Bobbi Humphrey, Blacks and Blues

The terms “overrated” and “underrated” are tossed around a lot but don’t mean that much. They don’t really have anything to do with the quality of an artist or their work. Instead, they are a perception of other people’s perceptions.

The Beatles and The Stones are overrated.

Badfinger and the Faces are underrated.

The Beatles and The Stones are still light years greater than Badfinger or the Faces, two band I have a great deal of affection for, partly because they never had the success they deserved and…are so underrated.

The writing/production team the Mizell Brothers used to be underrated back in the 1970s when they were successful selling jazz to the R&B market. But, they were still basically unknown to the same (mostly black and urban) public that was enjoying their crossover jazz productions for Blue Note and their R&B material for Motown.

Since the late ’90s, however, the Mizells have been overrated by crate diggers and D.J. types who were excited to discover ’70s sides they were unfamiliar with until they were sampled on dozens and dozens of hip-hop tracks. Getting sampled ups the cool quotient these days.

The Mizells blueprinted their sound for Blue Note with Donald Byrd on his 1973 bestseller Black Byrd. I like that album and the next few Byrd/Mizell collaborations but reflexively end up giving them minus points because I prefer the trumpeter’s earlier acoustic albums for Blue Note (which, honestly, were just an earlier era’s crossover records). Maybe that is why the Mizells production I listen to the most is Blacks and Blues by Bobbi Humphrey. Its a great record, plus I don’t have to judge it against any ’60s Blue Note masterworks.

Backstory.

Flutist Bobbi Humphrey must have been blessed. She caught the attention of Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington while still a music student and took career advice from them. She moved to NYC without any gigs or job prospects, scored big at Amateur Night At The Apollo, and instead of looking for an agent, dropped off an unsolicited demo to various jazz-friendly labels.  It went directly into the hands of a producer at Blue Note who liked what he heard and called Bobbi Humphrey up the same day.

Bobbi had just reached legal drinking age.

That all plays like something out of a movie but Blue Note’s enthusiasm made sense. Their competitors were finding real sales success with flutists Herbie Mann and Hubert Laws while their own label roster was still filled with bandleaders more associated with the 1960s — Horace Silver, Grant Green, and Lou Donaldson. Blue Note considered Bobbi Humphrey a jazz/R&B crossover artist from the start, though her first couple of albums for the label featured a more familiar fusion sound (and a pretty amazing list of sidemen, including Lee Morgan).

When Black Byrd took off for the label, Bobbi Humphrey knew that she needed to work with the Mizells.

The cover.

This one is O.K., kind of like a family snapshot in a photo album though it can’t hold a candle to the iconic Blue Note covers of the 1950s and ’60s. Bobbi Humphrey has on the casual, but classy, gender neutral clothes that were even popular with former First Ladies during this era (just a couple of short years later, Bobbi H and Jackie O would be glamorized again). The text on the front cover makes plain how black and white popular music was still more separate than it is today. The album was such a hit that Bobbi’s next album is connected to, but improves, the cover design with splashes of blue.

The music.

Bobbi Humphrey identified the Mizell sound as funk but, with a couple of exceptions, Blacks and Blues  sounds nothing like taut “Bam!” James Brown funk. The music here is loose, slinky, and light on its feet, with plenty of space to breath. It is also highly syncopated with interlocking percussion that is influenced by Latin-jazz without actually sounding Caribbean. Larry Mizell wrote and arranged the tunes but Humphrey improvised every single note she plays. A special shout-out goes to pianist/keyboardist Jerry Peters, who also seems to be doing his own thing, beautifully.

While the three percussionists (the great Harvey Mason is at the drum kit), bass, piano, and flute lay down a solid base of mainstream acoustic jazz, the funky rhythm guitar lines, electric keys, and synths let you know this is the ’70s. The approach sounds great and helped the tracks on the album earn heavy rotation on R&B and jazz radio.

Tellingly, there are no horns on the album – Bobbi’s flute is it. She plays a lot of notes and every single note and phrase feels right.

You can’t say Larry Mizell doesn’t follow earlier success. Black Byrd kicked off with the sound of a plane taking off. Here, “Chicago, Damn” starts Blacks and Blues off with the sound of that city’s howling winds. It’s a great tune. The group vocals on it, and the rest of the album, recall celebratory “oh-ahs” on Brazilian pop of the period as much old singing groups and R&B. The song was initially a bigger hit than the next number up, “Harlem River Drive.” But since that second cut starts off with a car engine turning over and shines with a mellow, gliding vibe it became a summer cruiser classic. I’m sure I heard a bunch of cuts from this album on local  radio growing up but I never noticed them until “Harlem River Drive” turned up on the first Blue Break Beats CD. Then, I recognized parts of it from a couple old school rap tunes.

Side 1 closes out with Bobbi also contributing some strong vocals to “Just A Love Child.” Like the backing vocals on the rest of the album they kind of compliment the feel of the music. Even “Just A Love Child” plays like an instrumental with vocals coming in every once in a while to offer snatches of ideas and emotions.

Side 2 opens with the title track, which slowly builds from an acoustic jazz number to a full-on glitzy Mizell production. Its another winner. “Jasper County Man” is the most straightforward funk number on the album, with Larry Peters stabbing piano work earning almost as much attention as Bobbi’s flute. In doesn’t sound remotely rural — there is no way this man from Jasper County didn’t move to the big city. Its a tough, but sophisticated, urban cut, which would feel right at home on the soundtrack to a Blaxploitation picture. “Bank Heisting Man,” maybe.

The final cut, “Baby’s Gone” is a dazzler. It starts off like a tasty soul ballad and builds and builds into an extended jazz jam that the entire ensemble solos simultaneously on. The cooed vocals cycle in and out and end up keeping the song grounded in much the same way that Harvey Mason’s artful cymbal taps do. Not sure how they did it but what could’ve broken down into crazed cacophony plays like a slick, centered tune. Good musicians make it seem easy.

That’s it. Only 6 extended cuts make the album. You don’t need anything else.

Blacks and Blues ended up outselling the Donald Byrd album that inspired it (both of which sold enough for me to pick up clean copies in the dollar bin). I don’t have any other Bobbi Humphrey’s albums but her same year follow-up recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival needs to be in my collection.

Bobbi Humphrey kept recording for a while but got off of Blue Note the minute she could — Blacks and Blues only required three days of studio time and was a hit that charted in the jazz, R&B, and pop charts. So, Humphrey knew it was B.S. when instead of receiving royalties she found she still owed the label money for recording it.  She ended up concentrating on the business side of the music business and did very well for herself. After 1980, she has only recorded a couple sets and has also mentored kids about the business.

But, back in 1973 Bobbi Humphrey was suddenly on top of the jazz and R&B worlds. Blacks and Blues is going to be listened to for a long time to come. Whether its over or underrated won’t even come up.

• Nick Dedina