What The Music Taught Me: John Klemmer – “Free Soul” and Jazz Fusion
John Klemmer’s “Free Soul” was one of the first records I ever hunted down and bought at a record convention. I first heard the song when I was 19 years old, the host of on a now defunct jazz program that used to air on WNYC in New York had played the song, but he offered no additional information. I remember calling the radio station several times trying to get the name of the artist. The only thing that I knew about the song was its name, “Free Soul.” A day after calling the radio station, I got hold of someone who had access to the previous night’s program list. After finally receiving the name of the recording artist, John Klemmer, I went looking for everything that had John Klemmer’s name on it.
“Free Soul,” a powerful sax-based rhythm with a stellar blues-soul-jazz mix, commonly known as jazz fusion or free jazz, taught me a lot. It was one of the first songs that conveyed to me the possibilities of merging styles, sounds, and contexts. And because hip hop/rap music is a sound that can truly convert any other sound into it’s own form, I’ve found that it’s very helpful to really study the broad strokes and subtle nuances of those other music forms that inspire me.
The music and videos below are presented here for the purpose of scholarship.
John Klemmer – “Free Soul”
John Klemmer – “Cry”
Nancy Wilson – “Sunshine” featuring John Klemmer
