''Rebirth Cycle'' is the second studio album by American musician

James Mtume James Forman (January 3, 1946January 9, 2022), known professionally as Mtume or James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality. He came to prominence as a jazz musician, working ...

. It was produced by Mtume himself, and released on the Third Street Records label. It is one of a number of contemporary albums described as "some of the most compelling artifacts of the Black Power-Black music nexus", with "explicit endorsements of radical nationalist principles" and "of a very high artistic level and featuring some of the best musicians". After Mtume's death in 2022, ''The Guardian'', in a retrospective, remarked on the album: "Just as his career as a R&B songwriter and producer was taking off, Mtume put out one final burst of spiritual, Afrocentric jazz, the album ''Rebirth Cycle''. Never reissued legally and unavailable on streaming services, a bootleg or YouTube are your only real options, but it's worth checking out: the lengthy version of 'Sais' is great, and the collection of shorter, soul-influenced tracks on side two – including Umoja – are fabulous, complete with vocals from Jean Carne of 'Don't Let It Go to Your Head' fame."

Track listing

A-side

#"Sais (Intro)" - 2:22 #"Sais" - 20:39

B-side

#"Yebo" - 6:07 #"Cabral" - 4:29 #"Body Sounds" - 3:42 #"Umoja" - 6:41 Note: "Body Sounds is an electronically altered conga solo by Mtume accompanied by the band using their bodies as percussion instruments (hands rubbing, chest thumping, etc.). Hence the title Body Sounds."

Personnel

*Bayeté - electric piano *

Cecil McBee Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was born in Tu ...

- bass *

Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...

- vocals * Jean Carné - vocals *

Pete Cosey Peter Palus Cosey (October 9, 1943 – May 30, 2012) was an American guitarist who played with Miles Davis' band between 1973 and 1975. His fiercely flanged and distorted guitar invited comparisons to Jimi Hendrix. Cosey kept a low profile for ...

- guitar *

Stanley Cowell Stanley Cowell (May 5, 1941 – December 17, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and co-founder of the Strata-East Records label. Early life Cowell was born in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing the piano around the age of four, and became interest ...

- piano *

Al Foster Aloysius Tyrone Foster (born January 18, 1943) is an American jazz drummer. Foster's professional career began in the mid-60s, when he played and recorded with hard bop and swing musicians including Blue Mitchell and Illinois Jacquet. Foster pl ...

- drums *

Billy Hart Billy Hart (born November 29, 1940) is an American jazz drummer and educator. He is known internationally for his work with Herbie Hancock's "Mwandishi" band in the early 1970s, as well with Shirley Horn, Stan Getz, and Quest, among others. Bi ...

- drums *

Jimmy Heath James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually co ...

- reeds, soprano saxophone, flute *

Michael Henderson Michael Earl Henderson (July 7, 1951 – July 19, 2022) was an American bass guitarist and vocalist. He was known for his work with Miles Davis in the early 1970s and on early fusion albums such as '' Jack Johnson'', '' Live-Evil'', and '' Agh ...

- bass * Leroy Jenkins - violin *Shirley Jenkins - vocals *Diedre Johnson - cello *

Azar Lawrence Azar Lawrence (born November 3, 1952) is an American jazz saxophonist, known for his contributions as sideman to McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw. Lawrence was the tenor saxophonist Tyner used following John Coltrane's ...

- reeds, soprano saxophone *

Reggie Lucas Reginald Grant Lucas (February 25, 1953 – May 19, 2018)James Mtume James Forman (January 3, 1946January 9, 2022), known professionally as Mtume or James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality. He came to prominence as a jazz musician, working ...

- congas, piano *Muktar Mustapha - vocals (spoken word) *Onika - vocals *Carol Robinson - vocals *Andrei Strobert - drums *

John Stubblefield John Stubblefield (February 4, 1945 – July 4, 2005) was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, and oboist. Early life Stubblefield was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He studied music at the Association for the Advancement of Crea ...

- reeds * Tawatha - vocals *

Buster Williams Charles Anthony "Buster" Williams (born April 17, 1942) is an American jazz bassist. Williams is known for his membership in pianist Herbie Hancock's early 1970s group, working with guitarist Larry Coryell from the 1980s to present, working in th ...

- bass

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Rebirth Cycle'' on Discogs
Mtume albums 1977 albums