Harlem Bush Music: Taifa

Alto saxophonist Gary Bartz’s six-decade career almost didn’t happen. “I was going to stop playing music as a career,” Bartz told me. “I felt that with all this mess, we didn’t need another musician. I was ready for the Black Panthers, or to leave the country or something. I knew I had to do something.” But he took heart in the protest jazz being voiced by the likes of Max Roach and Charles Mingus and sought to make empowering music with his group, NTU Troop. Their 1971 album Harlem Bush Music: Taifa straddles the line between fiery jazz and the sound of R&B and soul coming from the streets. Grounded by the chants and purrs of Andy Bey (Coltrane’s favorite singer), Bartz toggles between fiery street preacher and smooth-talking hustler. The themes veer from self-righteous to Afrocentric, as on the stand-out groove of “Drinking Song.” The edges are rough and songs threaten to spiral out, but it remains a fascinating vision of what post-Coltrane jazz could sound like.