The AC, who provided the music for us on the old CDRWL, had this to say: "Leo Jones is a trumpet player who studied under free jazz heavyweight Bill Dixon in the late 60s. In the early 70s, he received a grant from the city of New York to run a program called the "Lower East Side Community Music Workshop", formed to foster musical creativity in the city's youth, and ultimately leading to the creation of this unique artifact, recorded with a bunch of Jr. High school students in Manhattan. The album consists of two sprawling side-long tracks, seemingly stitched together from a couple of live jam sessions. The style presented here is firmly in the mold of early 70s Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band, Eddie Henderson, and the like. A relentless groove is laid down, with Leo and the kids attempting to "run the voodoo down" on top of it, with electronically effected trumpet, electric guitar, electric piano, clavinet, etc."
Now that's some story! An accomplished trumpet player laying down the deep groove with a bunch of 7th and 8th graders! When you hear this, you will not have any idea most of this is performed by kids in their young teens. It would seem task master Mr. Jones ran a tight ship. What an amazing artifact!
More or less that's a straight copy of the review from back then. In hearing this album again recently, it holds up well under scrutiny. This one is still very unknown, but it's hard to imagine fans of the early 70s jazz rock sound not flipping for it.
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