Layin' in the Cut (James Carter album)

Reception

The Allmusic review by Richard S. Ginell says "The second of James Carter's pair of 2000 releases shifts wildly, and perhaps trendily, toward electric funk ... Carter is a freewheeling dynamo on soprano and tenor saxes, not afraid to reach wildly to the outside even when the funk backgrounds are merely mild mannered". In JazzTimes Bill Milkowski wrote "Carter's Layin' in the Cut is more about bluster than nuance ... he explores the outer fringes of funk with some freestyle originals that combine elements of Maceo Parker ("Layin' in the Cut") and Fela Kuti ("Motown Mash"), with healthy doses of tenor and bari overblowing and the kind of savage, aggressively out guitar work usually associated with New York's renegade downtown scene". On All About Jazz Mark Corroto noted "Layin’ doesn’t opt to cross boundaries as much as it plays itself out as a jazz/funk bar band ... The powerful all-electric lineup matches up nicely with Carter’s huge sound. In contract to Chasin’ there’s nothing implied about the groove here. The funk is up front". Critic Robert Christgau rated the album an "A" saying it is "just a way for him to make another record without his touring band, write heads while nobody's looking, pay respects to a strain straighter coreligionists disdain, and prove he can rock a little, quite possibly while finishing the crossword. Not that there's anything distracted or desultory about this funk, this blues, this Latin, this harmolodic fusion, this free jazz. But he sure does make them seem second nature".

Track listing

All compositions by James Carter except where noted.

1. "Layin' in the Cut" (James Carter, Jef Lee Johnson) - 6:57
2. "Motown Mash" (Carter, Johnson) - 7:23
3. "Requiem for Hartford Ave." (Carter, Johnson) - 5:58
4. "Terminal B" (Johnson) - 6:44
5. "Drafedelic in D♭" (Carter, Johnson) - 5:49
6. "There's a Paddle" - 7:30
7. "GP" - 7:17

Personnel