Vibes From the Tribe

Jazz trombonist Phil Ranelin was born and began his career in Indianapolis, where he met and played with jazz guitar legend Wes Montgomery at a local club called the Hub Bub. Here Ranelin also had the opportunity to play with other jazz legends such as Eddie Harris and Grant Green whenever they came through town.Later Ranelin relocated to Detroit in search of session work, where he had the opportunity to play with greats Marcus Belgrave and Pharoah Sanders. It was in Detroit where Ranelin met Wendell Harrision. Together they founded Tribe,an artist's collective of jazz musicians who ventured into the business and recording aspects of music in order to maintain more artistic control. While releasing records, Tribe also published their own magazine which featured social and politcal commentary and music reviews. It became a cultural phenomenon in Detroit. 'The word Tribe possessed near magic proportion when uttered in the African American community,' says Ranelin.While managing Tribe, he also worked as a Motown session player, playing on records for Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and The Temptations. Phil currently resides in Los Angeles where he still remains musically and culturally active. He was recently designated a 'Rare and Valuable Treasure' and a 'Cultural Ambassador' by the Mayor and City Council. Phil is readying himself live dates in support of the reissues. Phil Ranelin was contacted by John Hughes of Hefty last year to play on his soundtrack to the film Scarlet Diva. It was during this session that Ranelin first mentioned that he had the complete masters to his Tribe recordings. The project began to fall into place. Both albums were mixed from the original session tapes by engineer John McEntire (Tortoise, Sea and Cake, Reach the Rock soundtrack) late last year. They were fully restored and remixed true to the original masters, and both include previously unreleased bonus tracks and extended versions. This is the first time that they have been reissued in their entirety.In support of these reissues, Hefty will also be releasing remixes by contemporary artists in hopes of spreading the original power of these recordings to a new generation of listeners.