Blissful boogie-down soul by the Fatback Band alumnus, produced by Greg Carmichael and Patrick Adams; originally released in 1978. With the almighty It Ain’t No Big Thing.

Killer, mournful roots. Plus Pablo on xylophone, over his own awesome rhythm.

Even leaving aside the epochal title track, this is unmissable. Wildly original Jammys rhythms, cool as cucumber, with his old next-door-neighbour in full flow. Fire like E20, Like A Dragon, My Lord My God, Icky All Over…

That’s Maupin on Bitches Brew, and Lee Morgan’s Live At The Lighthouse, and Head Hunters. He co-wrote Chameleon. From 1977, this is killer fusion in the same dazzling tradition — as confirmed by transformative readings of two classics by the Mwandishi sextet, Quasar and Water Torture, from the LP Crossings. We’re in the same neck of the woods as Eddie Henderson’s two deadly Blue Notes around this time — Sunburst and Heritage — and the great trumpeter is here. Also Patrice Rushen, who plays a blinder: check her out on the opener. Pat Gleeson, who introduced Herbie to synths, Head Hunters mainstay Paul Jackson, Blackbyrd McKnight, from Flood and Man-Child…

‘A more selfless album is hard to imagine,’ according to Down Beat in 1975. ‘The sound is supreme, and all the players strive to achieve a thorough blending.’ Recorded in New York in 1974, the disc’s personnel is drawn from the circle around Herbie Hancock in the period, but the music has a character all its own.
‘A classic of 1970s spiritual jazz, and as much as any recording on Strata East or Black Jazz, Maupin’s ECM offering is a wonder of arrangement and composition with gorgeous ensemble play, long yet sparse passages, space, and genuine strangeness. Maupin plays all of his reeds and flute in addition to glockenspiel here; Summers’ percussion effects include a water-filled garbage can. The two drummers swirling around in different channels don’t ever play the same thing, but counter and complement one another. And Hancock plays some of the most truly Spartan and lyrically modal piano in his career here… This album sounds as timeless and adventurous in the present as the day it was released’ (AllMusic).
‘Luminessence Series.’

Dewey Redman (tenor sax), Charles Eubanks (piano), Mark Helias (bass), Ed Blackwell (drums).