Shuggie Otis – a precocious multi-instrumentalist and son of legendary rhythm and blues bandleader Johnny Otis – was fifteen years old he played bass on Frank Zappa’s Peaches en Regalia. At sixteen he released his debut album Here Comes Shuggie Otis and by seventeen he had released his sophomore album, 1971’s Freedom Flight. Best known for Strawberry Letter no. 23 – famously inspired by his girlfriend’s disposition for scented stationary – the song was covered by the Brothers Johnson in a Quincy Jones produced, platinum selling effort and has appeared sporadically in pop culture ever since. While Strawberry Letter is decidedly the album’s crown jewel, Freedom Flight has a veritable smorgasbord of funky delights to offer. Sweet Thang is sinuous, swampy R&B with a texture as rich and thick as molasses. The thirteen minute title-track verges on free jazz – the gentle ebb and flow of the rhythm section nudging the conversational duel between guitar and saxophone into the ecstatic. Meanwhile, the barnstorming album opener, Ice Cold Daydream, is adorned with lashings of Wah Wah guitar over a throw-down rock n roll beat, suggesting the influence of Jimi Hendrix on the young Shuggie. Although he plays all the instruments on Freedom Flight, Otis’ guitar playing is virtuosic. Veering between soul, jazz, funk, rock n roll and the blues, many of Freedom Flight’s most transcendent moments hang on the sheer vitality of the Shuggie’s playing. After releasing the excellent Inspiration Information three years later in 1974, Otis entered a period of self imposed exile from the music industry at twenty-two years old, appearing on only a handful of sessions until re-emerging in 2014. Shuggie’s musical output from fifteen to twenty two is remarkable, achieving the kind of growth and output in a few short years that most artists spend their lives chasing. Freedom Flight is a remarkable record – a great introduction to Shuggie’s genius and a valuable insight into the depth and scope of his vision.
Pete Whelan 