Artist: Tribe
Project: Rebirth
Label: Community Projects / Planet E
Producer: Carl Craig
Engineer: Collin Dupuis
Recording Studio: White Room & My House of Trouble, Detroit, MI
Mix Studio: My House of Trouble, Detroit, MI
Mastering: Michael Fossenkemper @ Turtle Tone Studios
The Tribe: Wendell Harrison, Phil Ranelin, Marcus Belgrave, Doug Hammond
Personnel:
Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes
Karriem Riggins - Drums
Damon Warmack - Bass
John Arnold - Guitar
Amp Fiddler - Keyboards
Humberto 'Andres' Hernandez - Congas
Joan Belgrave - Voice
Pamela Wise - Keyboards
Ralphe Armstrong - Bass
Pathe Jassi - Bass
Gayelynn McKinney - Drums
Motor City Horns - Backing Horns
Mark Byerly (Trumpet), John Rutherford (Trombone), Keith Kaminski (Sax)

01. Living In A New Day
Written by Phil Ranelin (Philran Music BMI)
Phil Ranelin - Trombone, Wendell Harrison - Sax, Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes, Karriem Riggins - Drums, Damon Warmack - Bass, John Arnold - Guitar, Humberto 'Andres' Hernandez - Congas, Carl Craig - Synth and sound design

02. Glue Fingers
Written by Marcus Belgrave (EdMarsyl Publishing)
Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Wendell Harrison - Sax, Phil Ranelin - Trombone, Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes, Karriem Riggins - Drums, Pathe Jassi - Bass, John Arnold - Guitar, Amp Fiddler - Organ, Additional Horns - Motor City Horns

03. Denekas Chant
Written by Doug Hammond Gema (Jodgoa Publishing Corp, ASCAP)
Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Wendell Harrison - Clarinet, Phil Ranelin - Trombone, Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes, Karriem Riggins - Drums, Ralphe Armstrong - Bass, Amp Fiddler, Carl Craig - Synths, Additional Horns - Motor City Horns

04. Vibes From The Tribe
Written by Phil Ranelin (Philran Music BMI)
Phil Ranelin - Trombone, Wendell Harrison - Sax, Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes, Karriem Riggins - Drums, Pathe Jassi - Bass, John Arnold - Guitar, Humberto 'Andres' Hernandez - Congas, Carl Craig - Synth bass and sound design

05. Son Of Tribe
Written by Marcus Belgrave, Carl Craig, Wendell Harrison (EdMarsyl Publishing, Planet E Communications ASCAP, WenHa Music Publishing BMI) Wendell Harrison - Bass Clarinet, Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Karriem Riggins - Drums, Damon Warmack - Bass, John Arnold - Guitar, Carl Craig - Keys and vibe

06. Jazz On The Run
Written by Wendell Harrison (WenHa Music Publishing BMI)
Wendell Harrison - Sax, Phil Ranelin - Trombone, Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes, John Arnold - Guitar, Additional Horns - Motor City Horns

07. Ride
Written by Wendell Harrison (WenHa Music Publishing BMI)
Wendell Harrison - Sax, Phil Ranelin - Trombone, Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes, Karriem Riggins - Drums, Damon Warmack - Bass, Amp Fiddler - Organ, Humberto 'Andres' Hernandez - Congas, Additional Horns - Motor City Horns

08. Lesli
Written by Lawrence Williams (EdMarsyl Publishing) Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Wendell Harrison - Clarinet, Phil Ranelin - Trombone, Karriem Riggins - Drums, Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes, Ralphe Armstrong - Bass, John Arnold - Guitar, Carl Craig - Synth and sound design

09. 13th And Senate
Written by Phil Ranelin (Philran Music BMI)
Phil Ranelin - Trombone, Wendell Harrison - Sax, Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Kelvin Sholar - Rhodes, Doug Hammond - Drums, Ralphe Armstrong - Bass

10. Where Am I (Featuring Joan Belgrave)
Written by Wendell Harrison (WenHa Music Publishing BMI)
Wendell Harrison - Sax, Marcus Belgrave - Trumpet, Pamela Wise - Keyboards, Drums - Gayelynn McKinney, Damon Warmack - Bass, John Arnold - Guitar, Amp Fiddler - Rhodes, Joan Belgrave - Voice

An inside glimpse into the legendary Detroit Jazz Collective TRIBE and the process behind their upcoming reunion album on Planet E / Community Projects out in Fall 2008. TRIBE members Wendell Harrison, Phil Ranelin and Marcus Belgrave as well as producer Carl Craig discuss the project on camera. Includes footage of TRIBE live at the 2008 JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL in New York (which received a rave review in the NY Times).



