Phil Ranelin: The Found Tapes, Live in Los Angeles (ORG Music)

This box set fills a vital chronological gap in Ranelin’s discography under his own name (1976-86). While Ranelin was doing plenty of work as a sideman in his L.A. years, primarily touring and recording with Freddie Hubbard’s bands (4 LPs) as well as multiple session gigs, there are no proper releases under Phil Ranelin’s name.

Presented here are tracks from three different live dates pulled from the period after Ranelin had moved to L.A. from Detroit where he cofounded Tribe Records with Wendell Harrison.

The box starts off with the full set from July 19, 1981 at the legendary Maiden Voyage Club in Los Angeles. Kicking off with a full freewheeling take of “He The One We All Knew" which originally appeared on both The Time Is Now (Tribe, 1974) as "He...(Part 1)" and again on Vibes From The Tribe (Tribe, 1976) as "He...(Parts 1 & 2), it’s clear that the quartet of Ranelin (trombone), Billy Childs (piano), Tony Dumas (bass) and Ralph Penland (drums) are in top form. The quartet are really tuned in to each other; flowing between loose and funky and really stretch out during this set; sometimes in the same piece (“Vibes From The Tribe 1 & 2”) .

The box starts off with the full set from July 19, 1981 at the legendary Maiden Voyage Club in Los Angeles. Kicking off with a full freewheeling take of “He The One We All Knew (Parts 1 & 2),” which originally appeared on Vibes From The Tribe (Tribe, 1976), it’s clear that the quartet of Ranelin, Billy Childs (piano), Tony Dumas (bass) and Ralph Penland (drums) are in top form. The quartet tune in, however, allowing them to flow between loose and funky (“Vibes From The Tribe 1 & 2”) and really stretch out, which spans all of the first three LPs and side one of the fourth LP.

Tracks come from Tribe releases as well as standards (Bye Bye Blackbird, A Night In Tunisia) which gives a great sense of the depth of these players. The joy and energy is palpable here. The final three cuts are of the same spirit, taken from two different live dates that were recorded by Ranelin himself. Notable historic recordings presented here.

A short note about the fidelity: while these tracks are well restored and cleaned up the material was sourced from cassette recordings from late 1970s/early 80s. This does not detract from the great music from perhaps under appreciated players.

—Rich Mudge