A really amazing set of work from tenorist Clifford Jordan – a
player who first rose to fame in the hardbop scene of the late 50s, but
who moved into tremendous new territory with these Strata East
recordings of the late 60s and early 70s! Jordan was a Chicago
contemporary of players like Johnny Griffin and Von Freeman, but he was
never content to rest on his laurels – and stretched out on these
records with a spiritual vibe that he'd never expressed before – and
which would go onto inspire countless other musicians in years to come!
This set brings together all the Dolphy Series recordings that Jordan
recorded – either as an artist or producer – two of which were never
issued on record at the time. Jordan's own albums for the label are
wonderful enough – the double-length Glass Bead Games, one of our
favorite records ever – and the killer In The World, which is great
too. But this set also adds in other Strata East albums that really
help illustrate the scene in which Jordan was working – including the
excellent Pharoah Sanders non-Impulse session, Izipho Zam; the modern
music of Charles Brackeen on Rhythm X, with Don Cherry on trumpet and
Brackeen on tenor; and the great Cecil Payne album Zodiac, which has
some of the last trumpet work ever from Kenny Dorham. Plus, the set
also features two extremely rare albums – the never-issued Shades Of
Edward Blackwell – led by the drummer, with Don Cherry on trumpet and
Luqman Lateef on tenor, plus a bit of log drum from Jordan – and the
obscure Super Bass album from Wilbur Ware, which features Jordan on
tenor, in a quartet with Ware on bass, Don Cherry on trumpet, and Ed
Blackwell on drums! These two albums are worth the price of the package
alone – even if you have other Strata East albums in your collection –
and the whole thing features the usual sublime Mosaic package and
booklet.
