Al Rahman! Cry Of The Floridian Tropic Son - 1977

A lost treasure from keyboardist Doug Carn -- an album recorded after his 70s classics for the Black Jazz label, at a time when he'd changed his name to Abdul Rahim Ibrahim! As you might guess from that moniker, and the cover of the set, the album's got a pretty spiritual bent overall -- one that extends past Doug's work for the Black Jazz label, but which is still pretty upbeat and soulful as well. Most tracks have vocals, with Carn singing in a surprisingly great style that almost makes the records feel like Lonnie Liston Smith gems on Flying Dutchman -- and a few tracks almost have a trace of Gary Bartz funk -- a bit of angles in the grooves, especially on numbers that have Doug trading vocals back and forth with female singer Kweili. Other instrumentation includes tenor sax from George Harper, electric guitar, and lots of percussion -- and the jazz component of the record is sometimes inflected with some Eastern leanings, but mostly still soars out in the highly soulful style you'd expect from Carn's earlier work! Titles include "Balancez Calinda", "Tropic Sons", "Al Rahman", "The Watcher", "Eroniffa's Brown Band", "Suratal Ihklas", and "Casbah".