Introducing The Eleventh House - The Eleventh House

May

15

Introducing The Eleventh House - The Eleventh House

≡ Category: 1970s, Essential, Fusion, Jazz Funk, Jazz Rock, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

In some ways, the music in The Eleventh House is surprisingly simple, especially harmonically.

Most of The Funky Waltz is one chord, with a melody which is pentatonic. Low-Tee-Tah, despite the ornamental flourishes of Larry Coryell, essentially revolves around a dominant 7th augmented 4th chord. Similarly, Yin is based on a modal scale with a flatted 9nth and a flatted 13nth, but revolves around the tonic. Adam Smasher is poppy as all heck. The beginning of Joy Ride sounds like the Alman Brothers’ Midnight Rider. Right On Y’all is a straightforward funk/rock tune.

So, where is the musical interest? Well, even though the tunes are relatively simple harmonically, there is a fair amount of compositional variety. There are influences from funk, rock, pop, jazz, and even modes derived from non-Western music. It also helps that the improvisational approaches of the three featured soloists are so different and yet complimentary. Guitarist Larry Coryell tends towards a jazz/rock approach. Randy Brecker is incredibly strong here, employing a very original style here that I wish he had explored more elsewhere. His trumpet playing is very free, harmonically sophisticated and employs a lot of vocalisms. Mike Mandel on keys is soulful, poppy, and jazzy in almost equal measure.

The grooves are also very different from one another.

For example, the opener, Birdfingers, is in 11/8. After a furious drum introduction by Alphonse Mouzon, we get the head, followed by solos, which is standard for jazz, but the solo structure that follows is unusual and effective. Throughout the first chorus, Brecker solos every other bar, alternating with one bar solos by Coryell and Mandel. Then it’s Mandel’s turn in the spotlight, alternating with Coryell and Brecker. Finally, Coryell has a chorus all to himself. The head is repeated and the tune ends, in a ridiculously compact three minutes and seven seconds, like an AM radio tune.

The Funky Waltz is exactly what it sounds like, a jazz waltz crossed with a funk tune. Unfortunately, this tune introduces one of the flaws of the record. Mike Mandel is fine when he’s playing electric piano, but he’s not a master of synthesizer textures like Joe Zawinul or Jim Beard. His synth patches sound cheesy three decades after the fact. They’re not bad enough to ruin the record outright, but they’re irritating.

Low-Lee-Tah is in a time signature that escapes me, although the band plays it although it’s the most natural thing in the world. Coryell plays the harmonic part as arpeggiated chords through a flanger. Mike Mandel lays out on this one.

Adam Smasher is as straightforward as they come, an upbeat 4/4 pop tune with a descending bassline and a minor modal bridge.

I should say a few words about drummer Alphonse Mouzon. He’s phenomenal, whether he’s playing rock, obscure time signatures, funk or whatever. This guy can play anything, and his energy elevates The Eleventh House about ten feet off the floor. He’s the band’s secret weapon. Danny Trifan does fine holding down the bass chair, but his is really a functional role, which is fine. I mean, you’ve already got four virtuousos burning up these charts. You need someone to stabilize the whole thing, the way bassist Rick Laird did with the original Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Introducing The Eleventh House is very accessible, mostly because the sound and the compositions are emphasized. Don’t get me wrong. There’s some fine improvising going on here. In fact, Larry Coryell in particular has seldom sounded better, perhaps inspired by Randy Brecker’s amazing performance here. But the improvising is all very concise and disciplined, almost as if Coryell was trying to make a pop record instead of a jazz record (aside from a self-indulgent solo piece, Gratitude ‘A So Low’). Coryell’s approach worked, too, if he was aiming for popularity. Introducing The Eleventh House sold very well for a jazz record, peaking at #12 on the jazz charts and #163 on the pop charts.

I hesitated to give Introducing The Eleventh House an Essential rating, mostly because of Mike Mandel’s sometime’s awful synth patches and because the overly poppy tunes like Adam Smasher, Joy Ride and Right On Y’all strike me as pandering, but the superb playing of Randy Brecker, the high energy of Alphonse Mouzon, and the compositional variety won me over in the end.