Recorded in 1972,
Blue Moses, the most commercially successful album in pianist/composer
Randy Weston's catalog remains one of his most controversial due to his conflicted feelings about the final product, which he feels is too polished and too far from his original intent for the project. Indeed, appearing on
Creed Taylor's
CTI imprint was an almost certain guarantee of polished production.
Weston plays both acoustic and Rhodes piano here; he was backed by a band of
CTI's star-studded stable: trumpeter
Freddie Hubbard, tenor saxophonist
Grover Washington, flutists
Hubert Laws and
Romeo Penque, drummer
Billy Cobham, alternate bassists
Ron Carter and
Bill Wood, and percussionists
Phil Kraus,
Airto Moreira, and
Weston's son
Azzedin. This group was backed by a punchy
Don Sebesky-arranged horn section.
Blue Moses, consists of four compositions; it was an attempt by
Weston to showcase the influence "Ganawa" music from Morocco had on him as a composer. "Ganawa (Blues Moses)," with its frenetic, minor-key piano lines, knotty, Middle Eastern Eastern-sounding charts, and skittering North African rhythms push the listener into a new space, one that stands outside of
CTI's usual frame in, and into, the exotic. The brass is aggressive, and while that might overshadow some recordings of lesser substance,
Sebesky knew what he had in
Weston's tunes, and reigned his players in just enough to keep the dynamics fresh, open, and full of engaged call-and- response playing between
Weston,
Hubbard, and
Laws. So too, album closer "Marrakesh Blues," with wordless backing vocals by
Madame Meddah, twinned trumpet and flute lines, gorgeous electric piano solos, and a deep, strolling bassline. It's an Eastern modal blues with the sound of a horn section to boost its drama."Night in the Media" is a labyrinthine, more abstract piece, but utterly atmospheric and colorful in its arrangement, with exciting interplay between
Weston's enormous chords and
Washington's swinging, soulful saxophone and percussion instruments that create a lithe, spiritual jazz groove. No matter how
Weston ultimately feels about
Blue Moses, this date succeeds on all levels. Creating a commercially viable recording from the elements presented must not have been easy, but
Taylor rose to the occasion and delivered a grooving beauty of an album without compromising
Weston's genius. ~Thom Jurek
![Lost and Found [Rhino]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0081227105921_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Lost and Found [Rhino]")