Press contact for Tribe: Gamall @ Backspin Promotions

JVC Jazz Festival in Review



Le Poisson Rouge

Tribe was a musicians' collective and a record label and a magazine started in Detroit in the early '70s. It operated in a self-empowerment, community-building spirit that was similar to other musician-run cooperatives in Chicago and Los Angeles and St. Louis, all outgrowths of the Black Arts Movement. Tribe's sound was street and chic and spacey, but always concerned with straight-ahead entertainment; these musicians had gotten their chops through Detroit hard bop and Motown and the Ray Charles band. They were the local elite.

The trombonist Phil Ranelin, the tenor saxophonist Wendell Harrison and the trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, among others, recently recorded a new Tribe album in the old sound, this time produced by the Detroit techno D.J. Carl Craig, a club-music superstar one full generation younger. The record comes out in the fall, and the band has already started promoting it.

The three older musicians, with a younger rhythm section, played a set of new and old instrumental music with socially conscious spoken-word inserts, and giving a few New Yorkers one of those necessary periodic lessons about jazz history from other parts of the country.

It was especially fascinating to hear Mr. Ranelin, a player whose name is associated with '70s soul-jazz and free jazz, because he's such a disciplined player in the hard-bop mold. His solos used long, warbling tones, then changed into stiff percussive blasts and smart melodic lines.

Mr. Belgrave, well known as a teacher but still underrated as a performer, played subtle, wide and logical solos on trumpet and fluegelhorn that were like compressed pieces of wisdom. Mr. Harrison played the most mannered and authentic '70s solos, fitting the tone of the music (and Mr. Ranelin's poetry) with honks and flurries and shouts.

The music used ebb-and-flow vamps, a little boilerplate rhythmically but with shrewd harmony; the mentholated music sounded like electric Miles Davis meeting James Brown's backup group in the early '70s, and a bit like the European downtempo electronic music it inspired in the early '80s. In the back line were musicians with mostly Detroit roots: Kelvin Sholar on electric piano, Damon Warmack on electric bass, John Arnold on guitar, and Jaimeo Brown on drums. But this was a wandering, solo-oriented music, and most action came from the old heads up front.

Ben Ratliff

Earplug
Earplug: What's up with this new jazz project you're working on?

Carl Craig: It's about Tribe — [trumpeter] Marcus Belgrave, [trombonist] Phil Ranelin, [drummer] Doug Hammond, [saxophonist] Wendell Harrison, and [pianist] Harold McKinney, who's not with us anymore. It's a project based around music these guys wrote and released 30-35 years ago. We've done new versions of [their material]. Basically, I'm producing an album for this music that I really love and have a lot of pride in. These are fellow Detroiters and legends as well. It's a re-presentation of these guys, re-introducing them to the world.

EP: Have you finished the recording sessions or are you still working on it?

CC: Yeah, we recorded the album. I've had a lot of other obligations that have been going on, but I'm on a pursuit of perfection with this music, so I want to make sure that it's the most perfect record that I could ever make. I want to make sure every piece fits correctly, so that people who love Marcus, Wendell, and Phil will love this record, while kids used to hearing music completely synthesized and sequenced can get into it too. As I go through the album, I just want to make sure everybody is on point. It will be the perfect jazz record. We're going for our Grammy win this year! [laughs]

EP: Did you play along with them, or are you strictly acting as producer?

CC: We went into the studio together and I just guided them through the process. My role was like a coach, but ultimately it was as a fan. It's way different compared to making a record of my own stuff, where I'm involved with every aspect of it. I had a lot of help from Kelvin Sholar, my right-hand man musically. I leaned on him a lot to find the best young musicians we could, as well as some friends of Tribe that came and joined in, like Ralph Armstrong, who played on an early Tribe record. There's a lot of history that comes with Tribe. They have mentored a lot of young kids from the '70s who became prominent musicians, like James Carter. You can relate Marcus Belgrave in every aspect of Detroit music because he's mentored somebody, somewhere, sometime. Marcus has an indirect influence on hip-hop because he mentored Amp Fiddler, and Amp Fiddler was the one who taught J Dilla how to program MPCs. Tribe isn't just a few guys that made a couple of records back in the day. These are guys that have been ultra active in the Detroit music community and have a very prominent influence.

