Hi-Fi World – September 2019

http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk SEPTEMBER 2019 HI-FI WORLD 63

AUDIOPHILE VINYL

O

riginally released in
1983 on Nimbus
West Records in Los
Angeles, USA Pure
Pleasure has offered jazz fans a real
prize. If for no other reason that
Nimbus releases have always been
hard to track down. This particular
album was a tough cookie to find
in its original form. Nimbus cen-
tred around one Horace Tapscott,
a black American jazz pianist and
composer. He formed the Pan
Afrikan Peoples Arkestra in 1961.
Komolafe was wholly influenced by
Tapscott and joined Tapscott’s Cross
Roads Art Academy, sponsored
by the UGAMA (Union of God’s
Musicians and Artists Ascension)
Foundation, a sort of community-
based workshop.
And Dadisi Komolafe? Well his
mother knew him best as Arthur...
Arthur Wells. A man of the sax
and also the flute. If you could find
other Nimbus releases, you’d find
him guesting on some of those too

• but this was his only lead LP and
  it features Roberto Miranda on
  bass, Sunship Theus on drums, Eric
  Tillman on piano, Rickey Kelly on
  vibes and Komolafe on his favoured
  flute and alto sax, to offer free-form
  explorations over steady beats.
  There’s plenty of air on this
  recording. Space spills in and around
  the artist and feels slightly out of
  control, as you would sense on
  a live concert recording. It’s as if
  the adventurous, multi-layered and
  complex jazz presentation was
  being allowed to roam through the
  studio space. This dovetails with the
  feel from the players here.
  There’s no edge to the mids
  or bloom to the bass but the
  frequencies have that open-aired
  aspect to them. A bit on the fresh
  side if you will which, if anything,
  adds to the exciting and, if anything,
  risky feel to the presentation. This
  is music that could and does go
  anywhere, in any direction. It’s quite
  a ride.

MILES DAVIS

DADISI KOMOLAFE

O

ften thoughtful and
sometimes brood-
ing when he played,
I often had the feel-
ing that Miles Davis self analysed
while he played that famous,
economical, ‘cool’, often muted,
trumpet. As if he was making deci-
sions on the fly. As if he might lift
the entire jazz genre up and twist
it into a brand new direction right
there on the stage because he’d
just come to some sort of reali-
sation...right there on the stage.
Listening to him live, I’m sure the
listener believed he was capable
of anything.
Davis chopped and changed
his support line-up on regular
occasions. Forever searching.
Forever pushing the envelope. This
album was released in 1967 and
featured Davis’ own quintet, the
second incarnation of the quintet
model. This time it featured
Wayne Shorter on tenor sax,
Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron
Carter on bass and Tony Williams

on drums.

In mastering terms, this 2LP

45rpm cut is quiet – and it has to

be. Williams’ drums often set the

canvas. For example, on ‘Orbits’

he forces a sheen of cymbal

strikes to form a sort of constant

undercoat to the middle and later

parts of the track. That permanent

shimmer can’t do its job as

effectively on a noisy cut. Mobile

Fidelity has 'done good’ therefore.

Similarly, without sufficient instru-

mental separation, the Carter bass

can be masked. Instead, the Mo-Fi

cut allows the bass to help form a

sort of grammar to the music.

You need to keep your eyes

and ears on this album because it

never settles. It’s unexpected and

keeps you on your toes. It’s an

adventure that, you tend to feel,

has been created for the benefit

of the quintet, not necessarily the

audience, as a series of challenges

and puzzles for each other and to

force each other to stretch and

move onwards.

AUDIOPHILE VINYL

Miles Smiles

Mobile Fidelity

Hassan’s Walk

Pure Pleasure