(2021) Jeanne Lee - Conspiracy (1975, Reissue)          


Review:
Jeanne Lee (1939-2000) was an African-American vocalist, poet, composer, improvisor, activist and educator. In her 40 year career she performed with Archie Shep, Marion Brown, Gunter Hampel, Frank Lowe, William Parker, Andrew Cyrille, Anthony Braxton, Ran Blake, Billy Bang, Cecil Taylor, John Cage, Rashsaan Roland Kirk, Pauline Oliveros, Reggie Workman, and many others. This is the first official reissue of Conspiracy since its limited release in 1975, it was her first record under her own name as a solo artist. It is a true lost gem, with a unique and beautiful sound. Musician Elaine Mitchener describes Conspiracy as “one of greatest free-form albums of the 1970s”. Her modulations reached a higher plane, songs like “Subway Couple” and the a capella “Angel Chile” dreaming in spirit colors and pushing toward something almost impossible to understand. The latter is a back-and-forth treatise on finding the space between sound and silence where magic exists. Lee’s cathartic and mesmerizing vocal workouts show incredible power but beneath a worn-down sheen of quiet vulnerability. It’s impossible not to be transfixed. So much of Conspiracy is timeless. “Yeh Come t’be” layers the repetitive phrase “come t’be” sung and murmured in 1000 different patterns as Lee howls and coos angelically on top. Disorientating as a centerpiece, but transportive spiritually, “Yeh Come t’be” becomes a heartbreaking lament, echoing centuries of horror, joy, sadness, and unease through her haunting harmonic vocal explorations. The emotion is so pure and raw that the weight of it becomes a towering mountain and Lee’s high-pitched yips toward the end is the sound of darkness being expelled. Impossibly powerful, this exorcism is transcendent. Obviously, Lee is the star of Conspiracy, but her collaborators fly throughout. Her longtime collaborator and partner, Gunter Hampel, is effervescent on “Jamaica,” and as the band gently slides into a laid-back groove, bassist Jack Gregg lays down such a smooth bassline that it’s impossible not to dance. It gets at another aspect of Lee’s work in a very direct way. Her music is physical; not simply in the sense that it’s so open it can be felt, but it also beckons listeners to get moving. It’s most obvious in the grooves of “Jamaica” or opener “Sundance,” but the slow glisten of “Your Ballad” pushes that movement at a different, more sultry speed. When Lee sings on “Your Ballad,” the universe’s spotlight is pointed straight at her. It’s utterly intoxicating. — foxydigitalis.zone





Track Listing:
1.Sundance 4:40
2.Yeh Come T' Be 7:05
3.Jamaica 6:05
4.Subway Couple 2:55
5.The Miracle Is 2:10
6.Your Ballad 6:40
7.Angel Chile 6:50
8.Conspiracy 11:55


Media Report:
Genre:  jazz
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits