SUPER NOVA

Recorded at A&R Studios on August 29 & September 2, 1969--within two weeks of the landmark sessions with Miles Davis for the material that would become Bitches Brew--Super Nova would then be released before the end of the year (before Bitches Brew).

A1. "Super Nova" (4:45) frenetic avant-garde bordering on free jazz. (8.75/10)

A2. "Swee-Pea" (4:35) slow, spacious, and much more interesting and accessible than the furious pace of "Super Nova." At times Wayne's sax sound veers toward an oboe-like sound while lots of tuned and untuned percussive sounds "blow" around in the background. John McLaughlin's classical guitar would be barely detectable had I not been prepared to listen for it. Pretty! (8.875/10)

A3. "Dindi" (pronounced "Jin-Jee") (9:45) opening with some African-sounding percussion play--both hand-driven and drummed--while squeaks and snorts emanate from both John and Sonny's guitars as well as Wayne's sax. In the fifth minute female vocalist Maria Booker is paired with her husband Walter's classical guitar. It just seems weird that this is considered part of the same African parade song that it opened with. For the final minute the song turns to an African-rhythm-backed sax frenzy. It's interesting but too disjointed to make sense to me. The motif with the Booker husband-wife duet is pretty. (17.5/20)

B1. "Water Babies" (4:50) nice jazz that could come from the 1970s--the element of jazz musicians trying to resist (or having trouble grasping) the J-R F concept and trend: it's Miroslav, Wayne and the two guitarists that really bend this music toward the new melodic styles, Mr. DeJohnette fighting fiercely to remain firmly anchored in jazz traditions. (9.125/10)

B2. "Capricorn" (7:45) Wayne's poised, composed sax lines play over Jack's continually roaming, roving, and rolling tom-tom play while John, Sonny, and Miroslav seem to struggle to find a place within the music--thus leaving the textural feel of the song something akin to a shag rug. Wayne is okay but I don't really like drumming like this (or the previous song). (13/15)

B3. "More Than Human" (6:10) more frenzied sax and drumming that seem to render the others as mere amateurs trying to contribute from the fringes. What a waste of talent. (8.375/10)

Total Time: 37:59

An album that is slanted surprisingly far more toward the avant-garde styles of the Sixties than any of Miles Second Great Quintet sounds or styles or any of the other rock-infusions that other jazz musicians are leaning toward in 1969. As I said with the Swee-Pea review, had I never been told that John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharrock were playing throughout this album I would have never guessed it--but, then, this is 1969: early in the two legends' careers.

C+/3.5 stars; an album that might satisfy lovers of free jazz but this is a total negation, in my opinion, to the development of that which will become Jazz-Rock Fusion. Wayne and Jack are on the same wavelength but this leaves the other superstars groping around for ways to contribute. Too bad.

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