Psych Jazz 1969

I was poking around in the badly tattered Real Book I got from my first guitar teacher and happened to notice something oddly trivial just below a classic Coltrane tune.

“Memphis Underground”? Wha? So I pulled it up in Spotify. And my mind exploded. I had stumbled across a peculiar and wonderous artifact from the peak (or depths, depending on how you feel) of the psychedelic era – Herbie Mann’s 1969 “Memphis Underground” album.

It’s jazz, in a sense:

1. Instrumental
2. Long vibraphone and flute solos
3. The flute is funky

But then again, it’s jazz smushed into the psychedelic rock framework. The jams are one chord, mainly, which gives them a primal urgency. The harmony works fine against the five-note scale every rock guitarist learns first.

But also – and this is key – there is an electric guitar. In places, it’s prog noise worthy of Confusion is Sex or White Light/White Heat. In places, it’s that nervous fuzztone blues rock you’d from garage punk freakouts like In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida or Psychotic Reaction.

This was 18 months or so *before* Bitches Brew. And regardless of the date, BB was upmarket compared to Herbie Mann. It was not Rock. Miles’ guitarist was subtle and deft. Herbie’s was boneheaded and heavy handed.

In a certain way, Memphis Underground was the better album. It had a hint of outsider art. It was raw and unforgivable. But it was also forgettable, so it has been.