David Lee Jr. - Evolution (2024)

Drummer and Composer David Lee Jr.’s stunning and rare album Evolution (1974) blends the deep experimentalism of John Coltrane and Sun Ra with the pulsating second-line and parade rhythms of New Orleans to create a stunning sonic and rhythmical tour de force.

In a lineage of incredible New Orleans drummers that includes James Black, Idris Muhammed, Zigaboo Modeliste of The Meters, and stretching back to Earl Palmer and Baby Dodds - David Lee Jr. stands out for his fire, experimentalism and an out-there-ness like no other.

Evolution is a super deep, ‘lost classic’ radical and groundbreaking deep spiritual jazz album.

Originally released in New York in 1974 (400 copies only ever pressed!), Evolution is an extraordinary one-off solo album, pressed on the artist’s own Supernal Records, a record company whose slogan ‘seeking creative progress’ and dedication ‘to peace and freedom’ clearly displayed artistic intent over any commercial or market-led forces.

David Lee Jr was born in New Orleans and the deep experimental drum-compositions featured on Evolution are as rooted in this southern city rhythmically as they are in the spiritual and metaphysical musical ideas of Afro-Futurist pioneers like Coltrane, Sun Ra and others.

In the early 1970s Lee Jr. headed off to New York, playing in Roy Ayers’ Ubiquity and later immersing himself in the thriving loft deep jazz scene playing with Leon Thomas, Lonnie Liston Smith, Harold Alexander, Charles Rouse, and recording for a host of seminal deep jazz labels including Strata-East, India Navigation and Flying Dutchman.

Today Evolution remains one of the rarest and heaviest of all deep and spiritual jazz albums ever made.