Unlike the Detroit-centered Thad Jones, Donald Byrd, and Elvin Jones albums that we have covered as part of the five-part The Third Man/Blue Note partnership, the relatively unheralded Kenny Cox and the Contemporary Jazz Quintet’s second album, Multidirection, was recorded in Detroit. For whatever reasons, this group, abbreviated to CJQ, comprised of native Detroiters, (the others all spent time in NYC) fell severely under the radar and only recorded twice for Blue Note. First released in 1969, the music is totally acoustic in a style with all original music that leans mostly to hard bop with hints of earlier ‘60s avant-garde and soul-jazz too. Pianist Cox, who had earlier tenured with Yusef Lateef, led a unit comprised of trumpeter Charles Moore, tenorist Leon Henderson (brother of Joe Henderson), bassist Ron Brooks, and drummer Danny Spencer. They are talented players who, had they been in a more vital jazz scene like NYC, would have become better known. Interestingly, Moore and Henderson were more recognized by playing with the popular Detroit punk/metal band MC5.
Blue Note supposedly abandoned the group because they didn’t adhere to the label’s prescribed musical boundaries, certainly a grave error of judgment in retrospect. Moore and Cox subsequently founded the music cooperative Detroit Artist Workshop and later the influential Strata Records (not to be confused with the New York-based Strata East), where this quintet and other creative Detroit musicians found a home. According to Detroit jazz historian John Sinclair, the group could not sustain itself because Detroit didn’t have venues to support experimental jazz at the time, and the group was viewed as too esoteric for mainstream audiences. That seems rather odd in retrospect as the CJQ was a hard bop unit, not nearly on the cutting edge as the well-established “New Thing” or Chicago’s AACM, both happening then.
This first release features six compositions, all penned by either Moore or Cox. Moore’s are “Snuck In” and the title track, both featuring syncopated start and stop rhythms while Cox penned a mix of conventional, angular, and dissonant hard bop tunes. The classic quintet configuration obviously invites comparisons to Miles Davis’ last renowned acoustic group, his Second Great Quintet, but there’s a different sound at play here – more urban, grittier, structured, and less modal. As we listen to these remarkably well-recorded six compositions, the soloists mostly adhere to and improvise around the melodies, making definitive, declarative statements without overblowing or overreaching in lengthy, drawn-out excursions. In other words, they know how to “get in and out” succinctly making their statements. The beauty of the album is its understated, ‘less is more’ delivery with each note seemingly placed perfectly due to the high-level connectivity at play here. The horns have terrific interplay, and each player is assertive in the spotlight.
Drummer Spencer and pianist Clark serve to accent the two horns with their respective beats and comping flourishes. The former has a penchant for flamboyant cymbal flourishes, perhaps influenced a bit too much by his counterpart in Miles’ group, Tony Williams. As a unit though the rhythm section produces a subtler call-and-response reaction, a gentler prodding, somewhat reminiscent of the more emphatic kind associated with the soul jazz of the early ‘60s. Cox, in particular, had a gift of choosing single notes that had as much impact as other pianists might get with four or five. On occasion, the CJQ opts for some dissonant coloring as in the opening minutes of the title track. The interplay between Moore and Henderson on the opening and closing lines of the album finale “Gravity Point” is especially exemplary.
The CJQ is definitely a group worth revisiting and thankfully, these immaculate remastered tracks give listeners that opportunity.
