David Axelrod – Heavy Axe (Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series)

Description

A street-fighting man who cheerfully scaled cocaine mountains withSly Stone, and once sought byGeorge Harrisonfor Apple Records,David Axelrodhad barely worked for a decade when, in the mid-90s, his name began circulating among crate-digging fans. Indeed, just a few years earlier, the former Capitol Records A&R and staff producer whod started his career in the late 50s producing jazz records for the likes of Harold Land andCharles Mingusassociate Buddy Collette had been verging on homelessness. In 1993, however,De La Souls Buhloone Mindstate twice featured a prominent piano from his Lou Rawls production Youve Made Me So Very Happy, while three years laterDJ Shadows Midnight In A Perfect World lifted from Axelrods The Human Abstract. Shadow even lured him out of retirement to remixUNKLEandThom Yorkes Rabbit In Your Headlights in 1998, before Mo Wax released an eponymous album of revised, unreleased tracks in 2001.

Axelrods appeal is best encapsulated by his first two solo albums, 1968sSong Of Innocenceand 1969sSongs Of Experience. That these suites were inspired by William Blakes poetry speaks to their grand ambitions: his flamboyant, dynamic arrangements, all brass, strings and perfectly micd drums, with cavernous rhythms ideally suited to the breakbeat generation, were furnished with a luxury suggesting an unassailable urge to dwarf Phil Spectors Wall Of Sound. Such elements remain central to 1974sHeavy Axe, but its telling that its provided less fertile ground for sample junkies, and thats arguably not only because its likeminded production is credited to his friend Cannonball Adderley, himself a frequent beneficiary of Axelrods techniques.Axelrod instead arranges and conducts here, as well as writing the four best tracks. The highlight is Mucho Chupar, whose percussive, soulful funk, enhanced by Minnie Riperton-style squeals and Donna Summer moans, hurtles towards a colossal climax, while Everything Counts lithely reinterprets Song Of Innocences revered Holy Thursday. Faithful fans will celebrate this return to vinyl then. via Uncut UK

Label: Fantasy
Series: Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf Series
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 180g
Released: 2023 / Original Release: 1974
Genre: Jazz, Rock
Style: Fusion, Jazz-Funk, Psychedelic Rock

File under: Soul-Jazz / Jazz-Funk