Hieroglyphic Being is one of the numerous recording monikers employed by the extremely prolific Chicago-based DJ and electronic artist Jamal Moss. Profoundly impacted by his city’s techno/house music scene, he’s by no means confined by structural rules; adventurous and even restless, his latest effort brings him into contact with such heavyweights as saxophone giant Marshall Allen and Downtown vocal titan Shelley Hirsch as members of the J.I.T.U. Ahn-Sahm-Buhl. We Are Not the First blends spiritual jazz, kosmische, electronica, and spoken word to surprisingly productive effect. It’s out October 30 on 2LP/CD through RVNG Intl.
Jamal Moss’s life was permanently altered by Chicago house music as experienced in clubs like the Hummingbird, Reactor & Medusa’s and as perfected by DJs such as Boo Williams, DJ Rush, Ron Hardy, and Ron Trent. The transformation is evident in the man’s undeniably massive outpouring of product, Discogs currently listing 33 releases by Hieroglyphic Being alone.
That’s Moss’s most used moniker by a wide margin, with much of Hieroglyphic Being’s material self-released through the Mathematics Recordings CDr project Music from Mathematics. So much material makes it assuredly difficult to draw a conclusion, which is surely part of the plan; a sampling of Moss’s output highlights a progressive approach to house-electronic matters, Hieroglyphic Being having appeared on Soul Jazz Records’ compilation of Afrofuturistic producers Sounds of the Universe: Art + Sound 2012-15 Vol.1 and the Crème Organization’s A Tribute to Robert Moog.
Moss’s interests reach beyond electronic affairs, however; J.I.T.U. stands for Journey Into The Unexpected, and We Are Not the First offers deep engagement with jazz precedent and contemporary sonic boundary stretching, the results deeply informed by history and thrusting directly toward the future.
The vast oeuvre of the great Sun Ra would be a touchstone even without the input of the Arkestra’s long-serving alto saxophonist and current leader Marshall Allen, whose appearance here adds to a non-Ra discography once upon a time (1964) slimly represented by pianist Paul Bley’s Barrage and Nigerian percussionist Olatunji’s Drums! Drums! Drums! More recently, Allen’s collaborated with NRBQ pianist Terry Adams on Ten by Two and with drummer Hamid Drake, tenor saxophonist Kidd Jordan, and bassists extraordinaire Alan Silva and William Parker on The All-Star Game.
His horn flank on We Are Not the First is Daniel Carter, a reliably excellent blower that’s kept the company of pianist Matthew Shipp, trumpeter Ted Daniel, drummer Whit Dickey, and extensive meetings with William Parker. Placing these giants of the improvisational discourse into the same studio with the drummer for Liturgy/leader of Guardian Alien might inspire some to formulate an oil and water hypothesis and/or a simple imbalance of ability, but please don’t fall into that trap; Greg Fox is a major talent mentored by the avant-jazz mainstay Milford Graves.
Vocalist Shelley Hirsch’s credits are many. I first heard her on John Zorn’s Morricone-themed The Big Gundown and not long after on the Hendrix shake-up “Foxy Lady” as part of the group Odd Job on the Live at the Knitting Factory Volume Two comp. Amongst others she’s worked with Jon Rose, Elliott Sharp, Butch Morris, the Soldier String Quartet, and Richard Teitelbaum, while appearing on a slew of discs on Zorn’s Tzadik label. She brings her sharp avant-spillage to We Are Not the First as Rafael Sanchez and Moss delve into the tricky realm of poetics.
Guitarist-bassist Shahzad Ismaily has played in Trey Spruance’s Secret Chiefs 3, the Badawi Quintet, Costa Brave (with Fred Frith and Zeena Parkins), the Klezmer Madness Quartet, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, and alongside Ribot in Jolie Holland & the Grand Chandeliers. Elliott Levin plays the flute here, his past work including the bands of Cecil Taylor, Odean Pope, original Mother of Invention Don Preston, and with Allen on Weasel Walter’s Firestorm. Rounding out the Ahn-Sahm-Buhl is Ben Vida of Town and Country, Singer, DRMWPN, Bird Show, and the solo LPs Esstends-Esstends-Esstends and Slipping Control.
