Around the time of this recording,
Stanley Cowell had achieved a degree of prominence as the pianist for the advanced
bop quartet
Music Inc., which he co-led with trumpeter
Charles Tolliver, as well as for unusual projects like his
Piano Choir. With
Regeneration he chose another path, essentially trying to produced a
jazz-infused
pop album with strong African roots, perhaps owing a little bit to
Stevie Wonder. He assembled an extremely strong cast of musicians for the venture, including
Marion Brown,
Billy Higgins, and
Ed Blackwell, as well as several African string and percussion masters and, by and large, succeeded conceptually if not commercially. A few songs use vocals in a fairly standard
pop framework, and, while they are performed capably enough, the lyrical content leaves something to be desired in typical mid-'70s fashion. But much of the rest of the music makes up for this with, among other things, a delightful fife and drum piece by
Brown and strong bass work by
Bill Lee (
Spike's dad).
Regeneration is an interesting, often enjoyable album which, aside from its own small pleasures, provides a snapshot of some of the cross-fertilization in genres occurring at the time. ~ Brian Olewnick
