One Track Mind: Les Dudek "Old Judge Jones" (1977)

by Pico

Les Dudek is one of those guitarists you may have never heard of but you've certainly heard him. He was the harmony guitar part on The Allman Brothers' first major hit "Ramblin' Man." He added slide and dobro to Steve Miller's dual classics Fly Like An Eagle and Book Of Dreams. And more recently, you know that screaming guitar riff you hear on the Fox Sports theme song? Yup, Les Dudek.

But Dudek's burgeoning list of connections (which he also acquired from touring and recording with Boz Skaggs, Stevie Nicks and Cher) landed him a solo contract with big, bad Columbia Records while still in his teens. Four records between 1976 and 1981 resulted from that association, but Dudek made much more money as a sideman to the stars. Thusly, he has come forth with only two more albums since then.

The second of those Columbias, Say No More, came out in 1977 and while it didn't set the charts on fire, the freewheeling attitude of album rock stations of that time made it possible to get it airplay and that's where I first heard it. Say No More's music can best be described as a hybrid of Tom Johnston's Doobie Brothers and, naturally, The Allmans. A guy who fits in with so many different rock stars is going to be a lot more likely to copy from them at the expense of developing his own style and to be frank, you can make that accusation about this album.

Dudek drew from the A-List group of sidemen; guys like David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, Chuck Rainey, Tony Williams, David Sancious and so on. With so much talent assembled courtesy of Columbia's considerable stable of sessionists, engineers and producers, it wasn't going to to be a dud, despite the lack of a signature sound. In fact, there are several bright spots on it. The brightest of these is "Old Judge Jones"

"Old Judge Jones" starts with a prominent single note guitar line not too distant from what you hear on the Allman's "Jessica," which was an uncredited co-write of his. And like that song, it's a smooth blend of blues boogie and rock but with an extra serving of jazz and soul courtesy of the sassy background vocals of Clydie King, Shirley Matthews and Rebecca Lewis. But it's also no instrumental; Dudek added some lyrics about a jurist who is one mean son of a bitch:

Old Judge Jones never gave a man a break
And on his hanging tree the leaves don’t shake
That man in black… what did he say?
A hundred years in one dark day

Les' singing won't blow anyone away but the song's key was wisely set in his range and he actually gives it a sincere R&B rendering. And when he takes his turn to rip on his Les Paul during the solo break, he channels Duane Allman to a tee. Same blues notes, tone, everything. Maybe that's why Duane's old associate Skaggs kept Dudek in his band for five years.

There's more to Les Dudek's fascinating story, like when he turned down offers to join bands like Journey and Chicago. But when I think of Dudek I'm more inclined to think of his long-ago serious bid as a solo artist and "Old Judge Jones." Except, of course, when I'm watching football on the Fox network.

Listen: Les Dudek "Old Judge Jones"

Purchase: Les Dudek - Say No More


"One Track Mind" is a more-or-less weekly drool over a single song selected on a whim and a short thesis on why you should be drooling over it, too.

Quickies: The Eagles, Bennie Maupin, Porcupine Tree, Dewey Redman

by Pico

This version of Quickies focuses on new rock and old jazz. One thing they have in common: it's all good.

The Eagles Long Road Out Of Eden

I haven't had enough time to give this double-discer the in-depth evaluation it deserves (and thus, it's a "quickie"). The first release of all new songs by this major act in twenty-eight years clearly deserves one. But my initial impression is that this is a record that plays to all their strengths: crisp songwriting by the Frey/Henley partnership ("I Love To Watch A Woman Dance" is drop dead gorgeous), simple but precise musicianship and gorgeous harmonies. In fact, the harmonies sound even better than during their heyday; we're talking CSNY good, people.

Just as Don Henley promised in his Billboard interview, this isn't a record that bothers in the least to follow any trend, it's unabashedly an Eagles record. Like another prominent seventies band who avoided creative fallout in the 80's and 90's simply by not releasing new material during that time, Eden looks poised to provide the Eagles a Steely Dan-style comeback. As Henley sings, "I've been waiting in the weeds," the Eagles seemed to be doing just that before springing their perfected blend of country, rock and folk on a public that's most likely ready to hear this kind of music again.

