SLY DOG/MACK AVENUE RECORDS
The review below is from the promo sampler compiled from 6 full-length CD reissues of classic albums from the late vocalist/guitarist Kenny Rankin. The original albums recently remastered and re-issued by Sly Dog in association with Mack Avenue Records are the records that brought Kenny Rankin to the public’s attention: Mind-Dusters (’67); Family (’70); Like A Seed (’72); Inside (’75); Silver Morning (’75); The Kenny Rankin Album (’76); After The Roses (’80).
Guitarist/vocalist/composer Kenny Rankin, who passed away in 2009 at 69, had a unique sound and captured a delicate moment in time when delicacy, and tasteful lyrical phrasing in vocal and instrumental approach was not the rarity it is today but pervasive on the music charts in these pre-punk days. Fellow songsmiths such as James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joni Mitchell, JD Souther, and Jesse Colin Young were among the frontline artists where melody, beauty and heartfelt emotion were the lynchpins of their appeal. Taking their melodic turns from ‘60s folk scene, Tin Pan Alley and The Beatles eccentric open-minded lyrical and melodic examples, Rankin added the Brazilian and jazz textures that he heard growing up in the Washington Heights section of New York City.
On the flip side of the popular music equation in those days were the prog/rock bands like Yes, King Crimson, and early Genesis and their approximators, who trod a more aggro path based on instrumental prowess and a more surreal, fantasy-based lyrical stance. For Rankin, his take was decidedly jazzy, mixing the nylon string guitar, bossa-nova vibe and harmonic sophistication with the simplicity of folk stylings and lushness of much of the pop of the previous generation. He added an emotional directness in his dedication to the lyric of every song he sang.
His graceful and softly gentle high-pitched vocal sound floated sweetly over his own harmonically rich chord choices on original tunes “Lost Up In Loving You”, “Haven’t We Met” and “Silver Morning” as well as on his frequent interpretations of outside compositions. His scatting or soloing melodic wordless passages in some of these tunes reminds me of other sophisticated and daring popular vocalists of the day such as Flora Purim and Minnie Ripperton as well as jazzing up his skillful interpretations of Beatles tunes such as “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Blackbird”. I spent a month learning the arrangement of the latter while in college to stand out from the rest of the folks in our apartment building who were struggling through tackling the original McCartney arrangement.
Another great example here is his acoustic swinging rendition of “Up From The Skies” taking Jimi Hendrix’s simple basic chord line and charging it up with a whole different vibe from the original while still keeping Hendrix’s jazzy blues feel and psychedelic world view in tact. Hendrix’s influence is also heard in the wah-wah groove of Kenny’s “Comin’ Down” from LIKE A SEED. This tune, drenched with horns, churning guitar and funky keys under Rankin’s echo-laden vocal hook, is at once his druggiest as well as most rock n roll arrangement found here.
More to the center of the Rankin milieu is the tune which follows, also from LIKE A SEED, “Stringman”. Listen to this and slow down the speed ever so slightly and you can hear what could be an outtake from a mid-70s, Peter Asher produced James Taylor album. Easy groove, Fender Rhodes sound, sleek melody and catchy hook. Jesse Colin Young has a very similar vocal sound, high and resonant but Kenny was a jazzer at heart and Jesse and James were essentially from the folk/rock school.
Of the six original albums in the series, it would be hard pressed to pick a quintessential Rankin album. Many folks might suggest LIKE A SEED in that his signature tune, “Peaceful” which was a huge hit at the time for Helen Reddy, as the follow-up single to “I Am Woman” appears here most effectively (an earlier version is also on MIND-DUSTERS). The diversity of 1972’s LIKE A SEED continued and refined the blueprint for most of Kenny’s albums that were to follow: stylish, impeccable jazzy original tunes interspersed with unique, emotional and heartfelt takes on classic rock, pop and standard hits.
I was also a huge fan of the INSIDE and SILVER MORNING albums when they came out. Remember jazz fusion was HUGE but the stirrings of what would be watered down in the subsequent two decades and dubbed "Smooth Jazz" was swimming against the fusion current just as the 70s singer songwriters were the flip side of the prog/rock bands. Kenny’s records were really blueprints for the coming sounds of smoother inflected pop/jazz vocalists such as Michael Franks and even George Benson. While Benson came from the post-bop instrumental side and Kenny more from the classic pop singer mold their approaches influenced the genre for years. Recall though that when these albums came out there was less divisive distinction between “genres” of what was popular at the time. No AAA, SMOOTH JAZZ, CLASSIC ROCK formats…sure there were “Oldies” stations late at night playing mostly doo-wop, and Classical music was in a world of it’s own as it has always been but this was the age of free-form FM radio where in a hour you could hear Kenny Rankin, Yes, B.B. King, James Brown, Doc Watson and John Coltrane. Sounds like my Pandora playlist today.
Sure, a few of the string arrangements here are a tad heavy-handed for my taste but, hey, at least they are real strings and harken back to some of Kenny’s pop vocal predecessors. In fact, arranger/conductor Don Costa (who worked on THE KENNY RANKIN ALBUM and AFTER THE ROSES) listed classic records by Sinatra, Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, Steve & Eydie, Lloyd Price, and Paul Anka in his resume. As recently at 1980, Don had a hit record with his daughter Nikka Costa. My least favorite of the albums here was probably AFTER THE ROSES, only because the heaviness of the echo on the tracks distracts from the beauty of Kenny’s voice and muddies the intricacies of the arrangements some for my taste. Otherwise, I really have enjoyed listening to Kenny Rankin’s beautiful sound again after so many years away.
For me, a couple of favorites NOT included on this compilation include Kenny’s sultry versions of Stevie Wonder’s “Creepin’” that leads off the INSIDE album as well as the Stephen Bishop’s hit “On And On” from THE KENNY RANKIN ALBUM. This album was the first place I’d ever heard the great tune, “When Sunny Gets Blue” and was recorded live in the studio with Costa's 60-piece orchestra.
Rankin’s fans included not only Peggy Lee, Mel Torme and Carmen McRae who covered his compositions but sax great Stan Getz who called Rankin, “a horn with a heartbeat”. Johnny Carson and Paul McCartney could be counted as two of Rankin's most appreciative admirers. Carson penned the liner notes to Rankin’s ’67 debut release, MIND-DUSTERS and featured the singer on The Tonight Show over 20 times. After hearing Kenny’s version of “Blackbird” (KR was to record numerous Beatles tunes over the years), McCartney pegged Rankin to perform it when Lennon and McCartney were inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.
Sometimes when an artist presenting such well-crafted music as exhibited on this well-thought out compilation and the albums from which the tracks come, performed live back in the day before people sang regularly to pre-recorded backing tracks, one was disappointed by the concert experience. Not the case with Kenny Rankin. When we booked Kenny into San Diego State’s Montezuma Hall in the mid-70s, he showed up with a small group and wowed the crowd with the beauty and tasteful purity that was the essence of his artistry.
Here's a nice interview with Kenny followed by a beautiful live medley of "Here's That Rainy Day" and "Blackbird"