John Klemmer – Free Soul
John Klemmer – My Heart Sings
John Klemmer – Children Of The Earth Flames
I’m not sure exactly why, but it took me what seemed like FOREVER to track down another copy of this LP. I’d originally come across a copy at Groove Merchant in 1999 and parted ways with that copy during my big sell-off in 2004. Pretty much that entire time I’d been digging for another copy, only finding the cheapo budget reissue, but never this version. Eventually I just had to stalk Ebay to try and find a decently priced copy which I recently did. I don’t think this is a particularly rare record, but over the last 6+ years I never saw another copy. While it may not be super rare, and lord knows I’ve seen seemingly every other record Klemmer record in bins across the country, it is a super good LP, and that might be part of the reason you don’t see it around too often.
Like a lot of LPs on the Cadet Concept record label from this period of time, Blowin’ Gold straddles a number of scenes with an eye on hippie-fied consumers. It features a couple of well-known covers (“Hey Jude” and Hendrix’s “Third Stone From The Sun”) and a rather lovely sign of things to come in the ballad “My Love Has Butterfly Wings”, but it’s the psychedelic tracks that kept me on the lookout for this LP for so long. In addition to Klemmer on Saxophone, this record features a crack rhythm section with Phil Upchurch on bass and Morris Jennings on drums, Richard Thompson on some very game piano and organ throughout and a true under-rated master, Pete Cosey on electric guitar. Cosey just about takes over on the über-heavy “My Heart Sings” even with his guitar pushed down in the mix. With the drums and organ pounding away, Klemmer skwaking out his notes, Cosey’s guitar still screams out of the right side of the speakers in all kinds of fuzzy distorion, at times not even sounding like a guitar, but more like an additional skronking saxophone. Soooooooooooo very heavy, I can almost forgive him for the truly silly 1960s spoken introduction.
Speaking of heavy, “Free Soul” is such a bad ass jam. It seems like a pretty conventional soul-jazz number for about 10 seconds, then Klemmer lets loose with those epic trilling notes that just sound like a great Hip-Hop break while at the same time sounding like no one would put that passage in a break (well, maybe the ending more so than the horn part). Without a doubt one of my all-time favorite left-field funk jazz tracks, especially at the end when everything falls away and we’re left with those ominous keyboard tones from Thompson. Klemmer’s playing is probably at it’s best here, another track that reminds me a bit more of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, as Klemmer lays out layers of notes, occassionally mumbling, shouting or screaming around and through his sax.
Now that I think of it, it’s funny, but when I hear “Children Of The Earth Flames” I don’t see Klemmer at all, instead in my mind I literally see Rahsaan playing this tune. I know that Klemmer’s playing gets compared to ‘Trane’s all the time, but here he seems more inspired by Rahsaan and Eddie Harris, especially with the electric effects on his horn. The playing at the start of this song sounds almost like two separate horns playing in tandem, which is likely while it immediately reminds me of Rahsaan, along with it’s off the wall funkiness.
I’ve never been able to get into Klemmer’s other work, after the aural freakouts of this LP they all just seem too pedestrian. This is one of those records that is so good, you wish there was more of this sound. Knowing what I know about recording techniques around this time, it’s actually very likely that there’s a reel-to-reel full of alt-takes and unreleased tracks just sweating away in some Chicago basement. Until someone discorvers them, I’m just thankful that I was able to get reunited with this album.
Cheers,
Michael