Jazz on the Beach 215: Kenny Cox, Roy Brooks, Jordan Williams, Mammal Hands, Julian Lage, Ronnie Burrage, Kenny Garrett, Corcoran Holt, Charles Lloyd, Ron Carter, Rahsaan Roland Kirk
'Oh, by gosh, by golly...'
This week’s Jazz on the Beach features some extraordinary and soulful music by three artists from Detroit, pianist Kenny Cox, drummer Roy Brooks and bassist, producer and Blue Note president Don Was. As much as I enjoy Cox’s two late ‘60s Blue Note albums Introducing Kenny Cox and Multidirection, it was his two records for Detroit’s short lived Strata label that really get to me, especially Clap Clap! The Joyful Noise (Strata, 1975).
One of this week’s highlights is the deliriously infectious bossa groove of Cox’s Beyond the Dream featuring guitarist Ron English, flugelhorn player Charles Moore, soprano saxophonist Buzz Jones, drummer Victor Reeves, percussionist Ronald Johnsons and vocalist Ursula Walker. Even though it’s thirteen minutes long, it always ends too soon.
There’s been a lot of noise (rightfully so) about Roy Brooks’ recently reissued 1972 album The Free Slave, (Muse, 1972, released in October by Time Traveller Recordings), and I played the powerful title track on the show recently. For this week’s playlist I went back to an earlier album and the deeply grooving Soulin’ from Beat (Workshop Jazz, 1964), featuring trumpeter Blue Mitchell, trombonist George Bohanon, tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, pianist Hugh Lawson and drummer Eugene Taylor. Incidentally, Workshop Jazz was another short lived Detroit label (1962-1964), and was a subsidiary of Tamla Motown.
There’s a second track from Don Was & the Pan-Detroit Ensemble with a great version of Kenny Barron’s Nubian Lady, first recorded by Yusef Lateef. It’s a live recording from the album Groove In The Face Of Adversity (Mack Avenue, October), with electric double bassist and bandleader Don Was, flautist Dave McMurray, guitarist Wayne Gerard, pianist Luis Resto, trombonist Vincent Chandler, trumpeter John Douglas, drummer Jeff Canady and percussionist Mahindi Masai. Here’s a video:
The aforementioned Soulin’ made for a perfect opening track, and nicely set up Norwich based Mammal Hands’ new single Alia’s Abandon from Circadia (ACT, 27th February). Pianist Nick Smart and his brother, the saxophonist Jordan Smart, are now joined by ex GoGo Penguin drummer Rob Turner, and changing label from Matthew Halsall’s Gondwana Records to Siggi Loch’s ACT Music should help them enormously.
More new releases, with master guitarist Julian Lage and Talking Drum, the second single from Scenes from Above (Blue Note, 23rd January), with organist John Medeski, double bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Kenny Wollesen. The rolling groove took me back to a more out there Little Feat, but others may not quite hear it that way.
The 29 year old Philadelphian pianist Jordan Williams is absolutely flying with Fats Waller and James P. Johnson inspired striding on Buster Williams’ Tayamisha from his debut Playing By Ear (Red Records, 16th January), supported and encouraged by a top tier rhythm section of drummer Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts and double bassist Nat Reeves.
I’m a sucker for Steely Dan covers, and am enjoying the San Franciscan keyboard, synth and melodica player Greg Rahn’s Josie from Side Hustle (Harmony Pacific Records, 16th January), with drummer Mick Mestek, percussionist Derek Rolando and vocals from Katie and Patricia Rahn.
Also new is double bassist and Kenny Garrett sideman Corcoran Holt’s wondrous Breathe in Peace (Kharyallah) from Freedom of Art (Hothouse Music, 20th February), with tenor saxophonist Stacy Dillard, trumpeter Josh Evans, pianist Benito Gonzalez and Kweku Sumbry (or possibly Lewis Nash) on drums.
Holt also plays on alto saxophonist and born Detroiter Kenny Garrett’s For Art’s Sake from the sensational Sounds from the Ancestors (Mack Avenue, 2021), with pianist Vernell Brown Jr electric pianist Johnny Mercier, drummer Ronald Bruner and percussionist Rudy Bird. Bruner is just astonishing here, especially over the closing two minutes.
There’s the drummer, composer and educator Ronnie Burrage & Band Burrage with the festive and restorative Martinique from his seventh album Heal (MiMikAlana Records, 2014). Burrage performs simultaneously on drums and a Korg keyboard with alto saxophonist Rick Tate, bassist Nimrod Speaks and guitarist Eric Slaughter. It’s great, and you can find the album in Ronnie’s online shop here.
I’ve been enjoying the recent spate of newly released live recordings by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. But I have also been dipping into his studio work and rediscovered Silverization from the terrific Now please don’t you cry, beautiful Edith (Verve, 1967), his only album for the label which was produced by Creed Taylor. Kirk plays tenor saxophone and multiple horns with pianist Lonnie Liston Smith, double bassist Ronnie Boykins and drummer Grady Tate.
There have been many versions of A Night in Tunisia on the show but never this one by Dizzy Gillespie from Afro (Norgran, 1954 and reissued in 1956 as Manteca). The title of Gillespie’s 1942 bebop classic may be North African (Gillespie had named it Interlude, someone else renamed it), but the groove was now distinctly Afro Cuban. If you haven’t heard it for a while you’ll love it, with trumpeter Gillespie leading flautist Gilberto Valdes, pianist Alejandro Hernandez, double bassist Roberto Rodriguez, congueros Rafael Miranda & Candido Camero, and bongo and timbale players Joe Mangual and Ubaldo Nieto.
And finally, the Charles Lloyd Quartet’s exuberant One for Joan from Of Course, Of Course (Columbia, 1965), his second album as a leader. Lloyd plays tenor saxophone with the spectacular lineup of guitarist and JOTB favourite Gábor Szabó, double bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams.
It’s Incredible to think that 60 years later both Charles Lloyd and Ron Carter continue to make spectacular music, and Lloyd’s recent Figure in Blue (Blue Note, October) is just beautiful.
To listen to this week’s Jazz on the Beach on Mixcloud, just click below:
Jazz On The Beach #215 17th December 2025
Roy Brooks - Soulin’
Mammal Hands - Alia’s Abandon
Julian Lage - Talking Drum
Don Was & the Pan-Detroit Ensemble - Nubian Lady
Charles Lloyd Quartet - One for Joan
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Silverization
Dizzy Gillespie & Orchestra - A Night in Tunisia
Kenny Cox - Beyond the Dream
Greg Rahn - Josie
Ronnie Burrage & Band Burrage - Martinique
Jordan Williams - Tayamisha
Idris Muhammad - Piece of Mind
Kenny Garrett - For Art’s Sake
Cannonball Adderley - Love for Sale
Corcoran Holt - Breathe in Peace (Kharyallah)
Arthur Baker feat. Pharoah Sanders - Love Hymn
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Jazz On The Beach broadcasts every Wednesday evening from 10:00 PM to midnight (UK time), repeating on Monday morning from 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM (UK time).
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Sounds like a spectacular show, from your always interesting point of view.