ROBIN KENYATTA-GIRL FROM MARTINIQUE, LP, 1970, USA/GERMANY

Wolfgang Dauner alert! There....now that I've got your attention, here's a beautiful companion piece to his "Output" LP that I posted last week thats both recorded in the same year, released by the same label (ECM) and also features drummer and frequent collaborator Fred Braceful. That said, the astringent electric fury that charged that recording is substantially more reigned in here, though the resulting tracks are gorgeous things in their own right. Saxophonist/flautist Robin Kenyatta's background as a collaborator with the likes of Archie Shepp, Sonny Stitt, Roswell Rudd and Buddy Miles during this era may offer some insight into the more dreamy and cool headed moves on display here (I won't pretend to be an expert in this area) and his contributions are both elegant and commanding, though this shouldn't suggest a lack of fireworks. Dauner and Braceful (alongside bassist Arild Andersen) might be playing closer to the vest here, but their influence is still decidedly felt, most notably via Dauner's frequently exquisite clavinet work, especially on the lengthy and plaintive title track where his alternately ring modulated and wah-wahed accents liquidly expand and contract against Kenyatta's breezy flute gusts to heart-fluttering effect.

Get it Here