NA Reserve Review: World's Experience Orchestra "The Beginning of A New Birth" (1975) & Worlds' "As Time Flows On" (1977)

 

Subscription services are the rage these days. No need to leave your house, trust us to curate whatever product you love. These “influencers” of a sort get it right in a matter of degrees to how invested you are in the product. Now Again, the label masterminded by Egon - a crate digger respected by Madlib, joined the fray with NA Reserve in 2017. Unlike most vinyl subscription services and in true Now Again fashion they do nothing normal. Delivering truly lost sounds to the ears of obsessive record collectors it is the only subscription service this vinyl fanatic will stick with after being involved with multiple of them for the last couple years.

#listentomorejazz - a twitter refrain I can get behind, minus qualms towards the word “Jazz.” Miles Davis decreed it Social Music and I’ve heard others simply call it The Music. There is an argument that a word is just a word and it really shouldn’t matter. Perhaps that’s fair. Alas the entomology of a word is important and the history of the J word is certainly suspect. But that is for another article, another time. I’m embarking on a personal attempt to eradicate that word from my vocabulary and engage with it in other ways. Is labeling genres even necessary? Another article unto itself.

Upon entering this music I was young and approaching it from a very specific place, that of the hiphop head. Sampling had shaped my ear, which lends itself to this style fairly well. There is a desire for a groove and a practice of improvisation present in both. Of course beats can be fairly repetitive as well, which is rarely the case in this music. Such is the nature of music created by bands versus a single individual.

My first entry point was most likely Kind of Blue, beautiful in it’s subtleness and calm. From there it went to Cal Tjader’s shuffling Latin rhythms and an assortment of B3 organ players. Both of these were fun to my young ears, filled with energy and funk that made sense in a context of hiphop. Party music of old. But even as this exploration began, I wasn’t fully invested. I was open to new sounds but still mostly consumed by my first love. The art of sampling was more my driving motivator for this journey than any real appreciation of the art form or what the players were actually doing.

As I grew up and vinyl entered my life I was still driven by this compulsion to explore the roots of hiphop and I bought many a record because I thought it contained a sample that had been flipped or was awaiting the proper chop and loop routine. But as this sonic cultivation evolved so too were my ears. First it was fusion and soul inflected takes on the style, then it was older more classic bop grooves and before I knew it I was in fact listening to this social music more.

I can’t describe the why or what of this sound and style that brings me inspiration - most likely the same reason this music is called the one true American classical sound. It’s energized, magnetic and filled with a life unlike any sound I’ve ever unearthed. The interplay of a band, the options available to lay down something low key or chaotic, the styles within styles and the growth afforded a player are infinite. Wherever your journey begins, it will always be just that - a beginning. As your ears attune to that point they will crave more and that more will shift into broader demonstrations of how this music can inspire.

Enter these two projects organized by bandleader, bassist and composer John Jamyll Jones. A natural seeker of sound, Jones took the path less traveled, departing NYC for Boston in the early 60s, a time when the music was all the rage in his hometown. Jones was a fan but also had a family to raise so cheaper rent took priority over any music making dreams. The move proved to be fortuitous as it introduced him to the world of conservatory Jazz. A self taught bassist who clearly couldn’t resist the pull to create, Jones cultivated a community around him that was ever shifting and evolving with only one goal in mind: seeking connection. 

The Beginning of A New Birth is a hypnotic two part suite. Simplistic in it’s steady growth yet complex in the feelings it inspires. At almost twenty five minutes in length, the title track leaves much to unpack. Featuring a drummer, a saxophone, chanting and the occasional piano, your first thought might be how on earth do those three elements make a song so long. Thus the hypnosis inducing magic. The tune demonstrates restraint and feeling. There is a depth to the way these elements interact and the choices made as to where the different elements combine or solo. Jones elected not to play on this record, instead operating as the conductor of this orchestra. And it shows. As composer of the songs as well, it’s clear he was keenly aware of how it was meant to be delivered.

When I first started sitting with this album I was questioning how many replays I could give an album featuring just two tracks. And the answer is never enough. This will certainly be a record I return to over the years. It’s an early demonstration of the spiritual aesthetic that was emerging at the time. It feels devotional. Side two of the album features the second part of the suite, aptly named “The Prayer.” This tune is a continued evolution of the opening track but filled with more energy and life, the piano plays a bigger part providing a steadier groove - also aided by the drummer shifting from abstract breaks with no apparent method to the madness on side one to a more present and consistent beat. The way the composition takes its time to grow and develop into itself is praiseworthy. They are in no rush to deliver the goods, they allow the listener to become fully engulfed in their energy.

The second album included in this reissue, credited to just Worlds’, will have you questioning if it is possible the same band made these two projects. While Jones is at the root of both projects his vision was that of community and interaction. As Time Flows On feels much different. Comprised of 5 songs and recorded live at a venue in 1974, the songs are shorter and all feature lyrics. The vocalist adds an incredibly soulful element to the album. Not as omnipotent as The Beginning of A New Birth, it houses its own elements of inspiration. The songs on As Time Flows On are happy, filled with love and light. There is an innate sense of peace and calm, joy and energy. If the vocal side of this social music was ever going to be as popular as the instrumental side this album should be a shining light as to what the style had to offer.

The albums lost to time are innumerable. The musicians who didn’t play the game of record industry politics but were fortunate enough to have a chance to share their passion and skills with us via independently recorded albums were few and far between back in the day. But it’s clear that the ones who were meant to share their gift with the world were blessed with the opportunity. Jones and his World’s Experience Orchestra weren’t chasing fame or money, they were simply channeling the spirits and expressing their feelings with their instruments because they had too. And thankfully they were captured for us to revisit.