Long Road Out Of Eden is not available on Amazon but you can order it here. Or, pick it up at your friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart, courtesy of an exclusive distribution deal the band made with the giant retailer.

Bennie Maupin The Jewel In The Lotus

Multi-reedist Bennie Maupin first made his mark contributing that bad-assed bass clarinet to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and then joined Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi space-funk fusion group, staying on with Herbie to join his Headhunters band in 1974. Right about the time Mwandishi was wrapping up and the more accessible Headhunters was getting assembled, Maupin decided to record his first solo album and brought in most of the band members from Mwandishi, including Hancock, to be his supporting band. This 1974 debut by Maupin has now been remastered for re-release on the ECM label.

It's only natural to compare this record Hancock's Mwandishi recordings
Only the title track bears close resemblance sonically, however, as Herbie plays a spaced-out electric piano similar to what he did on "You'll Know When You Get There." But all of the tracks lack a groove; percussion exists for coloring and the rhythm is free-flowing. This is the kind of abstract chamber jazz that you'd expect a mid-seventies ECM record to sound like. That isn't to say there isn't some good comping going on; Buster Williams plausibly impersonates Ron Carter on "Mappo,"for instance. But Maupin is generally more interested in the kind of group improvision that made Mwandishi special and with Manfred Eicher's sterile production and without the dated synths, The Jewel In The Lotus stands the test of time better.

Purchase: Bennie Maupin - The Jewel In The Lotus

Porcupine Tree Nil Recurring

Unlike some EP's which are previews to upcoming full-length albums, Nil Recurring is really more of a supplement to the last one, the phenomenal Fear Of A Blank Planet. Clocking in at just under a half an hour total, these four tunes were composed during recording of that album and as such, contain much the same structure and feel. In fact, "Normal" steals the chorus from Fear's "Sentimental." "What Happens Now?" sounds like an idea inspired by "My Ashes," at least in the lyrics.

But there really aren't a lot of lyrics overall. It's a little more textural than the long player and even Mr. Texture himself Robert Fripp provides a yelping lead guitar on the instrumental title track. These songs are not quite up to the level of the Fear tracks, but that's not to say they aren't worthy listens. Far from it. After all, Porcupine's chaff of late have sounded better than most rock band's wheat. PT fans will want to pick this up if they hadn't already.

Purchase: Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring

Dewey Redman The Struggle Continues

I'm old enough to have been aware of the tenor saxophonist Dewey before knowing anything about his son Joshua. Joshua, of course, has become the star that his father never quite came close to being himself. But having grown up in Fort Worth around Ornette Coleman gave the elder Redman some long standing exposure to the "new thing" in jazz and he's even gigged and recorded with Coleman's band in the late sixties and early seventies. He was also in Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra and Keith Jarrett's mid-seventies quintet.

Like the Maupin record, The Struggle Continues from 1982 is an ECM remastering/re-issue and is Redman's only record for that label as a leader. The music is not really whack jazz, it's mainly solid, straight-ahead bop anchored by Ed Blackwell's steady drums. But the second track "Love Is" is a beautiful, gentle waltz where Dewey reveals his delicate side. Dewey Redman passed away about fourteen months ago without getting his due recognition, but hopefully this re-issue will help to posthumously furnish him a start on getting that.

Purchase: Dewey Redman - The Struggle Continues


"Quickies" are mini-record reviews of new or upcoming releases. Some albums are just that much more fun to listen to than to write about.

Stanley Clarke - The Toys Of Men (2007)

by Pico

I'm becoming a Stanley Clarke fan again. After a quarter of a century of sitting on the sidelines as he delved into lightweight urban contemporary, soundtracks scoring for the big and little screens alike and playing in other people's bands, Clarke is back to doing what made him a household name among fusion enthusiasts in the first place: honest-to-goodness balls-to-the-wall uncompromising rock-jazz.

Yes, this is just the kind of music that is often cited when someone speaks of excessive wankery making the music lack soul or just plain unlistenable. Much of that criticism was directed at Clarke's joint venture with Chick Corea, Return To Forever, and I could pick out a several embarassing moments that make that point in their post-Light As A Feather output, as well as Clarke's own solo records of that time. But all this fails to recognize that the peaks were often as high as the valleys were low.

