Griot Galaxy

More than Detroit’s answer to the Art Ensemble Chicago (AEC), the Griot Galaxy which existed officially from 1972-1989 was probably the Motor City’s most distinctive and experimental group during that time. Led by Faruq Z. Bey (1942-2012), who played alto, soprano and tenor saxophones plus bass clarinet, it had several permutations, but it’s most stable configuration is on this newly discovered recording from an Ann Arbor radio station.

Associated are Anthony Holland, a founder of The Creative Arts Collective, who plays the same instruments as Bey, bassist Jaribu Shahid and drummer Tani Tabbal. While like the AEC the Griot Galaxy mixed poetry and spoken word with improvisation and relied on constant reeds switching, it created a more obvious rhythmic groove. Tabbal has since led his own bands and worked with Roscoe Mitchell and Joe McPhee; while Shahid has recorded with Craig Taborn and Mitchell.

Shahid’s unrelenting pulsations are one factor that animates the group’s six selection, with Tabbal’s constant motion encompassing backbeats, shuffles and structs. This confirms how he and the bassist fuse as an unbeatable rhythm team. With the cadences firmly anchored there’s plenty of room for Holland and Bey’s reed motifs which harmonize and intertwine as often as creating counterpoint, revealing slurs, scoops and inner horn exploration.

Among the distinctive textures added are exotic oboe-like sneers from clarion bass clarinets. Besides that the stretched interactions commonly involve Bey’s tenor saxophone which on a track like “Osiris” blends R&B-like snorts with mid rage emotionalism, complemented by story-telling breaths from Holland’s mid-range alto saxophone. Here and elsewhere the reeds’ rugged stops are moderated by drum shuffles and bass string twangs. Pointedly among so-called avant garde expositions are interludes where the tenorist trades fours first with Tabbal or Shahid and a final recapping of the head.

At the same time Live … couldn’t be confused with contemporary jazz sessions since the overlapping reed patterns are  stretched with tongue stops and rapid bites. These turns are perfectly logical within the improvisations’ hills and valleys, while the groove remains, although the bassist sometimes deviates into arco slides as on “Zychron”.

“Necrophilia”, the concluding mini-suite wraps together these motifs. While it lacks Bey’s phlegmatic recitations showcased elsewhere, it ascends to a crescendo of near-hysterical human shrieks, yelps, bawls and cries confirming composer Shahid’s bleak assessment of outdated ideas to which some members of the Black community cling. Before that pitch and tempo shifts during the broken octave exposition contrast pinched soprano saxophone trills and moderated tenor saxophone scoops with added grit provided by doubled drum paradiddles, idiophones ratcheting and thick bass string slaps. The subsequent extended clarinet buzzing and dog-whistle soprano saxophone yelps portend the vocal glossolalia, that eventually calms the track alongside bass string stops. Confirming once again that memorable creative music wasn’t limited to major jazz centres, the Griot Galaxy should be celebrated as being as important to Detroit’s improvised history as its 1950s Hard Bop bands.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing:1. After Death 2. Dragons 3. Osiris 4. Androgeny 5.  Zychron The Incessant 6.
Necrophilia

Personnel: Faruq Z. Bey and Anthony Holland  (alto, soprano, and tenor saxophones and bass clarinet); Jaribu Shahid (bass) and Tani Tabbal (drums and percussion)