Having ventured home from work last Thursday evening, I settled down to prepare a  snack before heading out to Plastic People for the monthly CDR session.  Quickly scouring Twitter (something I seem to be spending more and more time on these days – like some sick addiction),  I came across a group of tweets raving about a live internet broadcast of a musical performance featuring Carl Craig and surviving members of the celebrated Detroit jazz collective, Tribe.

It is some seven years since the Detroit uber-producer’s initial collaboration with some of the Motor City’s finest jazz luminaries, including Tribe founder member Marcus Belgrave, a venture which bore the fruit of the highly regarded Ropeadope LP  “The Detroit Experiment“. In 2007, Craig and Belgrave reunited along with original Tribe musicians, Wendell Harrison, Phil Ranelin and Doug Hammond to record a new album entitled “Rebirth” for Carl Craig’s Planet E / Community Projects labels (More on that in a moment).

Now there had already been quite a bit of buzz around the album before last Thursday’s show at the  Cité de la Musique in Paris, so tuning in to the live feed was a necessity. Still rocking this restrictive internet setup at home, I wasn’t at all hopeful of copping any sort of viewing over the internet but as it happened, after I’d hopped over to the Grandcrew website, it worked like a dream (well with a bit of buffering here and there).  What transpired next was nothing short of inspiring. Over an approximate hour and forty minutes, the band set to work weaving together tracks from their back catalogue (both “The Detroit Experiment” and original Tribe compostions of the 1970′s), plus tracks from what I believe to be their new album. Drummer Doug Hammond even pulls a little solo skit, playing the thumb piano and singing a few tracks from his “A Real Deal” LP on Heavenly Sweetness. Thinking this was a once in a lifetime occurence, I pretty much stayed the distance, killing my monthly bandwidth allowance in the process and eventually leading me to be late to the club.

So imagine my surprise when an email dropped into my account this afternoon from the Grandcrew people with the full video available to stream.  Bit of a result. Below I’ve embedded the link, so you can catch all the fuss. It’s long but so very worth it. In an age where computers are used to synthesise instruments, its a timely reminder to what an impact a well versed band can make when this kind of show is put on. Enjoy at your leisure.

Produced in its entirety by Carl Craig, the street date for the physical “Rebirth” album is 06 October 2009 in the US, with, I’m hoping, a worldwide release soon after.  If you’re so inclined, you can head over to the iTunes store now and  get your hands on  a digital version of the album already, which has been released since August 24th.  In addition to starring the original Tribe quartet of Belgrave, Harrison, Ranelin and Hammond, the album also features playing by younger Detroit players including Amp Fiddler (keys), Karriem Riggins (drums), John Arnold (guitar) and Kelvin Sholar (rhodes). Tracklisting and album art follow, plus I’ve included a second video, a preview to how the whole concept was born, with insights from the original Tribe members and Craig himself. You even get some brief footage of the band at work.

Tribe “Rebirth”
Released on Community Projects / Planet E, Oct 2009
Produced by Carl Craig

Tracklisting
01. Living In A New Day
02. Glue Finger
03. Denekas Chant
04. Vibes From The Tribe
05. Son Of Tribe
06. Jazz On The Run
07. Ride
08. Lesli
09. 13th And Senate
10. Where Am I

Tribe "Rebirth" front cover

Tribe "Rebirth" back cover