Item added to your cart.

Checkout
Close
ReleaseProduct
My Pure Joy
Artist
Byard Lancaster
Label
Strut
Catalogue Number
STRUT240
Release Date
February 26, 2021

"From A Love Supreme to The Sex Machine!" The personal musical mantra of the late Philadelphia reedman Byard Lancaster informed an open-minded and varied lifetime in jazz.

Strut presents one of Lancaster’s lesser known classics, ‘My Pure Joy’, recorded in 1992 for Black Fire.

Lancaster had initially cut his musical teeth with the avant-garde on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1960s (famously on sessions with pianist Dave Burrell and drummer Sunny Murray) and in Paris during the ‘70s after an appearance at the Actuel festival but, throughout his career, his path was built around community engagement, positivity and “the Philly jazz sound, Germantown style.”

He became an ambassador for the music of the City Of Brotherly Love, starting his own Dogtown label, helping launch the Philly Jazz imprint and campaigning tirelessly to improve the circumstances of the city’s street musicians. Lancaster’s sessions for Black Fire were planned following a gig at Caverns Jazz Club in Washington DC. “Jimmy Gray of Black Fire and I originally met during the ‘riotous blisters’ of the late Sixties there,” explained Lancaster. “We became the best of friends.” Backed by a band of Philly musicians including percussionist Keno Speller and Baba Robert Crowder (drummer for Olatunji and Art Blakey), the album also featured the Drummers From Ibadan led by Tunde Kuboye, another influential figure dedicated to community jazz with whom Lancaster had bonded while teaching in Lagos.

The result was a free-flowing set of spirituality and positivity, built around full band groove workouts, solo pieces and heavy African roots. “We had big fun documenting this music,” remembered Lancaster. The message of the album remains as relevant today as ever, “I dedicate this album to all African Americans in the USA. To the youth, I ask ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?’” Originally delayed by three years because of cashflow issues within Black Fire, ‘My Pure Joy’ eventually surfaced as one of the label’s final CD releases in 1995 and has never before appeared on vinyl.

Digital Tracklist

  1. 1 Drummers from Ibadan 4:07 Buy

    Drummers from Ibadan

  2. 2 Philadelphia Savage 5:56 Buy

    Philadelphia Savage

  3. 3 Sweet Evil 9:30 Buy

    Sweet Evil

  4. 4 Lancaster Brand Notes 1:49 Buy

    Lancaster Brand Notes

  5. 5 Newest African Cities 7:33 Buy

    Newest African Cities

  6. 6 Jazz Lady 4:24 Buy

    Jazz Lady

  7. 7 My Pure Joy 6:48 Buy

    My Pure Joy

  8. 8 Sax-o-phonics Science 4:26 Buy

    Sax-o-phonics Science

  9. 9 What Is That I Smell 7:49 Buy

    What Is That I Smell

  10. 10 Afro Space 2:17 Buy

    Afro Space

  11. 11 Drummers from Ibadan (Reprise) 4:05 Buy

    Drummers from Ibadan (Reprise)

Track List: LP

SIDE ONE

  1. DRUMMERS FROM IBADAN
  2. PHILADEPHIA SAVAGE
  3. SWEET EVIL
  4. LANCASTER BRAND NOTES

SIDE TWO

  1. JAZZ LADY
  2. NEWEST AFRICAN CITIES
  3. MY PURE JOY
  4. AFRO SPACE

Track List: CD

  1. DRUMMERS FROM IBADAN
  2. PHILADELPHIA SAVAGE
  3. SWEET EVIL
  4. LANCASTER BRAND NOTES
  5. NEWEST AFRICAN CITIES
  6. JAZZ LADY
  7. MY PURE JOY
  8. SAX-O-PHONICS SCIENCE
  9. WHAT IS THAT I SMELL
  10. AFRO SPACE
  11. DRUMMERS FROM IBADAN - Key Po REPRISE
Close
Loading:
--:-- --:--

Privacy Settings

This site uses cookies. For information, please read our cookies policy. Cookies Policy

Allow All
Manage Consent Preferences