Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Les McCann: Invitation to Openness

10

Les McCann: Invitation to Openness

By

Sign in to view read count
Les McCann: Invitation to Openness
It is a simple matter of acid-base stoichiometry like that learned in any quantitative chemical analysis or medicinal chemistry course. If one treats the acid element of Parliament Funkadelic's Maggot Brain (Westbound, 1971) with the sweet bass of Leroy Vinnegar, then infuse as with juniper with gin, with honey and morphine: Les McCann's monumental Invitation to Openness would result. Ornette Coleman may have detonated a nuclear music device with Free Jazz; A Collective Improvisation (Atlantic, 1961), but it was McCann that brought that same spirit to funk, with much better results

Invitation to Openness is a free-form exploration of simple themes infused with the same spirit of McCann and Eddie Harris' 1969 performance of "Compared to What" at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, except more laid back. That piece is only bested by Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddamn." But this is not where McCann is coming from on Invitation to Openness. No, he has mellowed and transcribes that mellowness into an early 1970s love vibe. Stream-of-Conscience so far beyond Faulkner and Wolff and we cannot imagine life without it.

McCann's themes are developed slowly and fully elaborated upon in these lengthy presentations. McCann reprises a 1970s "Compared to What" but the original found on YouTube remains the definitive thought of the period. Invitation to Openness is hypnotically cannabinoid like UB40's Signing Off (Graduate Records, 1980): to be enjoyed with Absinthe and like company.

Track Listing

The Lovers; Breux J. Poo Boo; Poo Pye McGoochie (and his friends); Compared to What.

Personnel

Les McCann: keyboards; Yusef Lateef: tenor saxophone, oboe, flute pneumatic flute, flute, David Spinozza: guitars; Cornell Dupree: guitar; Corky Hale: harp; Jodie Christian: electric piano; Bill Salter: bass; Jimmy rowser: bass; Bernard Purdie:; drums and percussion Al Mouzon: drums and percussion; Donald Dean; William Clark: percussion; Ralph McDonald: percussion.

Album information

Title: Invitation to Openness | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: Omnivore Recordings

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Love Is Passing Thru
Roberto Magris
Candid
Sunny Five
Inside Colours Live
Julie Sassoon

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.