It’s time to forge the third link of our Jazz Chain. What’s a Jazz Chain you ask? Well, it’s still pretty new so I’ll briefly explain: I’m taking a tour through jazz history, one album at a time, and each week’s album is linked to the last by a musician. One week’s sideman is the next’s leader. We started with Art Blakey’s album Orgy in Rythym and moved on to Sabu Martinez’ Sorcery!. Now we’re taking Cecil Payne, who plays on Sorcery!, jumping ten years forward in time¹Because the chain is not bound by temporal logic, only relationships. , and giving a listen to his album Zodiac.

Zodiac – Cecile Payne – 1968/1973

This is an interesting album. It’s good, though not great, or, perhaps better put, not an album to immediately jump into my list of favorites. But it is interesting because it is one of those albums that you can’t help but alter your relationship with once it’s put in a bit of context. Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours takes on whole new dimensions when you learn four of the bands members comprised two couples and their relationships were disintegrating to the point of not speaking to each other, except to make that fantastic music. Nirvana’s Unplugged in New York can’t escape the weight of Kurt Cobain’s suicide; it’s lyrics, most powerful moments, and set design for the live performance are all forever coloured by that tragedy. Now, please understand I am not suggesting Zodiac is in either of those albums’ league for importance or musical greatness²Not even close. I mean, I like this album fine, but those two? Those are “best ever music of any kind” conversation level albums., but there is a similar effect happening with this album.

The album was recorded at the end of 1968, and it’s first track, “Martin Luther King, Jr.” , was intended as a memorial to the great civil rights leader who had been killed 8 months earlier. However, Zodiac was not released until 5 years later, in 1973.³Why the delay between recording and release? I’ve tried to find out, but I’ve so far failed to find any answer. By that time, 2 members of the quintet that had recorded it, pianist/organist Wynton Kelly and trumpet player Kenny Dorham, had both passed away fairly recently themselves. Along with Payne, the cover of the album features a dedication and photos of the two musicians.

Now, almost all of the musicians on almost all of the jazz albums I have or will listen to are long passed away, but that isn’t quite the same as listening to this album knowing that two of it’s prominent players never got to see its release. There is also something sad in hearing those first memorial trumpet and piano notes playing out in tribute to a fallen hero on an album first shared with the public 5 years late and explicitly released to honor the memory of the men playing those notes, now a memorial to themselves as well.

Moving past that first beautiful track⁴And I’d have to call it the album’s standout track., my initial thoughts on my first listen of Zodiac were something like: ‘Ah, here we go, we have arrived at jazz and only three albums in to this project.’  Which is sort of a weird thought⁵ The first two albums in this series were most definitely jazz. until you learn that I am one of those people who, when I think of jazz I think first of the Bop styles. Particularly Hard Bop.⁶I know I’m not even close to being alone in this feeling. Bebop, Post-Bop and Hard Bop are just hard to escape as the quintessential sound of jazz. And right away I knew this album was going to fit in that general milieu.⁷A quick primer: Bebop/Bop was when jazz started moving from a dance music to something that was more a celebration of virtuoso musicianship. Faster tempo, complex compositions and improvisation. Hard Bop was an extension of this that added elements of other music such as the Blues, Rhythm and Blues, and Gospel. Wikipedia is a good source for more.

Art Blakey, I should note, is an important player of the Bebop and Hard Bob styles, and, I suppose Orgy in Rhythm is probably often categorized as such itself, but I just can’t see it myself. Sure, you could say it has Bop elements, but it also brings in so much more that I, personally, would never put it forth as a good example of this kind of jazz. Zodiac, on the other hand, I would.

When we move past “Martin Luther King, Jr.” we get some fun compositions. The tempo picks up, particularly in the last two tracks “Follow Me”⁸Which is probably my second favorite track on offer. and “Flying Fish”. As is often the case in this sort of jazz all the musicians get a chance to do their thing and whether you want to enjoy Payne’s sax⁹Which is good, but I really enjoyed the room he makes for his sidemen., Wynton’s piano or organ¹⁰Which was something I really enjoyed here, I’m a sucker for some good organ. Big Hammond fan., Dorham’s trumpet¹¹Which really shines at times. , Wilbur Ware’s bass¹²Which most often stands out in combination with Wynton’s piano,, or Albert Heath’s drum work¹³He has very little in the way of any “DRUM SOLO” moments, except in “Follow Me”, but he does do what good drummers always do: keep everything together. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

It’s a great album for putting on to just relax to some jazz, to write to, or as background music. It isn’t 3am mellow (except maybe that first track) but it never gets really carried away either. It’s worth your time, but if nothing else, check out that first track.

Unfortunately, it isn’t an easy album to find! Not on Spotify and I couldn’t buy it on iTunes or any other legit mp3 stores I know of. I did find it on Youtube, but at 41:44 its 4:04 shorter than all the track listings I can find say it should be. Needless to say I will be sticking to albums that are more easily accessible, hopefully available on Spotify so I can put together a “The Jazz Chain” playlist.¹⁴Which will now forever have this hole in it. Argh. Still, it’s better than nothing so here you go:

For the next installment of The Jazz Chain I considered going with either Kenny Dorham or the really excellent Wynton Kelly, but it turns out bassist Wilbur Ware only ever recorded one album as leader. So, if we’re ever going to listen to it we might as well cover it now. So keep an eye out for the next link in The Jazz Chain where we’ll listen to Wilbur Ware’s The Chicago Sound.