Various
This Is Flying Dutchman 1969-1975
★★★★
BGP. CD/DL/LP
Excellent sampler showcase of producer Bob Thiele’s innovative jazz label.
After working at Impulse! with John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp etc, producer Bob Thiele formed Flying Dutchman in 1969 and put out albums that coupled forward-thinking improv with a social conscience and spiritual dimension. This 16-track compilation provides a great introduction to the label’s early years – it closed in 1984 – mapping its musical giant steps by Gil Scott-Heron and Lonnie Liston Smith, the former with his crucial street sermons The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and Whitey On The Moon, the latter with the foundational jazz-funk fusion of Expansions and Peaceful Ones. There is also hard blowing flute and blues moaning from Leon Thomas and What’s Going On-styled meditations from the unsung Esther Marrow, alongside more noir-ish fare from Oliver Nelson and Thiele himself.