Obscuro: Say What? Five of Jazz's Most Surprising Albums - Page 2

Gato Barbieri - In Search of the Mystery (1967)
When you think about it, Gato's first record is more like the Gato you would expect if you knew nothing more about him than the volatile, husky skronk of his tenor and his apprenticeship under such a major avant garde figure as trumpeter Don Cherry.

Released under ESP, the same label who introduced much of the world to Albert Ayler, In Search of the Mystery certainly sounded like it belonged in that catalog. The Argentinian wails throughout (come to think of it, he wailed a lot even after he stopped playing whack jazz), but there's no hint of the Latin in his music here that was to come later. For his debut, he leads an unusual quartet consisting of bass, cello, and drums.

As you might anticipate at this point, the music is indeed tumultuous, but unlike James' Explosions, it at least sounds somewhat purposeful. Consisting of a handful of twenty minute long tracks, this record would wear out its welcome quickly with most of the Caliente fans, but it's pretty darned respectable free jazz.

Barbieri's best work was still a few years ahead of him; his South American-flavored fusion of the early seventies is where he put his unique stamp on jazz. But you have to start somewhere, and Gato chose to start in such a challenging setting that everything after that was going to be a piece of cake for him by comparison.

Keith Jarrett - Restoration Ruin (1968)
Longtime followers of Jarrett remember that he was more adventurous earlier in his career, freely shifting configurations and types of jazz from album to album; he even used to play other instruments beyond piano on his records, like soprano sax and organ. But one of Jarrett's first stabs at a solo career during his stint as Charles Lloyd's pianist was decidedly diametrically opposed to everything else he's done musically.

Restoration Ruin was not even remotely close to jazz, it was folk-pop. And Jarrett wrote all the songs, played most of the instruments including acoustic guitar and sang — not the familiar wordless vocalizing he's more famous for, but real, actual lyrics. There was a psychedelic baroque feel to much of the album, like as if he was trying to be the next Tim Buckley. But his off key, nasally vocals fell woefully short of Buckley's magnificent croon. And the lyrics were sometimes downright embarrassing ("I see me as the fire, I see you as the rain", etc).

If you listen closely enough you can sometimes tell that there's a better than average musician playing behind those godawful vocals; his soprano sax on "Have A Real Time", for instance. A few of the songs even had potential, melodically speaking. But hardly anyone will notice these attributes because listening closely to Restoration is a painful experience. Jarrett himself has reportedly admitted that Restoration was a folly.

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