Bassist Buster Williams had already built a solid reputation playing for many years with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Jazz Crusaders and more before recording this his debut album ‘Pinnacle’ for the Muse label in 1975. He his accompanied by some other great musicians including Sonny Fortune on Sax and Flute, Woody Shaw Trumpet, Billy Hart Drums , Onaje Allan Gumbs on Acoustic and Electric keyboards and Guilherme Franco on Percussion. The album is recorded at Blue Rock Studios NYC and has a very Strata East sound in places and Herbie Mwandishi or early Eddie Henderson approach in others. ‘The Hump’ has a walking B-line over spacey grooves reminiscent of early 70s Herbie , very dark and intense. ‘Noble Ego’ is darker still with wordless vocals music to really get into. ‘Pinnacle’ featuring Earl Turbinton on Bass Clarinet continues the Herbie influence is a little lighter but still features some great musicanship and conception. ‘Tayamisha’ named after Buster’s daughter is another lovely song with more of a swing whilst ‘Batuki’ features a great solo from him. Really strong and overlooked album which has been remastered from the original analogue tapes on this Time Traveller/Craft limited edition release.
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