Robin Kenyatta

[Guest akanalog]

just listening to "girl from martinique" again now and i would say it is definitely in my top 5 albums of all time (that i have heard).

[erhodes]

ed-i don't think it is right to compare kenyatta and maupin. maupin had an excellent "steady" gig with herbie hancock and mwandishi/headhunters. so his discography is a lot more robust than kenyatta. i would say maupin "broke out". i mean, he was the sax player on the greatest selling jazz album of the time (headhunters) and was also recognized for his unique contribution to one of the most innovative?commercial jazz albums of it's time (bitches brew).

It's not a comparison that I have a big stake in. I suppose it comes down to your experience and perspective.

My perspective was formed in the 60's when I started going out to hear live music. I first heard Bennie and Robin and free players and their more overtly commercial work always struck me as incongruous...not that they didn't do a good job of it. Certainly, they are not identical. But that switch is was what I remember. It was particularly noteworthy at the time since all of the free players were being criticized as people who played that way because they couldn't play anything else. And it was amusing to see that they could do things that seemed...based on first impressions...so totally out of character.

The Maupin piece which leaves me in a good place and for which I have nothing comparable from Kenyatta is the tenor work on McCoy's "Tender Moments". That was a surprise...albeit a pleasant one.

The Miles cum fusion piece never defined anyone's resume for me, except maybe McLaughlin and Zawinul. I enjoyed "Bitches Brew" but Wayne was was I heard on that record...Bennie sounded more like color in the ensemble. I don't hear anything remarkable in his bass clarinet playing from then...and I like his tenor. It's amazing how people became known for whatever stint they did with Miles, even if they just subbed for Ron Carter. Bennie may have done better work and money wise than Robin but there are enough similarities in their ups and downs to at least make mention...though I wouldn't go overboard. There's an article on what happened to him in an old thread at,

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article.../608270518/1039

I also don't share a lot of the expressed affection for "Mwandishi". I can take it or leave it. That most certainly colors my feelings.

[Late]

Clifford — I don't know definitively about Kenyatta's actual name. I'm going to assume you're right. But check out this Google search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=...rince+Haynes%22

Weird.

Now I have to track down The Girl from Martinique. Sounds like something I should hear.

[Guest akanalog]

there is definitely a blog through which you can download MP3s of the girl from martinique.

a scratchy vinyl rip.

try googling the key words....(robin/kenyatta/girl/martinique/mp3)

[Guest youmustbe]

Robin was the coke dealer...although LaMont in his lifetime snorted about 2 whole provinces of Columbia!

LaMont was on my Jackie's Blues Bag record in 97 and did some gigs at Birdland for me. He also had his own label with quite a few records, some with George Harper if I remember.

[Larry Kart]

I have a Lamont Johnson on Master Scores, "242 E. 3rd," the address of Slugs, that has a nice gutty feel to it. Jimmy Greene, Howard Johnson (on tuba, and he gets a lot of solo space), Don Sickler, Lonnie Plaxico, Tim Ries (on alto flute) Marcus Baylor (drums, a good player who was new to me), and Danny Sadownick, congas. Rec. 1998.

[Guest akanalog]

there is also a roland haynes who is playing bass on shelly manne's "alive in london" disc. weird.

[Late]

Find Robin's Free State Band here.

[clifford_thornton]

Great record.

He's blogging some nice stuff, for sure.

[ep1str0phy]

That one's been on CD, no?

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, on Musidisc, but not part of the Free America series.