Steve Khan - Got My Mental (Dan Contemporary, 1996)

Steve Khan, guitar
John Patitucci, bass
Jack DeJohnette, drums

Don Alias, percussion

Marc Quinones, percussion

Café, percussion, voice

Bobby Allende, percussion

Recorded September 5 & 6, 1996

Right Track Recording, NYC

Engineer: Malcolm Pollack

I confess to having little tolerance for jazz fusion. After sampling some of Steve Khan's early fusion recordings, I crossed him off my mental list while hoping that he might surprise me like John Scofield did on his Blue Note albums. Scofield's Meant to Be is included earlier in this blog. 

The hope was realized with my discovery of Got My Mental, which is uncompromising and wholly satisfying. A big difference between Mental and its predecessors is the choice of tunes by the likes of Ornette Coleman, Wayne Shorter, Lee Morgan, Eddie Harris, and Keith Jarrett. Khan was the producer for Got My Mental, demonstrating his desire to step off the fusion train and to record more "straight-ahead" jazz.

The basic trio of Khan, John Patitucci, and Jack DeJohnette is augmented by four percussionists who make cameo appearances on half of the album's 8 selections. Their presence is always tasteful and does not make the program a Latin-fusion exercise. In the single instance of a vocalist, Café turns "I Have Dreamed" into the highlight of the album. On other tracks, DeJohnette seems to delight in the rhythmic froth generated by the percussion section.

A surprise on Got My Mental is the opening track, "R.P.D.D.," which originally appeared on Ornette Coleman's Ornette! (Atlantic, 1962). Ornette! was the first of Coleman's albums that I acquired in the 1960s. I've never heard another cover of "R.P.D.D." and it makes me smile to hear Khan tackle Coleman's musical puzzles. I also hear echoes of Scott LaFaro in Patitucci's bass figures. LaFaro played on the original version of "R.P.D.D." in 1962.

Other delights include Shorter's "Paraphernalia," which receives a spacious arrangement with Khan's chorded melody floating over the percussion. Jarrett's "Common Mama" captures the composer's idiosyncratic spirit and style. Jarrett's compositions are not often covered by other musicians. Morgan's "Cunning Lee" was first released on Caramba (Blue Note, 1968). Khan's version is not typical of late-1960s funky Blue Note but rather a contemporary modal exercise.

Eddie Harris's "Sham Time" is the only concession to outright funk. It gives the percussionists a great opportunity to elaborate the groove, which ends with DeJohnette thrashing away over Khan's two-chord vamp. DeJohnette also steals the show on the title track with a long solo just before the closing statement of the melody.

DeJohnette's death in October 2025 at age 83 prompts reflection on the accomplishments of one of jazz's greatest musicians, regardless of instrument. Listening to him on Got My Mental is a reminder of his transformation of modern drumming, along with Billy Hart, Al Foster, Billy Higgins, and a few others. They serve as models for a whole generation of modern drummers including Kenny Washington, Victor Lewis, and Joey Baron.