Byard Lancaster “Documentation: The End of a Decade”

Byard Lancaster

Documentation: The End of a Decade

Bellows (US) 1980

T 801 (LP)

sleeve : VG+(SRW, SPSE/TOC: 10cm crack and tape on top/4cm crack and tape on bottom, wear on edge and corner, dirts.)

media : EX/EX(some slightly noises.)

Album released in 1980 by Byard Lancaster, an American lead player who began his career in the mid-1960s and worked with Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner and Bill Dixon, and has left many masterpieces on his own recordings since the late 1960s. It is a compilation of nine studio and live recordings made between March and December 1979 in five different locations, including New York and Philadelphia. The album features some excellent tracks, including Lancaster's free-form solo improvisations, but the highlights are A1, recorded with The Broardway Local Dance Band at Philadelphia's Future Gold Studio, and A3, recorded five months later at the same studio. Both feature funk in a big way, with danceable electric guitars and leads intertwined with hip-hugging mid-tempo rhythms. This is a valuable reminder of Lancaster's diverse musicality. A4, featuring vocals by Joan Hansom and Theremin by Youself Yancy, is also excellent. Highly recommended.

A1: Rib Crib