It would be easy to foresee Moss falling into the background of this worthy list, but that’s far from the reality, and as the participants aren’t fully assembled for each track the potential for balls-to-the-wall free jazz heave (a la Carter’s work in the collective Test, for example ) is mostly avoided. Instead, “Apes & Ages” opens the proceedings with reeds, surging tech and rhythmic rumble intersecting cosmic jazz with the outward-bound spiritualism of early electronic music.
Moss’s relaxed recitation does certainly investigate the post-Beat zone. A sure sticking point for many, it’s a maneuver working perfectly fine for these ears, though as Hirsch’s free vocalizing is as gripping as ever I won’t deny preferring the gist of “Civilization that is Dying.” RVNG’s promo text compares Hirsch’s prowess to a Theremin and the statement hits the bull’s-eye. Surrounding her, Fox’s drumming is sharp but flexible and Moss’s synthesizer tones rise, fall and abstractly wiggle forth with an underlying focus.
“Cybernetics is an Old Science” firmly establishes We Are Not the First as Moss’s project, brandishing a club friendly rhythm as tech warmly envelops the forward motion and the reeds expand outward, the whole deftly mingling energy and freedom. From there “Brain Damage” begins with a spirited horn tangle accented first by Fox on drums and then the thickness of an insistent techno pulse along the way. Beneficially, neither Allen nor Carter slow down, engaging in an inspired duo flight as the expansiveness gives way to incessant electro reverberations and a quick fadeout.
Hirsch returns on “Three Days More,” the track’s propulsion almost free-prog in sensibility; the bass is sinewy yet fleet, Moss’s electronic resonances absorbing, Hirsch a bit like Patty Waters floating in the stratosphere whist contemplating the life of Clara Rockmore, and the collectivity reaches full boil and then wastes no time dissipating.
Courtesy of Sanchez, “Fuck the Ghetto/Think About Outer Space”’s aura is that of a Thursday night poetry reading thankfully avoiding the trite and the obnoxious, even as synthetic bongos loiter about. Combining a techno thump and splattering synth recalling a late-night warehouse in the early ‘90s, the milieu is an art/dance hybrid with a touch of oddness enhanced by Sanchez’s slightly slowed down vocals.
During “Universe is a Simulation” Carter’s improvising possesses a forlorn edge amid somewhat archaic stuttering burbles from Moss and a seemingly backward-masked synthetic beat. And part of the pleasure in We Are Not the First is the mystery; it’s not always clear who is playing what, though prior to giving way to a gliding mix of riffs, rhythm and frequencies it’s plainly Ismaily’s bass solo at the beginning of “Pussy Thumper.”
“Cimetière des Innocents” layers an attractive atmosphere of rather low-fi tech with Levin’s flute and saxophone while “Root Of” acquires a Coltrane-esque feel via Fox’s Rashied Ali-like drumming; think Interstellar Space. In the midst of layered electronics, flute, and the unforced Jones/Baraka-ambiance of Sanchez’s oration, Moss’s synth takes on an appropriately horn-like delivery.
But the jazziest environs unfold last and a considerable length; “We Are Not the First” gathers nearly everyone for a finale over 18 minutes long fleetingly recalling everything from Sun Ra, ‘70s Miles Davis, Hancock’s Sextant, and a BYG/Actuel session produced by Conny Plank. Again, mystery; what sounds like a trumpet arrives, played by whom exactly is unclear, though the entire set is testament to the vision of Jamal Moss; rather than a pastiche, We Are Not the First is a thriving organic thing connecting Then and Soon to the everlovin’ Now.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
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