EP: What's the principal reason you're doing this record?

CC: It's completely a labor of love. There's no marketing strategy for a record like this, other than the fact that they're legends and they make great music. It's not like they're going to stand up onstage and dance like Chris Brown or something. I try to work on whatever I can stand behind and really, what I do with it makes a statement. I try to work with special things, and this is a very special project to me.

From December 2007 Issue of JAZZTIMES

DOUG HAMMOND - A Real Deal (Heavenly Sweetness)
Strikingly minimalist, the first recording in 20 years from jazz-funk drummer Doug Hammond is a weirdly arresting blend of mystic street poetry and stark musical improvisation. Singing with a rough, unpolished voice that sounds vulnerable but touchingly sincere, or rapping his lines with a hip retro swagger, Hammond accompanies himself with meditative sanza (thumb piano) cycles or dynamically strutting drum riffs. He reaches another level when joined by pianist Kirk Lightsey, who lifts three songs into a world of fragile, melancholy beauty. -Forrest Dylan Bryant

FACT: I was going to ask if, working on remixes, you miss the physical act of collaboration, actually being in the same room as musicians, but presumably for this Tribe record you're getting that kind of fix?

CARL CRAIG: Yeah, that's right. As far as individual, one-on-one collaboration goes, I'm really bad at that.

FACT: Can you elaborate? I'm guessing it's a control thing…

CARL CRAIG: Yeah, it is a control thing and I mean…I'm not a difficult person to work with – actually I'm doing a one-on-one collaboration right now, but it's on a remix project, it's a classical thing for Deutsche Grammofon with Moritz Von Oswald from Rhythm & Sound. That's fun because we're just screwing around, and I'm learning a lot from him because he was a classical percussionist years ago, so I'm hearing the music differently than what I'd usually hear, but when I work by myself I can get into a zone, almost like a trance, and then it just happens, you know? There's no discussion, whereas with collaboration, there's a lot of discussion.

With the Tribe thing there's a lot of discussion, sure, but there's a lot of process as well, the guys play and it's like "OK, that's really good, let's try it again", and then you get three takes and say "OK, let's go to the next song" [laughs]. So it's a little different than, "OK, well, why don't we play this in C?" and "Yeah, OK, let's try to step-sequence some shit, let's try to add some chords" and "No, NO, I don't like what you just did! Do something else" [laughs]. It's kind of like you're sounding out composition instead of just having a composition and playing it.

Read the Full Interview

BBC Radio 1 DJ Gilles Peterson opened his radio show this week (15th November) with the new TRIBE single "Livin In A New Day"

If you have observed the cover of this album then you definitely have concluded that it is rather unusual. This is specially true when you think of all the different kinds of designs, sketches and pictures that most record L.P.'s portray these days. The great majority of today's record covers usually deal to very little or no relation to what's inside. Instead of spotlighting some facet of the music to be heard you generally get a picture of some sexy young lady, a very colorful picture of an abstract painting or maybe a psychedelic setting with a group of people displaying the latest in women's or men's apparel. Now these types of covers may look attractive and are nice conversation pieces to display around the house to friends and relatives who drop by to visit. But in the final analysis we, as listeners, must remember that the most important ingredient is the music. The musicians and the instruments are subordinate to it. This is apparent regardless of what type of music you enjoy listening to. However, there are some rare occasions when you find that the L.P. cover blends with the music inside of it and enables the listener to profit from that L.P. inside and outside. Tenor saxophonist, Wendell Harrison and his group, the Tribe, have achieved that goal with their latest offering "An Evening With The Devil".

Although the outer part of the cover is an astrological chart of Wendell you don't have to be a student of astrology to understand it. For you see my friends the struggle of man to try and balance the scales of justice within his society has been evident, like astrology, since man first appeared. I use the term justice rather than "law and order" because justice, in my mind's eye, stands for man trying to improve his conditions and continue to grow in mind, body and spirit. While on the other hand, the term "law and order" coined by the Nixon administration, talks about restricting man and placing him into a setting whereby his behavior conforms to a particular standard and thereby his growth is stopped before it can nourish and develop properly.

