*** Les McCann

INVITATION TO OPENNESS

(Label M)

Keyboardist Les McCann had a string of popular jazz albums before he started exploring space, giving Miles Davis a run for his voodoo with albums like this one, which has been reissued on famed producer Joel Dorn’s new imprint. “The Lovers” sounds like a refugee from Bitches Brew, opening with clavinet tones that dance across the stereo spectrum, then falling into a groove that’s decorated by a waterfall of riffs from sax, vibes, and wah-wah guitar. Then the horn takes over with a Middle Eastern melody that’s all hash and incense. Twenty-nine years later it’s still a head trip. Next, things get funky on “Beaux J. Poo Boo,” with the groove eventually giving way to more interstellar exploration. The finale is the ballad-turned-ripper “Poo Pye McGoochie (and his friends), ” where McCann lets rip his arsenal of keys, including an early synthesizer that playfully squirts cheese whiz into the mix as an intro to a drum solo before Les returns to cosmic terrain. The 65-year-old McCann’s career is still highballing, but this is Les at his most.

— Ted Drozdowski