King Cobra (1976)

Hey everyone! It's been a long time but I'm back for more posts and videos on my channel. My last post detailed where to find some of Woody's earlier recordings but I never followed up on where to find music from his later years so... while I work on that, today I'm going to talk about one of his later albums called King Cobra from 1976.

From about 1968-1971 Woody was recording for Cadet Records which was an offshoot of Chess Records. On that label he made some very interesting records covering the popular songs of the time such as The Doors' "Light My Fire" and Deep Purple's "Hush" but while Woody was trying to stay current the critics weren't offering up the most favorable reviews. Woody made a label change in 1971 to Fantasy Records which had recorded other jazz greats like Dave Brubeck. His first album for the label entitled "Brand New" was a collaboration with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. Now when people talk about the Fantasy years for Woody "King Cobra" is not always at the top of the list. It seems that most people seem to like albums such as the grammy winning "Giant Steps" or "Thundering Herd" a lot more. I personally feel like Woody's albums for Fantasy are sort of a mixed bag because you get some really interesting songs on albums, but also some songs that seem like they are there only to fill space. Today I'll be posting videos of the entire album which I've recorded straight from my LP and also lifting some quotes on the album taken from William D. Clancy's excellent book "Chronicles Of The Herds".

Recording for this album was done in January 7-9 in 1975. William Clancy notes that Gary Anderson's score of the title track written by Tom Scott features Jim Pugh and Woody playing soprano against a background of pseudo-rock rhythms and Andy La Verne's synthesizer. Here it is.

The next track was written by Stevie Wonder and it's called "Don't Worry Bout A Thing".

William Clancy notes for the next song that Gary Anderson's treatment of Chick Corea's "Spain" features bassoon and flute solos from Gregory Herbert, flugelhorn from Dennis Dotson, and electric piano from La Verne. The video is below.




"Jazzman" is the next song written by Carole King and David Palmer and features Woody's only vocal appearance on the record.




Gary Anderson, who arranged some of the songs for this album is quoted as saying about Woody, "He's not a writer, but he knows what he wants to hear. He is very exacting in wanting to maintain a certain sound from the band. I'm sure I could do a rock thing, a Latin thing, a straight-ahead blues, a jazz piece, anything from Chick Corea to Carole King, and everything in between. He's very open to any idiom, It's just a matter of sound. I guess you would call it the "Woody Herman sound." I don't really know what it is, but I think I've done it to an extent."

The next track is Lake Taco which was arranged by Gary and written by Andy La Verne.



Woody plays some soprano sax and clarinet on this album and in 1976 in an interview for a TV special produced for his 40th anniversary he had this to say on the topic of his solos "I think I have a fairly good judgement of what a solo should be in its perspective in a chart, if it's surrounded by some good plausible thinking. I should be able to come in and play a little bit on occasion, If it doesn't enhance it, I'll cut myself off. I'm not that pleased with any of my playing, I never have been. As long I'm able to get a reasonable sound, I'll go and play."

Next we have Come Rain Or Come Shine, a classic song written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. In his book William Clancy notes that Bill Stapleton's lovely score features the lyrical quality of Dennis Dotson's flugelhorn.



The last track is called Toothless Grin and was written and arranged by John LaBarbera.



The last thing to note from William Clancy's book is after the sessions in March tenor player Greg Herbert left Woody's band and was replaced by Sal Spicola. Overall, this is not one of the best albums Woody has done with his band and especially not on Fantasy but there are a few moments with songs like "Spain" and "Lake Taco" that I think are worth a listen. The whole album has a jazz fusion style to it with the electric instruments and synths and maybe that's why it turns some people away. Whatever the case may be, it is part of Woody's history like so many other albums of his that I hope to cover on here eventually. As I close I'll say thanks everyone for taking some time to read about it!