1976 Album on Vinyl LP!
Birth/Speed/Merging was recorded in 1976 after the band's move to San Francisco. The album closes the Pyramids' '70s trilogy and makes more use of studio technology: adding overdubs and other effects, a marked departure from the previous two releases, though at no cost to the urgent message and energy of their earlier works.
Yet another great lost black group of the '70s, the Pyramids grabbed what the Art Ensemble was dealing and put a California twist on it. The result is something thoroughly enjoyable and soaked with enough musicianship and Eastern influence to claim a small corner of R&B as their own. This is good stuff, and if you're into the groove Archie Shepp or Pharoah Sanders put down in the '70s, this could well be something you'll dig. Those who've tired of the whole large-ensemble funk thing and want a little harder edge will probably groove to this too.
Features
- Vinyl LP
- Manufactured in Poland
- Assembled in Czech Republic
Musicians
Kimathi Asante | Hagstrom bass guitar, talking drum, Ugandan harp, bamboo flute, percussion, vocals |
---|---|
Margo Ackamoor | flute, piccolo, percussion, vocals |
Idris Ackamoor aka Bruce Baker | alto sax, bongos, kucheng, bamboo flute, talking drum, percussion, vocals |
Heshima aka Mark Anthony Williams | acoustic bass, vocals |
Augusta Lee Collins | drums, talking drum, percussion |
Kenneth Nash | congas, bongos, rosenbow, percussion, Guatemalan stick drum, vocals |
Selections
Side A:
Birth / Speed / Merging Suite
- Part 1. Aomawa
- Part 2. Birth/Speed/Merging
- Part 3. Reaffirmation
Side B:
- Jamaican Carnival
- Black Man and Woman of the Nile