BSPH: Prince - Loring Park Jazz Funk Sessions 1977

It is no secret that Prince was a man of impressive talent. One his greatest abilities was to get rid off pretense (or if being exact amp the pretense to eleven) and just do the thing. He loved making music and that was always present in his output.  Case in point - this early recording.



These are the recording made in 1977 in the Loring Park rehearsal room. Prince is 19 years old on keyboards and guitars and is absolutely killing. He is accompanied by Bobby Z on drums and Andre Cymone on bass. Andre is MVP of the session as his bass lines not only tie together intense drums and ringing keys but also pierce through them with its own melodic dimension. With that being said, it doesn't mean that the music these boys made is anything groundbreaking or boundary pushing. It is just damn good jazz funk in a vein of Herbie Hancock. Which is impressive nonetheless due to the age of performers.

These sessions offer a glimpse of how impressive was Prince even on the earliest of his career.

Track one got some impressive wah-wah warbling on the start. It sets the tone of the entire set of recordings. These rumblings cause lacerations that give a way for bass and drums. The groove is tight, JB's 1970 tight. After an introduction, Prince goes on an electric piano and delivers solid Chick Korea / Herbie Hancock fusion solo while Bobby and Andre tear the house down. Then a synth comes for a party and some harder-edged embellishments to the mix. 

Track Two is Andre Cymone's highlight piece. The only way to describe his performance on the track is "Whoa" - he is intense. The composition is more in a vein of Parliament-Funkadelic output - the synths are bumbling goofily. However, in the end Prince goes overboard and delivers some old school jazzy piano workout.

Track Three is sly and wry, it is a kind of caffeinated funk blast with a quiet storm breaks. There is weird tension on the tracks - as if boys were trying to restrain themselves to a bare minimum but constantly failed and got a little bit more stuff here and there. The groove is massive - the drums plays almost a motorik apache beat while bass is doing pick/slap zigzags over it. The culmination of the track sounds like a band showdown. After that bass takes over the takes and scorches everything in sight. Andre Cymone kills it - the rest barely manages to keep up with him.

Track Four gets cool with a focus on pulsing bass and manic hi-hat bounce. It is the closest the band got to a distilled jazz fusion. The track starts with a steady build up where Prince splashes some keys on the surface. Then he blast through and wrecks havoc on piano. Prince's piano labyrynths through the track while the drums are trying to catch him like pesky mice. Bass tries to keep it together but is slightly irritated. Then comes bubbling sizzling synth solo which is straight out of Headhunters Hancock arsenal. After that the cat-mouse continues but this time bass also gets involved and things get really messy. Second synth solo is taunting and there are many cymbal splash trying to wash it out. They fail and piano strolls into a victory rag while drums are going nuts but after a while they get their grasp on the piano and slowly choke them out. 

Track Five goes full giant baba fusion. The groove goes full swing with intimidating walking bass. Prince is on the background doing the atmospherics. The star of the piece is Bobby Z who performs a balancing act on a tight rope. Prince's guitar solo is comes in as an internal monologues of the drum parts. It compliments the shaky feel of the rhythm with its steady progression. 

Track Six is going back to funk. It is steady going thinkpiece on groove. Bass and drums are so tight you might think it is a one-piece. The break elevates things on another level so that when things go back to the main - there are much more details thrown in - the back beat is much more pronounced and there occassional slap fills in the tail ends of the bars. By the time of the second break the performers are clearly trying outgroove each other. Prince's wah-wahs makes a sticky fog that makes the groove more impressionistic.

Track Seven is the most diverse composition of the bunch. It starts with the bass melody backed by an echoing keys. Then things go into Stevie Wonder smooth rollout. You expect Prince to start singing, but no - the track just goes on aknowledging but ignoring that notion. After a second break the beat goes hard and Prince does a short yawping synth solo. The bass gets busier while the drums fill the blanks. All this culminates in the second synth solo which sounds really big. After that Bass gets an extended showcase as if the track had accidentally jumped out of atmosphere into the vacuum a couple of times. Third synth solo is trying to pull it back on earth, but then bass just breaks free with a Bootzilla intensity. Of all the compositions - this one feels like the most complete.

Track eight starts with a swing run-through. Prince sneaks into the tracks barely managing to get through but gradually takes over the track and the band starts to intensify the groove into a manic roundabout. It is a kaleidoscope of twitching, warbling sounds bound together in the airtight groove. The synth is, for the lack of the better word, knitting the melodies out of thin air. Near the end, bass makes a solo jogging bout right before the band goes into the grand finale.