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14 Oct, 2014
In the 1970s, soprano saxophonist Tim Gemmill and keyboardist Bob Cozzetti had a quartet called Rorschach. The group started in 1972 and had
been in existence for five years when Voyage of the Mummy was recorded live at the Gerdes Folk’ City in New York's Greenwich
Village in 1977. Rorschach could play either acoustic or electric, but they favor an electric approach on Voyage of the Mummy with a
lineup consisting of Gemmill on soprano saxophone, Cozzetti on electric keyboards, Wes Jensen on drums and the late Midge Pike on electric
bass. And while these performances include electric keyboards and electric bass, they are clearly in the spiritual post-bop vein of Coltrane,
Lateef, Tyner, Pharoah Sanders and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Voyage of the Mummy gets off to an intriguing start with a performance of Coltrane's "Cousin Mary," and it is clear that
when Rorschach took the stage at Folk City in 1977, the last thing they had in mind was emulating Coltrane's original 1959 version.
Coltrane's influence is quite strong on this CD, but instead of approaching "Cousin Mary" as Coltrane approached it in 1959, the
improvisers go for an approach that is closer to the modal Coltrane of 1963 and 1964. In 1959, Coltrane was still playing hard bop:
"Giant Steps," recorded that year, is the consummate hard bop blowing tune. But in 1963 and 1964, Coltrane was recording for Impulse
Records and was fully immersed in modal post-bop. And it is that period of Coltrane's career that Rorschach identify with on their
live interpretation of "Cousin Mary." Of course, the quartet that Coltrane had in the early to mid-1960s with Tyner, bassist Jimmy
Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones was strictly acoustic. But the use of electric instruments on this album doesn't erase the fact that
Rorschach get a great deal of inspiration from Coltrane melodically, rhythmically and harmonically.
"Cousin Mary" is the only song on Voyage of the Mummy that Cozzetti and Gemmill didn't write: the other selections (which
include the 17-minute "Red Valley," the 15-minute title song and its brief info) are all Cozzetti/Gemmill originals. And the influence
of Middle Eastern, Arabic and North African music comes through loud and clear on their original material. It comes through on the placid,
good-natured "Red Valley," which recalls the more mellow side that Coltrane showed on "Central Park West," "Naima"
and the standard "My Favorite Things." It comes through on the more aggressive and hard-swinging title track. Cozzetti and Gemmill,
it should be noted, wrote the title track after seeing the King Tut exhibit at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art (the exhibit
opened in November 1976).
The sound quality on Voyage of the Mummy isn't of audiophile quality, but it is decent sound and captures the energy and
passion of Rorschach's performances. Voyage of the Mummy is an enjoyable document of Rorschach's appearance at Gerdes Folk
City 37 years ago.
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Alex Henderson