preview clip of ‘Ode to a Gypsy Son’ from this phenomenal set can be gathered HERE.
- Erik Otis
Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society and Eremite present Father of Origin. Photo by Erik Otis
Track Listing
**MTE-54
Recorded 11 September 1970
Intermedia Sound Studios, Boston MA
- Fan Dance, part I
- Fan Dance, part II
- Fan Dance, part III
- Ode to a Gypsy Son
Personnel:
Ali Abuwi hand drums & percussion, flutes
Earl Cross trumpet, mellophone, piano
Gene Dinwiddie tenor & soprano saxophone, flute
Juma Sultan bass, hand drums & percussion, ahoudt, wooden flutes
Ralph Walsh electric guitar
Philip Wilson drum kit
possible unidentified additional hand drummer/percussionist (1-3)
unidentified background vocalists (4)
**MTE-55
Recorded 2 April, 1971
AMS studio, NYC
- untitled
- Sundance
Personnel:
Ali Abuwi hand drums & percussion
Frank Lowe tenor saxophone & percussion
Juma Sultan bass, hand drums & percussion, alto saxophone
**MTE-56
Rcorded post 1969
Probable location Tinker Street Cinema, Woodstock NY
- untitled
- untitled, part II
Personnel:
Ali Abuwi hand drums & percussion, oboe
Gene Dinwiddie flute
Julius Hemphill alto saxophone
Rod Hicks bass
Charles “Bobo” Shaw hand drums & percussion
Juma Sultan bass, hand drums & percussion
Abdul Wadud cello
Philip Wilson drum kit
Juma Sultan’s words from July 8, 1973:
“This day should be dedicated to all of the musicians who dedicated their lives to music. This includes all of the greatly known and unknown innovators of the past, the present, and the future.All should come together and make a joyous sound of love and peace…” – Juma Sultan’s planning notebook for the 1973 New York Musicians Jazz Festival.
Producer: Michael Ehlers
Liner Notes: Michael Heller
All Music & Images are Licensed from ©JumaSultan and Juma’s Archive
eremite.com
