Doug Carn Infant Eyes LP

Keyboardist Carn's 1971 debut record for Black Jazz introduced his stylistic wrinkle of adding lyrics to jazz classics like John Coltrane's "Acknowlegement (A Love Supreme)," Horace Silver's "Peace," and Wayne Shorter's title track, all sung by the gorgeous, thrilling voice of his wife Jean Carn. A crack outfit of drummer Michael Carvin, saxophonist/flautist George Harper, trombonist Al Hall, Jr., trumpeter Bob Frazier, and bassist Henry Franklin (himself leader of two treasured Black Jazz releases) backs the couple.

Newly remastered and featuring liner notes by Pat Thomas, author of Listen Whitey! The Sights & Sounds of Black Power 1968-1975, Infant Eyes is a moving, beautiful listen that sounds ever more contemporary. Highly recommended!

Though composer and multi-instrumentalist Doug Carn cut a hip organ trio record for Savoy in 1969, it's 1971's Infant Eyes, his Black Jazz debut with vocalist and then-wife Jean Carn, that endures as a spiritual soul-jazz classic and arguably created the genre....All of Carn's Black Jazz titles are influential, but Infant Eyes arrived at a special cultural juncture. It balanced accessibility with adventure and established both the label and the Carns as co-creators of a brand new, specifically Afro-centric approach to creative jazz.