Malachi Favors - Natural & the Spiritual (AECO)

Pressed and circulated on the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s tiny eponymous imprint, Favor’s sole solo album from 1977 is a mixed medicine bag of aural liniments and nostrums. What it lacks in cohesion and polish, it more than compensates for in the amount of personal intimacy conveyed. Favors rarely had the room to exposit in isolation within the context of the AEC so the chance to hear him away from his colleagues carries even more worth. Like William Parker after him, Favor’s essays on peripheral instruments (hand drums, marimba, zither, whistles, what sounds like a ney) are of lesser appeal than his longhand manipulations on stout-stringed bass. The opening deep pizzicato of “The Procession,” dedicated to deceased drummer Phillip Wilson, wastes no time zeroing in on the kinship shared by Favor’s calloused fingers and their principal agent of expression. “Peace Be Unto You” is even better, an athletic ten plus minute workout speckled with the clink and rattle of bells and chimes hung from the bassist’s limbs. Superb arco work arrives in the album’s final pieces. Favors also employs vocals on occasion. In combination with lambent marimba on the first of two title tracks has voice creates a tone poem saturated with space and tonal color. Lyrics sung on “Womans Takeover” marry mildly misogyny to equal parts anger and humor. All of the pieces appear to have been taped in front of an audience as appreciative applause trail various tracks. What was it Lester Bowie used to say: Great Black Music- Ancient to the Future? The credo certainly holds here.