The Return of Muse Records

If you started listening to jazz and buying LPs in the early 1970s, you probably remember Muse Records, with its black lyre logo. Founded by Joe Fields in 1972, Muse recorded a wide range of leading artists as jazz labels and jazz divisions of major companies no longer viewed experimental and self-produced jazz as financially viable when compared with leading fusion artists. [Photo above of Kenny Barron]

Among the many jazz musicians Muse recorded were Sonny Stitt, Don Patterson, Teddy Edwards, Roy Brooks, Pat Martino, Mark Murphy, Carlos Garnett, Grant Green and Kenny Barron.

Now the label is back—or rather, its records are, thanks to producer Zev Feldman’s Time Traveler Recordings, which has entered into an agreement to re-issue select Muse albums on 180-gram LPs.

The first three are out now—Kenny Barron’s Sunset to Dawn (1973); drummer Roy Brooks’s The Free Slave (1970), with trumpeter Woody Shaw and saxophonist George Coleman; and saxophonist Carlos Garnett’s Cosmos Nucleus (1976).

What’s spectacular about the three recordings chosen by Zev for his maiden releases is that they all sound very 1970s. The music took me back instantly. And the fidelity is sterling.

Kenny Barron—Sunset to Dawn. The quintet features Kenny Barron (p,el-p), Bob Cranshaw (el-b,perc), Freddie Waits (d,fl-track 1,perc), Warren Smith (vib-track 2,perc) and Richard “Pablo” Landrum (perc,cga). Songs range from mystical, with Barron on Fender Rhodes (Sunset, Swamp Demon, Dawn) to the hard-charging Al-Kifha to sensual ballads such as A Flower and Delores Street S.F. To buy, go here.

Here’s Delores Street S.F.…

Roy Brooks—The Free Slave. Recorded live at the Left Bank Jazz Society in Baltimore, Md. on April 26, 1970, the album picked up where Blue Note left off. This hard bop, soul-jazz session features Woody Shaw (tp), George Coleman (ts), Hugh Lawson (p), Cecil McBee (b) and Roy Brooks (d). Like the Kenny Barron album, this one is perfect. All four tracks are moody and narrative-driven, with Shaw bringing the heat and Coleman the silky twists and turns. The Free Slave is a reminder of how terrific Brooks was as a drummer. He suffered from mental disorders in the 1990s and died in 2005 after spending four years in prison. To buy, go here.

Here’s Will Pan’s Walk…

Carlos Garnett—Cosmos Nucleus. By 1976, funk had permeated all styles of music, jazz included. Garnett was a self-taught reed player who had a passion for calypso. On this album, his orchestra included Cyril Greene, Angel Fernandez, Preston Holas, Wayne Cobham, Roy Campbell, Quintin Lowther and Ahmed Abdul Malik (tp); Clifton Anderson, Andrew Washington and James Stowe (tb); Charles Dougherty, Al Brown and Robert Wright (as); Carlos Garnett (ts,sop,ukelele,vcl,ldr); Randy Gilmore, Zane Massey, Akum Ra Amen-Ra and Yah Ya (ts); Carlos Chambers (bar,ukelele); Otis McCleary (g); Kenny Kirkland (el-p); Cecil McBee (el-b)'; Byron Benbow (d); Neil Clarke (cga); Gene Ballard (bgo,perc); Cheryl Alexander (vcl). Many of the tracks have a celebratory, Caribbean feel and are horn-rich.

Garnett’s first big break came in the late 1960s, recording on trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s A Soul Experiment. In the early 1980s, he suffered from depression and drug abuse and took a 10-year hiatus from music before resuming playing in the early 1990s and moving to Panama in 2000, where he was born. Garnett died in 2023 at age 84. To buy, go here.

Here’s Saxy…