CARLOS GARNETT

COSMOS NUCLEUS

Muse Records

Carlos Garnett, tenor & soprano saxophone; Ukulele, vocals/conductor; Kenny Kirkland, electric piano; Cecil McBee, Jr., electric bass; Byrun Benbow, drums; Neil Clarke, congas/ percussion; Gene Ballard, bongos/ percussion; Otis ‘Junior’ McCleary, guitar; Cheryl P. Alexander, vocals; 18-piece horn section.

When this project hit the market in 1976, Carlos Garnett’s production surprised a lot of people. It was an ambitious jazz-funk big band album, fresh, new and unexpected.  Radio jocks didn’t know where to place it on the airwaves.  It didn’t fit into established R&B radio format and some thought it was too funky, too rhythmic to be labeled jazz. Station managers were puzzled by the production. Whose playlist should they stick it into?

Fifty years later, the Carlos Garnett crossbreeding of his Afro-Caribbean heritage with electric, experimental, almost-fusion arrangements, and three percussionists, plus an 18 piece horn section becomes the music of 2025.  It seems Carlos Garnett was way ahead of his time.

His tenor saxophone floats over thick rhythms, smooth and textured as raw silk.  His music is pumped with spiritual energy.  It’s melodic and percussive, with electronic instruments lifting the level of spiritual urgency on the very first original composition titled, “Saxy.”

This joyful music lifts the spirits and sets the mood for what is to come on the rest of this album. The title tune, “Cosmos Nucleus” is twelve-minutes long with shifting sections, modal solos and the orchestration rises like a spaceship about to lift us off to another universe.

Garnett and his conductor, Ukulele, use this tune to bring their whole musical concept into view. The guitars assist the percussionists in creating electronic rhythms, with Byrun Benbow kicking the excitement into gear on trap drums. The horn section pushes everything forward with big band power.  Garnett may have pulled some of these energetic arrangement ideas from his time playing on the Miles Davis album “On the Corner.”  All of this music reflects New York City electricity. This time Garnett steps into the spotlight playing his soprano saxophone. Cecil McBee Jr.’s electric bass walks powerfully and melodically beneath the lush orchestration.

On a tune he calls “Wise Old Man” Garnett sings.  This time he incorporates calypso grooves to intoxicate his listeners. It’s more of a nod to his Panamanian roots, with jazz, funk and fusion overtones. For some reason, Garnett’s music reminds me of the soundtrack to the Richard Roundtree film, Shaft.  It has that 1970s glow-in-the-dark vibe painted all over it. In the same breath, Garnett’s compositions are infectious and make your toes tap to the intoxicating rhythms.

On the song “Mystery of Ages” Cheryl P. Alexander is the featured vocalist. This arrangement once again is propelled by Latin rhythms and background voices.  It’s very busy, with lots of room for the percussionists to strut their stuff while soloing. A trumpet is brightly featured.

On “Kafira” Garnett’s tenor saxophone sounds sexy and relaxed when he slows the tempo down. This tune is jazz with a blues base and sultry melody.  Speaking of ‘the blues,’ they close this album out with the final original composition, also written by Garnett and titled “Bed-Stuy Blues” talking about a neighborhood in the Northern section of Brooklyn (Bedfore-Stuyvesant). The band swings this one. Garnett lived in Brooklyn. When he relocated from Panama, it became his new home.  Like it says in his press package, “This tune was a reminder that before the band chased constellations, they were just people on the stoop, chasing truth.”

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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