Vocal CD Reissue of the MonthJackie Cain & Roy Kral: "A Wilder Alias" (CTI/Sony Masterworks) 1974/2011
Rating:
***** (musical performance)
**** (original sonic quality & remastering)
Produced by Creed Taylor
Recorded & Mixed by Rudy Van Gelder in December 1973 @ Van Gelder Studios (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey)
Cover Photo by Pete Turner
Liner Photo by Dean Brown
Album Desigb by Bob Ciano
Reissue Produced by Richard Seidel
Mastered by Mark Wilder & Maria Triana @ Battery Studios, NYC, in June 2011
Jackie & Roy's controversial "A Wilder Alias," recorded in December 1973 and released in March 1974 as CTI 6040 (original catalog number), appears for the first time on CD format in the U.S., featuring Roy Kral on Wurlitzer electric piano & Jackie Cain's crystal clear voice -- wordless vocals, most of the time -- plus Harvie Swartz (acoustic bass), Steve Gadd (drums), Joe Farrell (soprano & tenor saxophones), Hubert Laws (flute) and Roy Pennington (vibes). Don Sebesky is credited as musical director, but all arrangements are by the late Roy Kral.
This most welcomed CD reissue comes in a mini-LP gatefold sleeve, reproducing the original artwork conceived by my dear friend Bob Ciano, CTI's art director at that time. Actually, like Randy Weston's "Blue Moses" reviewed below, "A Wilder Alias" had never been reissued not even on vinyl LP after its original 1974 pressing, while another CTI title in this series - Joe Farrell's "Outback," although also previously unreleased on CD here in the USA, had been reissued on LP by Creed Taylor twice, on its CTI 8000 series, in 1979 and 1981, with different cover arts.
In Japan, "A Wilder Alias" had been reissued three times: in 2000 (by the Vivid Sound label, in a standard jewel case, without the CTI logo on the front cover, and released in a series which also included Jackie & Roy's semi-psychedelic 1969 "Grass" album for Capitol), in 2003 (by PJL, in mini-LP hard-gatefoldcover, but with the original liner artwork destroyed) and finally in 2006 (by King Records).
Well, I like all albums that Jackie & Roy recorded for Creed Taylor since the '50s (some tracks were reunited in a nice 1997 CD compilation issued bu Koch under the title "The ABC-Paramount Years" with liner notes by James Gavin), and throughout the '60s (for Verve) and the '70s (the 2 CTI albums).
I must admitt that "Time & Love" remains my personal favorite. It's by far the hippest, sophisticated & beautifully arranged (thx to Don Sebesky) album that Jackie & Roy ever recorded. The ultra-subtle contributions by Hubert Laws, Paul Desmond, Bob James, Jay Berliner and, yes, Billy Cobham, are noteworthy too. Not to mention the lovely repertoire - from Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileiras" to my late friend Michel Colombier's "We Could Be Flying", including one of the two best (the other is by Cassandra Wilson on Danilo Perez/Claus Ogerman's 2009 "Across The Crystal Sea") vocal versions of "Lazy Afternoon" ever comitted on tape.
Despite the musical excellence of that album (5,000 stars to my taste), it wasn't a commercial success, although Creed had tried to give more exposure to Jackie & Roy by adding them to a CTI All-Stars ensemble that toured Europe in 1972. However, they weren't well received. CTI fans seemed to want to hear only the funky and electrifying numbers provided by such giants as Hubbard, Turrentine and Benson.
If you listen to the unofficial 2-CD set of CTI All Stars' "Live in Munich" (aka "CTI at the Olympics") for example, you'll actually hear booing after each of the three Jackie & Roy performances ("Daahoud," "Waltz for Dana" and even on "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most," Jackie & Roy's most famous number). It was a very constraining situation, to say the least. And the duo never toured with the CTI All-Stars once again...
Then came "A Wilder Alias" and I also loved it. It's their most creative and challenging album ever, with stunning original material (all 5 tunes were penned by Kral, with Richard Druz appearing as a co-writer on "Good and Rich," and Jackie Cain adding lyrics to the celebratory folk-oriented ballad "Niki's Song"), strong solos (mostly by Laws and Farrell), incredible vocals, great cover art (front & liner pics).
There's also a very special energy throughout the album. A very positive one indeed, although Jackie & Roy were in a "bad vibes" mood at that time, due to the then-recent tragic death of their 20-year old daughter Niki in a car accident while driving to a horse racetrack near their house in New Jersey. [Oddly, Niki died on April 20, 1973, the day the whole family had been invited by Creed Taylor to attend his most ambitious live event, the "CTI 2001 Space Concert" at the Felt Forum of the Madison Square Garden, a four-hour fusion marathon featuring Airto's band as opening act, the CTI All Stars group (Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Bob James, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Eric Gale) as second act, and the debut of Deodato's recently formed 10-piece band as the main attraction.]
