Second Wave – Haynes, Roland – LP – Brand New Vinyl (Arrives in 20days)

This 1975 album is one of a kind in lots of ways. First,
it’s keyboardist Roland Haynes’ only album. But more
importantly, Second Wave has a sound—and line-up—
unlike pretty much any other jazz fusion album to come
out before or since. Anchored by a fantastic rhythm
section of Carl Burnett (Cal Tjader, Vince Guaraldi and
most notably Gene Harris and The Three Sounds) and
Henry “The Skipper” Franklin (leader on a couple of
Black Jazz titles, plus Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry,
Hugh Masekela, and many others), the album features
dueling Fender Rhodes tickled by Haynes and Kirk
Lightsey, who played with everyone from Chet Baker to
Pharoah Sanders to Sonny Stitt, not to mention a bunch
of Black Jazz dates. The cascading sound of the two
electric pianos, one (Lightsey’s) often driven through
a wah-wah pedal, gives Second Wave a special vibe
all its own; there are not horns or guitars getting in
the way of these mindblowing keyboard jams. Some folks
might hear a little ‘70s-era Miles Davis when Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and/
or Herbie Hancock were in the band, and Hancock’s own Head Hunters album comes to mind (as
well later fusion dudes like Jan Hammer and Bill Bruford), but Second Wave is sui generis. Our Real
Gone reissue features liner notes by Pat Thomas, author of Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of
Black Power 1965-1975, that include a couple of quotes from drummer Burnett and bassist Franklin.
Blue with black swirl pressing limited to 750 copies!