In the 1960s and early 1970s, a growing number of black jazz artists began adding vocal choirs to their recording projects to give them a folk, pan-African feel. The soulful original vocals imbued their instrumentals with a spiritual or gospel congregation atmosphere and added dimension to their civil rights message. Among those who included voices on albums were:
- Max Roach—It's Time (1962)
- Donald Byrd—A New Perspective (1963)
- Mary Lou Williams—Presents Black Christ of the Andes (1963)
- Donald Byrd—I'm Trying to Get Home (1964)
- Donald Byrd—Up (1964)
- Ahmad Jamal—Cry Young (1967)
- Ahmad Jamal—The Bright, the Blue and the Beautiful (1968)
- Mary Lou Williams—Mary Lou's Mass (1970)
- Andrew Hill—Lift Every Voice (1970)
- Horace Silver—Silver 'n' Voices (1976)
- McCoy Tyner—Inner Voices (1977)
Now we can add the recently released Drink Plenty Water and Walk Slow (Harvest Song) by tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan. Recorded in August 1974, the album was recently issued by Jordan's widow, Sandy Jordan, a graphic designer. She worked on the art and graphics for this one and many other Clifford Jordan releases. She's also a member of the Honorary Founders Board for Jazz Foundation of America. [Photo above of Clifford and Sandy Jordan in 1988]
The album with vocals and spoken voice features Bill Hardman (tp), Dick Griffin (tb), Charlie Rouse (b-cl), Clifford Jordan (ts,composer), Stanley Cowell (p), Bernard Fennell (cello), Bill Lee (b,arr), Sam Jones (b), Billy Higgins (d), Donna Jordan Harris and David Smyrl (vcl) and Kathy O'Boyle, Denise Williams and Muriel Winston (backing-vcl).
Originally recorded for Strata-East, founded by Stanley Cowell and Charles Toliver to give artists more control of their work, Drink Plenty Water for some reason never made it into the label's catalogue. Fortunately, Sandy Jordan was able to gain control of the tapes, raise the financing and put out the recording.
It's an unusual storytelling record, with spoken word over music and background vocals, but it's plenty soulful, earthy and musical. And Clifford Jordan sounds terrific here along with his friends invited to participate. One wonders whether the album might have been more successful if it followed the well-balanced model established on the first two tracks (The Highest Mountain and Witch Doctor's Chant). But that isn't how Jordan chose to go. For reasons that were either commercial or due to friction between Jordan and the label over artistic decisions, Strata-East, which prided itself on independence, didn't quite see his vision as viable.
Unfortunately, the reason why Strata-East didn't release the album isn't in the liner notes, nor is a sense of Jordan's vision for the work. Nonetheless, the album is a worthy, beautiful listen.
Clifford Jordan died in 1993.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Clifford Jordan's Drink Plenty Water (Harvest Song) here.
JazzWax clip: Here's The Highest Mountain, the album's first track...
And here's Witch Doctor's Chant (Ee-Bah-Lickey-Doo), the album's second track...