Thursday, August 30, 2018

MELVYN PRICE – Rhythm and Blues (Meldor, 1974)

Instrumental
International relevance: **

Born in Pontiac, MI, Melvyn Price left the U.S.A. following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr as the political situation in his native country grew increasingly worse. Upon his arrival in Sweden, trombonist and conga player Price found his way onto the vital jazz scene and was often seen sitting in with notable musicians.

He set up his own record label Meldor and released two early 70's albums of jazz and Latin rhythms meant for use in dance classes, ”Jazzbalettrytmer” and ”Rytmer II”. In 1974, he released his first 'proper' LP, ”Rhythm and Blues”, also on Meldor, featuring renowned performers such as drummer Fredrik Norén and bassist Björn Alke. A couple of tracks have congas and percussion only, but the lion's share is pretty straight, i.e. not very adventurous late 60's/early 70's jazz with faint traces of afro funk.

More or less a 'lost' album for decades, its reputation eventually began to grow and had a reissue on Wax Poetics Records in 2008. It's not bad but kind of pedestrian. Swedish jazz from the same time had more exciting things to offer.

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