Thirteen Cosmic Standards by Sun Ra & Funkadelic

Thirteen Cosmic Standards by Sun Ra & Funkadelic

ASIN: B00004U2GQ

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Spaceways Incorporated is a galactic collaboration of fiery reedist Ken Vandermark, hard-hitting jazz drummer Hamid Drake, and underrated jazz bassist Nate McBride. A sort of Jekyl and Hyde affair, Spaceways features McBride on electric bass for four Funkadelic mini-medleys and acoustic bass for six Sun Ra tunes. Obviously using a trio to cover this material is chancy, with the two honored groups relatively large in size, but the streamlined musical approach works for both cases. The versatile Vandermark carries the melody, taking the R&B route with the Funkadelic and a mostly straightforward, postbop route with the Ra stuff. The polyrhythmic Drake and the soulful McBride delve deep into the cosmic pulse of the originals, adeptly capturing the vibe of the groups. While these three are most known for their work in jazz, it is surprising to hear how loud and funky the group gets on the Funkadelic stuff, playing it slow, deep, and heavy enough to make George Clinton proud. A tribute to two eccentrics of galactic proportions, Spaceways is a great idea that fulfills the promise of, and shows a different side to, three talented jazz players. --Tad Hendrickson

Tracks:

Tapestry From An Asteroid
Alice In My Fantasies / Cosmic Slop
Street Named Hell
Trash A Go-Go
Bassism
Red Hot Mama / Super Stupid
El Is A Sound of Joy
Future
You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks / Hit It and Quit It
We Travel The Spaceways

Amazon.com

Spaceways Incorporated is a galactic collaboration of fiery reedist Ken Vandermark, hard-hitting jazz drummer Hamid Drake, and underrated jazz bassist Nate McBride. A sort of Jekyl and Hyde affair, Spaceways features McBride on electric bass for four Funkadelic mini-medleys and acoustic bass for six Sun Ra tunes. Obviously using a trio to cover this material is chancy, with the two honored groups relatively large in size, but the streamlined musical approach works for both cases. The versatile Vandermark carries the melody, taking the R&B route with the Funkadelic and a mostly straightforward, postbop route with the Ra stuff. The polyrhythmic Drake and the soulful McBride delve deep into the cosmic pulse of the originals, adeptly capturing the vibe of the groups. While these three are most known for their work in jazz, it is surprising to hear how loud and funky the group gets on the Funkadelic stuff, playing it slow, deep, and heavy enough to make George Clinton proud. A tribute to two eccentrics of galactic proportions, Spaceways is a great idea that fulfills the promise of, and shows a different side to, three talented jazz players. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

Funk on a whole other level.......2002-03-28

If you wanna hear some fusion remakes of sun ra and funkadelic this is for you ya hear classic ra and p-funk funked to other dimensions. A must have!

Perfect for funk/ra heads such as myself.......2000-09-06

Each listen I give this disk makes me more appreciative of it, however, I cannot see it as 5 star material as the flow is uneven. It may have been more sensible to allow 2 disks, one for Funkadelic, and one for Mr. Ra. The Sun Ra material on its own is purly sublime, and the Funkadelic material is infectious, to be sure (incredible rhythm section and very linear treatment of vocal lines by Vandermark's tenor). Ken shows an almost frustrating restraint on the funk cuts (that's how i felt anyway), but allows himself more freedom on the ra. If you are familiar with his playing, it is about freedom above almost all else. Heavy bottom end on the funk. I think I will go home and listen to it right now...

a meeting of the minds, somewhere in space.......2000-08-08

This is a dangerous disc. The Funkadelic tunes are grounded by a bone numbing bass & the outside R&B of Vandermark's tenor. While they don't take the tunes out to the furthest limits, the terrain that they do travel is true. On the Ra tunes the playing is quite nice, & a little more of Vandermark's heart is exposed. Looking at some of the other discs that get 5 stars here, this one probably should too; however, this is a true 4 star recording: very, very good, with fine playing & a beautiful concept brought to fruition.

tribute to the Black Imagination.......2000-07-25

Ken Vandermark looks quite severe on the back cover photo, even belligerent, standing in front of a barbed-wire fence with Hamid Drake and Nate McBride. You might think this is out-of-sync with this album -- how could playing "Cosmic Slop" be dour? Obviously a high-concept tribute, "Spaceways Incorporated" seems to have a serious agenda. Sonny Blount (Sun Ra) and George Clinton both brought to life visions of life in Space (Space Is the Place!) and on other planets, at least in part inspired by the less than utopian conditions of Black People in the United States. I support the concept of bringing these great conceptualizers together in one tribute, but in practice I think it only partially succeeds. McBride sounds like he's having a wailing good time playing Bootsy Collins on the Funkadelic numbers, but Vandermark doesn't sound totally convincing. He is prone to utilizing his stock riffs on these tracks. Drake, too, seems less than enthused about banging out simple funk time. The Sun Ra cuts are uniformly superior. A whole album of Sun Ra would have been better, but less exciting as a concept. Sometimes those concepts can get the best of you...

This is another great package from the folks at Atavistic, who have excelled with the Vandermark 5 releases. THIRTEEN COSMIC STANDARDS features a really cool painting by the Italian Futurist, Pannaggi. Keep in mind that this is one of many side projects of Ken Vandermark. To truly engage his work, you've got to check out his three main bands -- the Vandermark 5, the DKV Trio (the D is Hamid Drake), and Mats Gustafsson's AALY Trio. In August of '99, I heard the Vandermark 5 at their regular Empty Bottle gig, and also heard Vandermark playing with just Tim Mulvenna (the V5 drummer) at a microbrewpub. The duo set featured lots of standards, pieces like Ornette's "Lonely Woman," and it was great, but a completely different, more mainstream, mode than the V5 set. Vandermark is prolific, I'd say the John Zorn of Chicago in that sense, (but of course they're very different otherwise), and being prolific is great, but beware judging him by one side project!

Stunning set........2000-07-24

Having never heard Ken Vandermark before, this was a first for me as well, and I have to say, I'm very very impressed with this. Stopped in my local record store where it was tucked under my nose with the line, "I've never heard of him before, but everyone who likes the stuff you like loves this guy".

Sure enough, he's stunning, this is really a fabulous album. Vandermark's reed playing is anywhere from completely vibrant and funkified to sweet and tender. His support is incredible. Overall, this may be the best purchase I've made in a while.

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