The tragedy affected the whole family, of course, and the parents wrote "Niki's Song" to honor her. On its turn, "Waltz For Dana," that they had been played for years as an untitled instrumental tune, received this title to caress their other daughter, Dana, who was 16 when Niki passed away. I'm sure that Creed's invitation to the recording of a second Jackie & Roy album for CTI was his way to help them to get over the loss and fight the depression with work.
As my personal reverence to all the family, and all the Jackie & Roy's fans, here's a transcription of the lyrics written by Cain to "Niki's Song":
Visual treats on the beach at night to gratify the eye
Neon electric phosphoresce waves reflect the star filled sky
And a silvery strip of mylar is unfurled to greet the shore
As if in celebration of a full moon here once more
A full moon moving the tide and sand
A full moon taking us by the hand
What a celebration this rare configuration and a full moon
Gathering shells as we walk along in phosphorescent light
Sharing together all the joy, a very special night
And the sound of the surf is like music
And we want to make it last
We feel like little children and we are a spell in cast
A full moon moving the tide and sand
A full moon taking us by the hand
What a celebration this rare configuration and a full moon
Visual treats on the beach at night to gratify the eye
Neon electric phosphoresce waves reflect the star filled sky
And a silvery strip of mylar is unfurled to greet the shore
As if in celebration of a full moon here once more
A full moon moving the tide and sand
A full moon taking us by the hand
What a celebration this rare configuration and a full moon
And a full moon, full moon, full moon...
It's great to see how the "assembled band" (mixing Creed Taylor's favorites like Gadd, Laws and Farrell with musicians spefically requested by Kral such as Harvie Swartz and Roy Pennington) works so well, sometimes more "surprising" and unpredictable than an exclusive CTI all-star cast would probably sound. I particularly enjoy the "sum of the parts" regarding Steve Gadd's burning drumwork (splendid as always) and Harvie Swartz's classy basslines, almost so memorable as the combination (which yielded superb results) of Gadd with bassist Mike Moore on Art Farmer/Jim Hall's "Big Blues" (Moore's only session for CTI ever! such a surreal thing!) Gadd's interaction with Roy Kral is amazing too, proppelling him to a stunning wordless vocal/electric piano improvisation in unison built upon a typical "Gadd samba groove" on the title track "A Wilder Alias."
I often refer to it as a controversial album because Jackie & Roy "rejected" the album at the time of its original release. The duo disclaimed the LP by saying that Creed Taylor had used "rehearsal takes" (the same thing alleged by Allan Holdsworth to disclaim his solo debut -- and single album for CTI -- "Velvet Darkness," which, for this reason, also became known as a "controversial album" (btw, I love "Velvet Darkness" too, it's a great session of pure, raw and wild jazz-rock).
Jackie Cain, with whom I also used to correspond, also alleged that Creed Taylor used the "reference vocals," not allowing them (Jackie & Roy) to overdub better vocal performances. Anyway, "A Wilder Alias" is a 5-star album for my taste, although Van Gelder used heavy compression in the mix and, therefore, the sound is not as "transparent" and clear like on "Time & Love."
Having worked with both Creed and Rudy Van Gelder, I know the alleged facts may be true. During a session for Creed in 1991, I saw a vocalist becoming very upset with the producer when she recorded a "rehearsal track" (when mics were still being tested and details of the arrangements were still being discussed) and Creed said "it's OK, we've finished for today, thanks everybody," not allowing her to overdub her vocal part.
And let's not forget that the basic track for Deodato's "Also Sprach Zarathustra/2001" also was a first-take caught during a rehearsal. When Deodato said, "OK, I think we've got a good groove, let's record it," Creed replied from the console: "it's already recorded." Deodato listened, disliked his Fender Rhodes solo, and insisted to do a second take which was never issued because it simply didn't have the energy and spontaneity of the "rehearsal take" to which he later on added the horns and strings.
Oddly, Sony never included that alternate (second) take of "2001" --neither two other never-released tracks from the "Prelude" sessions -- in any of the several CD reissues of CTI's best-selling title. Yes, I'm sure they exist, I've heard them at CBS Studios in the '80s, as I've also listened to unreleased tracks from "A Wilder Alias" and I was hoping that Sony would not be lazy in rescuing and mixing them for this first U.S. CD release. But, unfortunately, there are no bonus tracks this time.
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