PHIL RANELIN

THE FOUND TAPES LIVE IN LOS ANGELES: 1978 – 1981

Org Music

Phil Ranelin, trombone/composer; Billy Childs, piano; Tony Dumas, bass; Ralph Penland, drums.

“When I moved to Los Angeles in 1977 to join Freddie Hubbard’s band, I thought I would be content playing with one of the greatest trumpeters ever.  However, after about a year, the urge to develop the concept that I was working on with the Tribe group returned.  I connected with three phenomenal young talents and began playing at various venues in Los Angeles,” Phil Ranelin explained how this recording came about in his liner notes.

Lucky for the listener, Ranelin and his all-star group was recorded ‘live’ at three different venues.  Tracks one through ten were recorded at a club called the Maiden Voyage on July 19, 1981. Track eleven was recorded live at the Sound Room on December of 1978 and the final two tracks were recorded at the Two Dollar Bill in 1980.

Trombonist Ranelin has consistently been a jazz innovator for over fifty years.  His melodies and compositions reflect imagination, creativity, and freedom.  With this group, his original music is developed by then young and super talented Billy Childs on the piano. Also on this scene is bass master Tony Dumas, and the great trap drummer, Ralph Penland (R.I.P.).  Ranelin always establishes a melody that sticks in the listener’s mind like glue. His power grooves are driven by Penland’s masterful drum licks.

Phil’s music was discovered by college-aged students a few decades ago and sampled on albums played across the country.  His music spans eras, developed first in Detroit with a group called ‘Tribe’ during the days when Avant-garde music was king.  Jazz was pushing the boundaries of America’s only original, musical artform with bandleaders like Charles Mingus, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Ornette Coleman, Weather Report, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.  On this three-disc set, Disc one opens with “He the One We All Knew” and then makes an exciting, new, interpretive arrangement of Ranelin’s “Vibes from the Tribe.”

You will enjoy Ranelin’s original music, but also the arrangements by this group of young lions that reinvent tunes like “Bye Bye Blackbird” and other familiar jazz standards including “St. Thomas” by Sonny Rollins and “A Night in Tunisia.”  These historic tapes, packed away in Phil’s closet for years, have finally made their way to disc and show Ranelin and his dynamic trio at the peak of a creative movement in America that challenged the ears of the world.  These recordings will make a jazz collector’s dream come true.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *