STEVE MARCUS / MIROSLAV VITOUS / SONNY SHARROCK / DANIEL HUMAIR – Green Line (SMJX 10109 / LP-1970)

Label: Victor World Group ‎– SMJX 10109

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold / Country: Japan / Released: 1970

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded at Victor Studio, Aoyama Tokyo 11 September 1970.

Artwork – Tadayuki Naito

Engineer – Norio Yoshizawa

Producer – Fujiya Jimbo, Tetsuya Shimoda

Manufactured By – Victor Company Of Japan, Ltd.

Green Victor World Group Label

Matrix / Runout (Matrix, label side A): SVIR-10067-A

Matrix / Runout (Matrix, label side B): SVIR-10067-B

Matrix / Runout (Runout, side A stamped): Ⓑ SVIR 10067 A 121+ UL

Matrix / Runout (Runout, side B stamped): SVIR 10067 B 111+

A1 - Melvin ........................................................................................................... 8:52

A2 - Mr. Sheets At Night ....................................................................................... 7:11

B1 - Green Line ................................................................................................... 6:15

B2 - The Echos .................................................................................................. 10:57

Personnel:

Steve Marcus – tenor and soprano saxophone

Sonny Sharrock – electric guitar

Miroslav Vitous – bass

Daniel Humair – drums, percussion

1970 Victor World Group ‎– SMJX 10109 (Japan) Stereo LP / GREEN LINE / Steve Marcus, Daniel Humair, Miroslav Vitous, Sonny Sharrock / Released in a gatefold sleeve with a double sided glued inner leaf containing credits and liner notes. ______Out Of Stock__

Truly stunning LP from four hungry young badasses in 1970.  Miroslav Vitous, Sonny Sharrock, Steve Marcus and Daniel Humair are all heavyweight cats captured in their youthful prime here, not a weak moment to be found. They each just sound so great! Vitous really stands out with a ton of seriously sick bass viol action--what's up with those simultaneous arco and pizzicato parts?!  He's just exploding on the groove in "Melvin", with Sharrock doing a perfect lean funky part, holding back to keep the groove simmering instead of blowing hard over it.  Vitous' solo in "Mr. Sheets at Night" and Marcus's painfully sensitive saxophone is something else. It's a gorgeous piece with a bristling spirit underlying the ballad surface. This album is a bit overlooked in Sonny Sharrock's discography, probably because it was released as a co-billing for the quartet, alongside the fact it's more of a straightahead jazz album than the legendary freakbombs he'd dropped in the preceding years in cahoots with Queen Linda.  His explosions on side B make for some seriously essential listening for any Sharrock-head. All four cuts are distinctive gems, but "The Echoes" is the one track that is an epic blowout that tastes good down to the last gnarly drop.  This is the real sound of jazz in 1970.

If you find it, buy this album!