A CERTAIN “Kids in the Hall” skit’s premise was that one member — I think it was Bruce, if memory serves, and as we’re keeping this analog, and algorithm-free, it’ll have to — hated jazz. He confessed as much, standing (or maybe sitting on a stool?) while a jazz band played excessively cool, understated smoky background music behind him. The instrument I recall as keeping the mood just right, arguing quietly for the greatness of jazz, without words, was the flute. Possibly from this memory, upon finding this album in the $1 section of Bigfoots House of Vinyl and More, I assumed it was a jazz recording. (The second-greatest magic of the bargain bin is its lack of labels).
Anecdotally – again if memory serves – the flute is one the least-common (wrongly?) instruments in recorded jazz, and rock, and soul. (Yes, Jethro Tull, I know, but still). This album cover, and punny title, thus stood out amongst the 100 cent treasures for that and other reasons. In this 1973 recording, marked as “not for sale” on the vinyl itself and with a “1970” sticker on its sleeve, the flute takes a lead role in all of those genres. The featured flutist, Frank Wess, I was unfamiliar with, but many of the songs are well-known covers from the decade or so before the album’s recording, including: “(sitting on)The Dock of the Bay” and “When I Fall in Love.” Traditional “Wade in the Water” is also covered, all which made more sense (not that we needed it) when, after hearing side two, I looked more closely at the album backcover and read that this was released by a division of the legendary Memphis soul label “Stax” and that the rhythm section was recorded at the studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, also legendary in Southern Rock circles of the mid-70s (They got the Swampers, per Lynyrd Skynyrd). The flute isn’t exclusively lead on all the songs, guitar – jazz guitar, I’d say – and saxophone (tenor?) are prominent on a few songs, particularly ‘Arundelle,’ which, if we must categorize, is the most tiki-lounge, atomic bachelor pad track, and my favorite. I don’t know if any of this album or work has been sampled, but several measures would not have been out-of-place on Paul’s Boutique or Three Feet High and Rising.
Flute of the Loom, by Frank Wess ,was purchased in the extensive bargain and clearance areas of Bigfoots. At this point-in-time of late stage empire, capitalism, or well, it’s just a late stage for alot of things, one dollar can be traded for a 50-plus year old object which with minimal facilitation can provide the same enjoyment, or maybe more, as it did when new. Even without any additional carbon footprint. And while Bruce I agree on nearly everything except jazz, I’m confident that there’s enough on this album for the anti-jazz set to appreciate. // J. OVERTON
*Bargain being $10 and under. As with bottles of wine and romance books, these were selected for further study more for their intriguing cover imagery and interesting titles than for the imagined quality of their contents. The records to be reviewed here, for whatever reason, spoke to the author. Your results may vary. On this outing in this same $1 section, I also bought albums by War, Buck Owens, and the King and I soundtrack, but as I was familiar with their contents they only merit mention in the footnote.
