ROGER GLENN'S JAZZ-FUNK GEM REACHIN' REISSUED

We’re excited to announce the latest addition to our acclaimed Top Shelf series: an unearthed gem from the golden age of jazz-funk fusion, Reachin’ by Roger Glenn. For nearly fifty years, Glenn’s debut has been a secret handshake among sophisticated crate-diggers and fusion connoisseurs – a treasure excavated from the fertile musical fault lines of the late-’70s Bay Area. Out of this eclectic, socially conscious epoch, Glenn created a masterpiece of Latin jazz, cosmic funk, and rare groove.

This Top Shelf reissue of the album has been immaculately restored: all-analog (AAA) mastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, cut straight from the original master tapes; 180-gram vinyl pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing; and a tip-on jacket that faithfully reproduces the original artwork. Reachin’ arrives July 10 and is available for pre-order now.

To understand Reachin’, you have to understand the versatility, roots, and imagination of Roger Glenn. The son of famed New York trombonist and vibraphonist Tyree Glenn, is a quintessential musician’s musician. As a child, he watched his father rehearse alongside Duke Ellington while absorbing a love of Cuban polyrhythms from his mother. After three years in the armed forces – where he played in an army band alongside Grover Washington, Jr. and Billy Cobham – Glenn quickly became a sought-after fixture of the East Coast jazz world.

A supremely gifted improviser, Glenn soon caught the attention of some major jazz figures: legendary vibraphonist Cal Tjader enlisted him to play flute in his band, revered flautist Herbie Mann recruited him on vibes, and Dizzy Gillespie–a friend of his father–invited Glenn to join his group for a tour of Brazil.

Glenn’s recording debut came alongside the “Mother of Bebop,” Mary Lou Williams on 1970’s Music for Peace. From there, his resume only became more illustrious. His sonic fingerprints can be heard all over the Cuban percussion maestro Mongo Santamaría’s Mongo ’70, the pioneering funk-jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd, and Tjader’s GRAMMY®-winning La onda va bien. This wasn’t merely a matter of well-placed connections. It was a testiment to his preternatural gift for melody and polymathic virtuosity.

Glenn’s debut as a bandleader and composer came only after moving to the West Coast, where he reconnected with his former high school bandmates, Reachin’s producers, The Mizell Brothers. In the mid-’70s, “Fonce” and Larry Mizell were at the apex of their artistic powers, having recently helmed Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd, which rewired the DNA of jazz-funk and laid the groundwork for acid jazz and neo-soul (Glenn played saxophone and flute on the album).

The singular alchemy of 1977’s Reachin’ lies in this creative union between the former Motown hitmakers and the omnivorous multi-instrumentalist raised among jazz royalty. As disco fever swept the dancefloors, Glenn summoned something more mystic, organic, and personal. Most Mizell Brothers-produced albums featured a consistent cast of players, but this one finds them stepping outside their comfort zone.

On Reachin’, Glenn teamed up with young prodigies of San Francisco’s music scene, including two members of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, percussionist Bill Summers and bassist Paul Jackson. Mark Soskin, who would soon join Sonny Rollins’ band, handles keyboard duties. Latin jazz guitar hero, Ray Obiedo, contributes incendiary, spiraling riffs, while a quartet of percussionists (including a young Sheila E.) fulfills Glenn’s layered vision of a rollicking Afro-Caribbean ensemble.

From the infectious title track that opens the album, it’s evident that Glenn aims to transport the listener to a different realm from typical jazz-funk fare. His flute and vibraphone pierce through like a radiant beam of light – soothing but electric, floating over the rhythm section, dipping into unusual pockets of the beat. “Rio” is a stick of dance floor dynamite, a fast fusion samba that became a cult classic for serious music heads. It’s a song best heard underneath a strobelite on a sultry night, sipping a strong Cuba Libre.

“Gloria” veers closer to conventional modal jazz, allowing Glenn to exhibit the improvisatory chops that made him a linchpin of the early ’70s New York jazz club circuit. The energy keeps pulsating until the finale, “Rezo Chango,” an incantatory prayer to the Yoruba deity, Chango. Chant and percussion take center stage, offering a stark contrast to the sleek locomotion first heard at the beginning of the journey. It’s an affirmation of music’s transportive and expansive properties – a reminder that we can always reach further.

Click here to pre-order/stream Reachin’

Tracklist:

Side A