SOLIDARITY UNIT INC.

Originally produced and issued by charles 'bobo' shaw himself, red, black & green, by the band "solidarity unit, inc." documents what happened at "the bag room" in st. louis, mo, the day jimi hendrix died.   shaw & the ten piece group produce a raw, teeming clattering sound, captured in a gloriously blunt low-res recording as stark as the b&w cover art.  lake & bowie were by this time already powerful soloists, & both declaim fervently and damn near relentlessly over shaw's swaggering themes. dead at age 34 and recorded just four times, guitarist richard martin's performance is a true revelation; as martin leaps from blues idioms to screaming attacks to pure howling feedback, one wonders if even sonny sharrock reached these places with the instrument. furious kit & hand drumming, violently rattling little instruments, jabbing percussive rhodes, thundering bass guitar, these guys don't hold back! easy to say "lost underground free jazz classic," but that's the real story here.