LEE ROCKEY

Lee Rockey Music

(Destijl - IND060) LP $16.50 (Out-of-stock)

This hard-swinging jazzbo mastered the modern style by 1946 and became known as one of the Vancouver whiz kids. He went to the city in 1953, jammed with Neil Hefti, and appeared on the first few Herbie Mann records. Upon his left coast return, he began developing his own sound and style, intending to transcend traditional musical forms and expectations. Ju Suk Reet Meate of Smegma caught one of his performances in early 1976, and eventually invited him to play on some early Smegma records. Aside from a few record booth lathes cut in the ’40s and ’50s, this is his first solo release, which on first spin, briefly brings to mind Toshi Ichiyanagi, but these sounds inhabit a self-contained universe. Recorded between 1959 and ’73, they own a keen third-eye prescience that portends the likes of C. Spencer Yeh and Axolotl.