| Out of Sight and Sound | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 1967[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1966 | |||
| Studio | Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey | |||
| Genre | Jazz rock | |||
| Length | 36:33 | |||
| Label | ABC ABC-S 593 | |||
| Producer | Bob Thiele | |||
| The Free Spirits chronology | ||||
| ||||
Out of Sight and Sound is the debut album by jazz-rock group The Free Spirits. The band's sole release during its brief existence, it was recorded in 1966, and was issued on LP in 1967 by ABC Records. The album, recorded by Rudy Van Gelder and produced by Bob Thiele, features guitarists Larry Coryell and Columbus "Chip" Baker, saxophonist Jim Pepper, bassist Chris Hills, and drummer Bob Moses. In 2006, it was reissued on CD by Sunbeam Records.[2][3][4]
Out of Sight and Sound has been cited as being one of the first recordings to blend jazz and rock, preceding Gary Burton's Duster, which also featured Coryell, by a year.[5][6] Coryell recalled: "The Free Spirits came about as a result of five tripped-out cats... from all parts of the world who moved into the same block of the same neighborhood. We felt that we would be years ahead of our time if we made the music we wanted to... What later became known as jazz-rock."[7]
Unfortunately, the album had little impact, and the band members were dissatisfied with it, feeling that it didn't capture the energy of their live sets.[6][8] According to Moses, it had "absolutely nothing to do with how the group was... Everybody... hated it."[9] Coryell and Moses left the band shortly after the album's release, and the remaining members, plus two additional players, went on to form a group named Everything is Everything.[10] More than forty years after the release of Out of Sight and Sound, Sunbeam Records issued a live Free Spirits recording from February 22, 1967, that the musicians felt was a more accurate reflection of the band's capabilities.[10][11]
- ^ Billboard January 28, 1967
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. "The Free Spirits: Out of Sight and Sound". AllMusic. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ "The Free Spirits - Out of Sight and Sound". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ Spicer, Daniel (November 8, 2006). "The Free Spirits: Out of Sight and Sound". PopMatters. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ Fellezs, Kevin (2011). Birds of Fire: Jazz, Rock, Funk, and the Creation of Fusion. Duke University Press. p. 76.
- ^ a b Milkowski, Bill (February 2017). "Remembering Larry Coryell". DownBeat. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ Myers, Marc (2019). Why Jazz Happened. University of California Press. p. 210.
- ^ Johnson, David (July 27, 2022). "First Fusion: Jazz-Rock Before Bitches Brew". Indiana Public Media. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie (1998). Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll: Psychedelic Unknowns, Mad Geniuses, Punk P, Lo-Fi Mavericks & More. Miller Freeman. p. 329.
- ^ a b Unterberger, Richie (2006). Out of Sight and Sound (liner notes). The Free Spirits. Sunbeam Records. SBRCD5018.
- ^ "The Free Spirits - Live At The Scene February 22nd 1967". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved January 27, 2023.