Since releasing
Shaw-Neeq, his seminal 1971
Black Jazz debut album while still a member of
Ray Charles' band, guitarist
Calvin Keys has recorded only sporadically. In 1975 he issued an extremely worthy
Black Jazz follow-up titled
Proceed with Caution!, but joined
Ahmad Jamal's group and didn't record as a leader until the mid-'80s. He signed with the venerable indie
Wide Hive in 2000, issuing the crucial acid jazz classic
Detours into Unconscious Rhythms.
Blue Keys marks only his fourth outing for the label.
This nine-track set is performed by a star-studded cast that includes
Gary Bartz on alto sax,
Steve Turre on trombone and shells,
Babatunde Lea on percussion, bassists
Henry Franklin and
Scott Brown, saxophonist
Doug Rowan, drummers
Thomas McRee and
Mike Hughes, pianist/keyboardist
Mike Rinta, organist
Mike Blankenship, and pianist/producer
Gregory Howe.
Set opener "Peregrine's Dive" juxtaposes jaunty post-bop, Latin rhythms, and elegant funk. Introduced by a minor modal piano, a sprightly jazzy guitar run, and
Bartz's moaning alto,
Turre's trombone enters atop a shuffling, breaking drum kit and double bass.
Bartz solos first, weaving sumptuous lines around the band before
Turre enters, pushing the crew with a rhythmic approach.
Keys adds expansive vamps in direct interplay with trombone and drums. His solo weds complex, rhythmic chord voicings and fluid, edgy single-note runs. The jam ultimately swirls together, moving frenetically yet steadily. It's almost danceable. "CK 22" is introduced by a fingerpopping bass riff before keys and trombone decompress them with open modal circularity; playing both trombone and conch shells,
Turre offers harmonic support while
Keys delivers a deep blue solo. Speaking of blues, "At Arrival" showcases
Keys' canny playing, atop a walking double bass, congas, and drums, while "Making Rain" is a funkier look at jazz-blues a la
Phil Upchurch and
T-Bone Walker. "Six to Seven" explores dub reggae, post-bop, blues, and funk.
Keys' five-note theme is buoyed by brass and reeds atop bumping congas, taut basslines, and percussive syncopation. His guitar winds complex scales yet never abandons the groove. A much edgier blues appears in the title track. Initially,
Keys revisits his journey with the
Charles band, melding leads, chords, and vamps with a piano accent and swinging Chicago-style horns. Closer "BK 18" is the genuine jazz-funk article. A horn section vamp is urged by the drum kit to set up a frame for
Keys, who makes use of
Bob Marley's Get Up, Stand Up" in the lyric riff. Rhythmically inventive,
Keys solos directly at them before letting the horn section exercise a lyric, harmonic motif that hovers between
Fela Kuti and
James Brown. The middle-eight breaks the jam open as horns, breaking drums, hypnotic bass, and a meandering keyboard line flow around and through his playing. Following
Keys serpentine, cut-to-the-bone solo, the tune concludes with spacy dubwise effects and brassy authority. Though recorded eight years later,
Blue Keys picks up where
Electric Keys left off yet is more musically advanced and groove-centric. This is powerful stuff. ~! Thom Jurek
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