[rating=8.00]
Larry Coryell and The Eleventh House’s Seven Secrets is a remarkable piece of work and it’s all the more impressive considering the sequence of events that led to its recording. The so-called ‘Godfather of Fusion’ predated the hybrid with a number of projects in the late Sixties, followed most notably by Spaces, on which appeared John McLaughlin and Chick Corea. The original lineup of The Eleventh House crystallized around 1973, after which some personnel shifting took place in the wake of its eponymous recording debut, two studio successors plus Live @ Montreux.
Fast forward to 2015 and a week of gigs at New York’s Blue Note where a lineup consisting of the players on this album -Coryell and son Julian on guitars, John Lee on bass, Randy Brecker on trumpet and Alphonse Mouzon on drums– participated in shows devoted exclusively to material from that (almost) bygone era. The group chemistry found to be intact, at the urging of the leader’s spouse, the quintet then conducted sessions that ultimately resulted in Seven Secrets, thankfully completed prior to the passing of Mouzon and released a few months subsequent to the leader’s own demise early in 2017.
All that said, the most miraculous aspect of this long player is that the group displays not a whit of self-consciousness in the enactment of their reunion. Even the de rigeur, aptly-named acoustic number “Molten Grace,” demonstrating evidence of Larry’s loyalty to his classical guitar training, sounds perfectly of a piece with the full band electricity surrounding that cut. Produced by the band itself, with recording, engineering and mixing by Lucio Rubino at The Fish Tank Studios in St. Augustine, FL., the clarity of sound of Seven Secrets would appear to be a direct reflection of the lucid collective mind at work here.
Meanwhile, the presence of the bandleader’s son Julian Coryell on guitar betrays no disloyalty to the group’s history in which Mike Mandel played keyboards. If anything, two guitars even further distinguish The Eleventh House from its peers of jazz-rock’s heyday: both the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever prominently featured pianos and synthesizers. And while the glib might like to attribute the contributions of the leader’s offspring to DNA, it’s only practice, persistence and playing that brings forth the instinctive skill he shows on “Having Second Thoughts.”
Then as now, the presence of Randy Brecker on trumpet is an overt nod to traditional jazz instrumentation and not just on his own compositions. On ”Philly Flash” or “The Dip,” the horn meshes with the dual fretboards, while the rhythm section instinctively adjusts to avoid overwhelming the latter instrument’s airy, but bracing textures. Likewise, the title song here deserves its designation as the guitar and trumpet lines, not to mention the bass and drum patterns, all seem to have a life of their own; these interactions coalesce with a natural fluidity that mirrors the unity of the personnel in The Eleventh House, a crucial aspect of which is John Lee’s presence: tightly knit to Mouzon’s drums, his bass supplies earthy ballast to the group’s flights of fancy, purposeful as they are, on “Dragon’s Way.”
Seven Secrets is a demonstration of keen listening as means to sensitive instrumental interaction, grounded in original material composed to maximize the relationships of the musicians. If that sounds like a suitable description of this, or any year’s, best jazz records, so be it. The only superior definition would be actually hearing it.
