Freddie was a guy who did a lot of work in his heyday. He played all over the place from Herbie Hancock fusion albums to the excellent Ascension by Coltrane but he also did some things on his own. Up until the seventies he did the usual Blue Note bebop and post-bop stuff which is technically in musical sense excellent but it wasn't really breaking any new grounds.
Then arrived the seventies with all its new ideas with this electronic music. Now Freddie got some ideas and decided to switch labels and start doing fusion albums. What followed is kind of a mixed bag. After a while he got stale and released some really cheesy cash grabs. The usual 70s kitsch. Despite that his first four albums were one of his most successful and innovative ones that he ever did. Out of those four Straight Life is probably my favorite.
While other albums had more song oriented structure with 6-7 minute tracks this album has just two long tracks with one filler (but overall nice) ballad to fill out the empty space. This actually why I prefer it much more from the others simply because it sounds like a long jam. The lineup on this album is nothing but stellar. You have Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Henderson on saxophone, George Benson on guitar (which is mostly just in the background), Ron Carter on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. All of their signature sounds are very much present on this record especially Herbie who delivers that really nice Mwandishi soundscapes into the album.
Overall I really like this album a lot, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the least bit interest in jazz even if you have a distaste for fusion.
Get it.
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