For his part, Clarke introduced to the masses the whole concept of the electric bass guitar as a lead instrument, and even though his accomplishments often got overlooked as the Jaco Pastorius bandwagon got rolling in earnest after Jaco's death, Clarke influence has arguably been greater. His 1976 gem School Days remains a seminal record for bass players of most stripes and still sounds good today, whether the listener plays bass or not. School Days was in fact one of the albums that got me into fusion in the first place back then.

Unfortunately, Clarke's direction took on a more pop direction when he and funk keyboardist George Duke scored a hit with "Sweet Baby" in 1981. Except for the unexpected delight of 1995's acoustic Rite Of Strings with Al DiMeola and Jean-Luc Ponty, I lost interest in whatever Clarke was putting out. (Disclaimer: I have not heard 1999's Clarke/Lenny White project Vertú, but I've read mixed reviews on it at the time).

And now, finally, Clarke returns to the fold with the release earlier this month of The Toys Of Men. Clarke states that he was inspired by the current state of war in which we find ourselves in to make this record. It's not all that clear why such world tragedies were required for Clarke to come back to his greatest strengths, but the results are welcome regardless of the impetus.

Unlike the music he made in that long-ago era, he doesn't overreach compositionally, and so there's none of those aforementioned embarrassing moments. Instead, he marshalled a no-nonsense band with a classic fusion configuration consisting of keyboards (Rusian Sirota), violin (Mads Tolling), guitar (Jef Lee Johnson), and drums (Ronald Burner, Jr.), and augmented by guest appearances from the ever-prolific Paulinho Da Costa on percussion and Michael Landau on guitars.

It's an interesting side note that while Clarke returned to the music that put himself on the map, the big record companies like his old Epic label apparently weren't interested in following him back. This record is being distributed by Heads Up International, a division of the independent Concord label. Going "indy" was probably required to give Clarke the artistic freedom he needed to make this record. How times have changed in the record industry.

The album starts off ambitiously with the eleven-minute grand statement of this collection, the six-part suite "The Toys Of Men". Each part consists of a new theme that's repeated, each varying in mood and tempo. The first section, for instance, is very staccatoed a la Return To Forever, followed by a section that's more like straight jazz in triple time, then a softer, melodic section, followed by an impressive showcase of Clarke's piccolo bass that's both harmonically pretty and challenging.

"Jeruselum" is an extended, quiet piece composed by the keyboardist Sirota, featuring the leader on acoustic bass guitar gently providing the main melodic line.

Other tracks with his band comprise of "Come On," an update on the funk exercise "Hot Fun" of School Days, the bass-drum synchronized workout of "Bad Asses" and and the cool strut of "Game."

The strongest composition overall is most likely Clarke's dedication of drumming legend Tony Williams, "Châteauvallon 1972," a lumbering but powerful ostinato propelled by Bruner's vociferous skin-beating. This is one song that actually could have been stretched longer.

It used to be that the vocal tracks on Clarke albums were buzzkills. They were usually R&B-lite excursions not anywhere approaching the artistic level of the instrumental tracks. This time around, though, the lone lyric-laced tune, "All Over Again" doesn't let down the record. It is a gentle jazz-pop song, but the difference this time is that it's a better written and that Clarke's acoustic bass guitar is at the melodic center of it. It also didn't hurt that Clarke chose this time to let the talented Esperanza Spalding handle the vocals, instead of Clarke's own unexceptional voice.

If there's any quibble about The Toys Of Men, it's the solo acoustic bass noodlings, self-recorded in his living room. Even though these improvisions go nowhere, a little bit of this would have qualified as a nice diversion to demonstrate Clarke's tremendous ability on a stand-up. But four tracks of this, including one eight minutes long? Only the fifth track of the stand-up bass alone, "Bass Folk Song No. 6," is an actual composition, which provides the focus his playing was lacking on the other four.

It's been firmly established long ago that Stanley Clarke is an innovative and outstanding bass player and another excursion into trite, crossover material isn't going to diminish that. But Clarke is at his best when he leverages his aggressive musicianship with compositions that give all that riffing some form and purpose. And that's the major achievement of The Toys Of Men.


Purchase: Stanley Clarke - The Toys Of Men