today's chillout music (95)

the khan jamal creative arts ensemble / drum dance to the motherland

A quintet headed by band leader Khan Jamal on vibraphone, marimba and clarinet, the group started out as an R&B band with Jazz leanings called Sounds Of Liberation, enjoying enough local success to be asked to open for Ike and Tina Turner and Kool and The Gang, but by '72 the group were delving into far wilder sonic territory as proved on this LP. Originally released on the Dogtown imprint, and recorded live at a basement coffeehouse named the Catacombs, the group's sound here is entriely improvised, incorporating elements of free jazz, early dub electronics, funk, blues and African folk entwined into an intuitive and amorphous cosmic mass that recalls classic Sun Ra jams and early Jamaican dub.