In an interview with Wendell about the album cover, the Tribe, and their music he has the following comments to make. "The album cover which was done by my wife Pat, represents two things. A man in the nude is kneeling with his head pointing downward and in one hand he is holding the head of a skull, while in the other hand he is holding the foot of the system or establishment that we live under in this country. One stands for the head of the system and the other stands for the foot of it. The skull represents the intellect and the skillful intellectual propaganda that's going down both internally and externally. Included in this category is the businessman on Wall Street who owns and operate all of the major corporations within the country. With their finances and influence they dictate the governmental policies which create the negative vibrations that are oppressing, disabling, and killing millions of people in Viet Nam, Africa, Latin America, and America by means of war in the name of democracy. War is profitable from an economical stand point and therefore the economy of the country is dependent upon it to survive. You also have the cunning intellectual ways of the law, by way of its Supreme Courts that legislate against the true rights of the people and deny them an equal opportunity with smoke screen issues like housing, civil rights and busing. This is balanced on the other hand or scale by the foot of the system. This brings into play your police forces like STRESS (Stop The Robberies Enjoy Safe Streets) in Detroit, a special detachment, who harass black people without a justifiable cause. Then there's the total rip-offs that happens within the prisons like Attica in N.Y. and the underground things like dope, prostitution, numbers racket and abortion. Actually what it is saying is that you have your upper and lower structure of the system. All these things are represented by the man in the nude and directly above him is the all-seeing eye that symbolizes the Creator of the planet observing all of these things that are taking place below. These life styles and forces are placed in the center of an astrological chart of myself which is symbolic of every black person within the community trying to balance this hell of a monster.

"The Tribe is an extension of the tribes in the villages of Africa, our mother country. In Africa everyone had a talent to display. There were no superstars: just people and collectively all the people of the village played a vital role in shaping that culture. We see all black communities within this country as villages and the tribes are the people residing within them. The Tribe is composed of creative artists from the Metropolitan Detroit area who have traveled extensively with many well known musicians and have returned with the intention of sharing these experiences with our people in order to broaden the cultural base in this city. They are some of the most original and creative artists in the area. We hope to bring out points, situations and events that are happening in our communities by way of music, poetry, dance and rapping to the people. You see pure music must reflect the environment that we live in if it is to be educational and beneficial to our culture. It must portray our way of life. At this point in our history, harmony for the most part, is not reflected in our communities. There's a lot of rebellious tension and discord, even though we have some groovy or harmonious moments along the way. There are many people within this society, black and white, who don't understand what is happening in regards to the direction the black musicians are moving toward. Our music is reflecting more so than ever before the stress, tension and discord that is taking places within our communities along with the positive and harmonious things happening. This is evident when one listens to the music of composers like the late John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Ornette Coleman and the late Albert Ayler. These guys understand the relationship between art and culture and they took the total vibrations, positive and negative, of the whole culture and served as amplifiers or speaker systems through the arts. You can not divorce art from its root culture and expect it to be relevant for both the artist and his culture.

"The compositions we play are reflective of the music of our times whereby we play Jazz, Funk and African music with its poly or many rhythms. I wrote all the tunes in this particular L.P. and it is written as a suite of 5 movements which means that the music can be performed along with poetry and dancers. On our last L.P. 'Message From The Tribe', we featured the compositions of our very talented composer, arranger and trombonist Phil Ranelin. On one side of the L.P. he wrote all the compositions and on the flipside I wrote all the tunes. This album was produced by us on the Tribe record label. As far as the music in 'Evening With The Devil' is concerned it really speaks for itself. In addition to the music it features some relevant poetry by two very talented young poets named Oba and Vajava who are also members of a very excellent theater group in Detroit called the Black Messengers."

America's only original art form, commonly called Jazz, was created as a result of the enslavement of a people and their culture. Consequently it grew up as a child of poverty. Not unlike its people, suffering and indifference has marked its path every step of the way. Like its people, every time it has reached what was thought to be its low point, it has been revived by innovation. Wendell Harrison and the Tribe certainly provides us with another link to add on to the chain of the innovators. In their efforts to balance the scales of Justice they strive to elevate their listeners to a higher level of consciousness in mind, body and spirit through music. Their latest release, "An Evening With The Devil", is certainly one that you will enjoy, appreciate and love. The Tribe has a very heavy message for you beautiful people of the universe to hear. They are men of their times who are aware, concerned, dedicated and serious. If you are serious about what they have in store for you, you had better listen because as the late multi-reedist Albert Ayler once said "MUSIC IS THE HEALING FORCE OF THE UNIVERSE."