LES MCCANN — Invitation to Openness (review)

LES MCCANN — Invitation to Openness album cover Album · 1972 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
FunkFreak75
Les' deepest foray into the rich waters of Jazz-Rock Fusion leads him down the road Miles Davis paved with In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew--complete with the use of multiple drummers and upright and electric bass players, embellishing and decorating the road with and even Deodato territory.

A. "The Lovers" (26:11) awesome tension-filled beauty, music for contemplation and daydreaming, with harp, Moog synth, awesomely rich electric piano and rhythm guitar play with a lot of sounds and melodies that sound as if drawn from other cultures and traditions--like India or Egypt. I love this song! Much more than anything on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew: it sounds so much more full, thorough, and fun! The music here reminds me a lot of Julian Priester's Love Love album: hypnotic simple groovin' that just takes you deep into your imagination--to one's happiest exotic places. (48.25/50)

B1. "Beaux J. Poo Boo" (13:12) sounds like a DEODATO-funked up DON ELLIS song, it contains some very cool sounds from Yusef Lateef and the percussionists. (22/25)

B2. "Poo Pye McGoochie (And His Friends)" (12:34) a suite of multiple themes and styles, some pastoral, some experiments with the sounds and treatment of Les' Fender Rhodes, some pre-Weather Report "Birdland"-like jazz-funk, some low-structured avant garde, mostly melodic (though sometimes chaotic and/or frenetic). Interesting--and by no means bad--but not my cup of tea. (21.875/25)

Total Time: 51:39

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of electric piano-based Jazz-Rock Fusion.

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