Solar Battery: Ra Kalam Bob Moses 75

Ra Kalam Bob Moses - SB 4.6

I know I said January was over, but that was before I figured out this guy was milestoning a birthday today.

He is so central to the union of Jazz and Rock, beginning at the very start of that merger in the 1960s, that I just could not resist covering him, especially after I found something so rare and uncirculated it just begged the question.

It all hinges on his initial association with another milestone birthday boy from earlier this week, who turned 80 just a few days ago: vibes titan Gary Burton, whom I've covered a million times.

When they got together and GB's records began to dip a toe into what a real synthesis between the two forms could be, Bob Moses was essential to what they came up with.

When he grabbed Larry Coryell from Gary Burton's group and the two began The Free Spirits, that's where a lotta folks feel Jazz-Rock -- the molecular merging that accentuates the best of both, rather than the somewhat tepid, uncertain forays that had preceded them -- as its own, whole new genre was born.

It wasn't long before he began to record as a leader, and he's really never stopped in the intervening 55 years.

He has also drummed for the likes of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius, among dozens others.

Born this day in 1948, he is 75 today and I just could not not slam this up here in his honor, formative force of percussive mastery that he is.

How could I not, when I found this unbelievable set -- which I whittled down to a single CD of highlights this afternoon -- floating around on Soulseek last night?

Ra Kalam Bob Moses

Sonic Beds Sampler

01 SB 3.7

02 SB 2.1

03 SB 4.2

04 SB 2.3

05 SB 3.6

06 SB 2.7

07 SB 4.1

08 SB 2.9

09 SB 1.7

10 SB 1.8

11 SB 1.9

12 SB 1.4

13 SB 4.6

14 SB 3.19

15 SB 4.3

Total time: 1:18:16

Ra Kalam Bob Moses - drums, flutes, percussion, bass and voice

selection culled by EN from a four-volume "Sonic Beds" CDR collection, intended as "untitled sonic beds to relax to and/or freely improvise along with"

constructed by Ra Kalam Bob Moses & given to the recipient as payment for a recording session several years ago

location & dates unknown, but likely recorded in RKBM's home studio in the 2000s and 2010s
371 MB FLAC/direct link

None of this (the whole thing totals 4+ hours) bundle of batterie bliss circulates on the internet apart from the two people that had it on Soulseek... I think RKBM intended these as backgrounds with which to play along, or just to chill and listen to.

It was all untitled, so I used the volume and track numbers as surrogate titles for the tunes.

Regardless, it seemed appropriate to toss in an extra post for the year's premiere month, and what better subject around which to center it than native New Yorker Ra Kalam Bob Moses, who is a hit -- usually a hit that produces a unique percussion sound of some sort -- any day of the decade? Long may he bash!--J.