ProJazz.net

“An in-demand drummer of jazz’s sixth wave, Lenny White cut his teeth with Jackie McLean before hooking up with Miles Davis in 1970 and inventing the future of the genre. Credits on Davis’s Bitches Brew, Santana’s Caravanserai, and Chick Corea’s Where Have I Known You Before led to a deal with Nemporer Records in 1975, where White cut two monuments of progressive jazz: Venutian Summer and Big City.

Issued in 1975, Venusian Summer deceives as a spaced-out funk LP for the first eight minutes, replete with slap bass, wandering clavinet, ARP solos, freaked out guitar noodling, and chunky drum breaks. In the center is the two part “Venusian Summer Suite,” a moody drone that cuts open a hidden vein of street classical, with an endless Hubert Laws flute solo to boot. From another planet, for sure.” – Bandcamp.

“This is a must-have fusion recording.” – Robert Taylor/AllMusic.

Track listing:

00:00 A1. Chicken-Fried Steak
04:34 A2. Away Go Troubles (Down The Drain)
08:05 A3. Part 1. Sirenes
12:30 A4. Part 2. Venusian Summer
18:15 B1. Prelude To Rainbow Delta
19:26 B2. Mating Drive
27:08 B3. Prince Of The Sea

Personnel:

Drums – Lenny White

Bass – Doug Rauch
Electric Piano, Clavinet – Onaje Allan Gumbs (tracks: A2, A4, B2, B3)
Flute – Hubert Laws (tracks: A4)
Guitar – Al Di Meola (tracks: B3), Doug Rodrigues (tracks: A1, A2, B2), Larry Coryell (tracks: B3), Raymond Gomez (tracks: A1, B2)
Keyboards, Synthesizer – David Sancious (tracks: A2, A4)
Organ – Jimmy Smith (tracks: A1), Larry Young (tracks: B2), Weldon Irvine (tracks: A2)
Synthesizer – Patrick Gleeson (tracks: A3 to B1), Peter Robinson (tracks: A3, A4)
Synthesizer, Flugelhorn – Tom Harrell (tracks: A3, B3)

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Label: Atlantic – ATL 50213, Nemperor Records – NE 435
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Repress
Country: Germany
Released: 1976