Steve Kuhn - Steve Kuhn (1971)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:

Steve Kuhn Trio - Three Waves (1966)

Steve Kun - Trance (1975)

Karin Krog, Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow, & Jon Christensen - We Could Be Flying (1975)

By request, here's pianist/keyboardist Steve Kuhn's 1971 self-titled solo outing. Simmering, lightly funky vocal-jazz fleshed out by a super solid band (Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Airto Moreira), lovely string arrangements, and understated vocals by Kuhn himself. It's played mostly straight, but Kuhn throws down the weirdo gauntlet with "Pearlie's Swine", which blazes through over four minutes of clattering instrumental jazz-funk before he comes in with lines like "Ham / How I love to eat ham / Vultures don't give a damn" and "Meat / Monkeys eat with their feet."

Track listing:

1. Pearlie's Swine

2. Silver

3. Time to Go

4. The Heat of the Moment

5. The Baby

6. Hold Out Your Hand

7. The Meaning of Love

8. Ulla

So when I'm alone

Left with only a bone

On top of the sky

Birds are wondering why

You should also hear:

Astrud Gilberto - I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (1969)

Michel Herr, Bill Frisell, Vinton Johnson, Kermit Driscoll - Good Buddies (1978)

Karin Krog, Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow, & Jon Christensen - We Could Be Flying (1975)

Related:
Steve Kuhn Trio - Three Waves (1966)
Steve Kuhn - Trance (1975)
Harry Pepl, Harry Joos, & Jon Christensen - Cracked Mirrors (1988)
Ketil Bjørnstad, David Darling, Terje Rypdal, & Jon Christensen - The Sea (1995) + The Sea II (1998)

A solid-gold nugget of space-age jazz. Norwegian singer Karin Krog is front-and-center, while the rest of the band provides a seemingly endless supply of loose, propulsive, hella chill grooves and slowburners.

Track listing:
1. We Could Be Flying
2. Meaning of Love
3. Sometime Ago
4. All I Want
5. Sing Me Softly of the Blues
6. Raindrops, Raindrops
7. Lament
8. Hold Out Your Hand
9. Time to Go

A new kind of light surrounds us all

You should also hear:

Cortex -
Troupeau Bleu (1975)

Kimiko Kasai -
Butterfly (1979)

Steve Kuhn - Trance (1975)

Super-chill, slow-burning jazz led by American pianist Steve Kuhn. Perfect zone-out tunes for yours truly's lazy-as-fuck day -- I goddamn earned it, trust me.

Track listing:
1. Trance
2. A Change of Face
3. Squirt
4. The Sandhouse
5. Something Everywhere
6. Silver
7. The Young Blade
8. Life's Backward Glance

We could be flying

You should also listen to:

Gato Barbieri -
Bolivia (1973)

Henry Threadgill & Make a Move -
Where's Your Cup? (1997)

Steve Kuhn Trio - Three Waves (1966)

Stripped-down, super-chill post-bop for piano, bass, and drums.

Track listing:
1. Ida Lupino
2. Ah, Moore
3. Today I Am a Man
4. Memory
5. Why Did I Choose You?
6. Three Waves
7. Never Let Me Go
8. Bits and Pieces
9. Kod Piece

Open highway

You might also like:

David Holland Quartet -
Conference of the Birds (1973)

Abdullah Ibrahim -
The Children of Africa (1976)