Howard Wales: Rendezvous with the Sun

Howard Wales is probably best known for his association with the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia. But, he also stepped quite firmly on the terra firma of jazz funk via his playing on “Music of El Topo”, and with this private solo lp from 1976. The track that quite deservedly gets attention here is “Karnaval” – an absolutely masterful slice of electric funky fusion with heavy drums and loads of spacey keyboard.

OK, so, If you are anything like me you are cringing at the term “funky fusion” right now – and while this record definitely is, there is also a lot more diversity than most of the Headhuters knock-offs out there. There is an almost (WARNING: Another scary term) prog-rockish jamming quality, but this is a good thing as it keeps things from ever wandering into smooth jazz territory as so many albums from around this time were beginning to do. A pretty solid listen all the way through.