The New Heritage Keyboard Quartet
Released - 1973
Recording and Session Information
A&R Studios, NYC, January 16, 17 & 18, 1973
Sir Roland Hanna, Mickey Tucker, piano, harpsichord, Clavinet; Richard Davis, bass; Ed Gladden, drums, percussion.
Zap Carnivorous
86 1/2
State Of Affairs
Delphiv Monstrosity March
Child Of Gemini: So You Will Know My Name
Track Listing
| Side One | ||
| Title | Author | Recording Date |
| Zap! Carnivorous | John Hicks | January 16,17,18 1973 |
| Sin No. 86½ | Mickey Tucker | January 16,17,18 1973 |
| State of Affairs | Mickey Tucker | January 16,17,18 1973 |
| Side Two | ||
| Delphi | R. Williamson | January 16,17,18 1973 |
| Monstrosity March | Mickey Tucker | January 16,17,18 1973 |
| Child of Gemini: So You Will Know My Name | Roland Hanna | January 16,17,18 1973 |
Liner Notes
It's not so much where Mickey Tucker, Sir Roland Hanna, Richard Davis and Eddie Gladden have been. It's where all of us are going that matters in this remarkable first offering by The New Heritage Keyboard Quartet. Mickey and Roland's keyboard wizardry, the insinuating wailing and trailing moans of Davis on bass, and Eddie's percussive conversations furnish the chamber music for that mysterious future of ours. Best of all, this combo never violates our jazz-given right to good blues and a compelling beat; never forgets to invoke our toes as well as our heads. Far be it from this foursome to succumb to an avant garde chic that's got as much staying power as next Tuesday!
You can blame composer Mickey Tucker for the goings-on in Sin #86 1/2, State of Affairs and Monstrosity March. "The recording of this album brought to reality a dream I've had for many years now," he explains. "I've always been fascinated by two piano improvisations, and Roland and I make perfect partners for each other."
Juilliard-trained and jazz-inspired, Sir Roland Hanna seems to get better with each outing, Even those of you fortunate enough to catch Roland with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band in a live New York performance won't be disappointed by his improvisational brilliance here. There's that tricky interplay of baroque and blues work in State of Affairs. The classical runs into the jazz, gets trapped by the jazz—and can't quite climb out. In Sin #86 1/2 Mickey and Roland join piano and harpsichord in unholy miscegination, creating a chamber sound J. S. Bach never dreamed of. Voted a top performer in Playboy Magazine's '73 jazz poll, Richard Davis can do just about anything on bass. His endless stream of credits includes gigs with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, Igor Stravinsky, Benny Goodman and Ahmad Jamal. On this album he very nearly does it all—from gently dusting off the bass in State of Affairs to demonstrating his extraordinary bowing technique as soloist in the classically-melodic Child of Gemini. Percussionist Eddie Gladden is no stranger to the Blue Note label. Equally at home with the turbine-like explosions of State of Affairs and the intimate subtleties of Zap Carniverous, he really moves out in Delphi. Drums and pianos fight for dominance in a clash of intricate polyrhythms. For a while the primitive beat takes precedence, but even where the pianos seize the melody, the soft insistence of the drums is not lost.
The chilly opening bars to Zap Carniverous scream with understatement. As the tempo quickens to match the relentless pace of man's life, the music teases and hints of pain and eroticism, but ambiguous cadences leave the questions unresolved.
Spoofing the conventional march tune, Monstrosity March begins with the too-familiar drum rolls of an old-hat army band. Blues piano and sliding bass won't permit the nonsense to continue, however, and maneuver the piece onto the dance floor. But melancholy creeps in — and where's the joke?
Webster's defines synergy as a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Something more than the genius of its four celebrated performers, The New Heritage Keyboard Quartet is a contemporary chamber music rooted in future-past. Harpsichords and pianos are poised between baroque counterpoint and modern atonality, while powerful drum rhythms speak of African origins and the compelling glissandos of the string bass provide an invitation to the dance. Cautions Mickey, "This album must be left the supreme critic—time. After its judgement, and only then, will we know the true worth of this music."
Produced By: Don Hahn
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: GEORGE BUTLER
Recording Date: January 16, 17 & 18, 1973
Recorded At: A&R Recording Studio, New York, New York
Recording and Remix Engineer: Don Hahn
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