Overall = 2.7 (10)
- A new category = 🎺 🎑ECM label. I recently did some recategorizing in the stacks, ECM has both Jazz, World and New Classical recordings and have shimmied between my general Jazz collection and their own place in my collection, as other labels have. ECM has a distinctive sound and aesthetic and is deserving of its own section. I contracted a few other categories as well and things will be tighter going forward.
- New Icons too! = 🎄- Christmas/Holiday Music; 🎑- Moon Music/wide open spaces; 🪦- People are always dying, Popular decisions; ⨻- Multiple Pantheon/Mixed Genre
Bwana Trio – Bwana Trio – Paradise Masters, 1967.
🇧🇷🎹 🪄⨻:
A Jazz-Bossa Trio from the Brazilian perspective. To me, they lean Jazz, but perform mostly Brazilian composers and mixing in a few Standards. Their feel is a little stiff and their Jazz influences probably feature Vince Guaraldi high on the list. Very often these songs rely on the arranged interplay of the trio, over highlighting the improvisational aspects, giving it a stronger feeling of a cocktail trio in a hotel lobby (in some cases that was a solid day gig for improvising musicians, but you usually stick close to the script if so).“Odeon”
Overall = 4.3 (10) – Nice obscurity, with a good sound, but few surprises. Get it!
Marion Brown – Geechee Recollections/Sweet Earth Flying – Impulse, 1973/1974/2011.
🎺 ⏺I! 🪄🧫🗣️🎷📀:
Marion Brown was the odd musician out of Avant Gard Jazz’s second wave. He has some music I would deem “Fire Music” which fits with his peers, but he is more compositional and conceptual than most of those musicians in that moment. He uses space, embraces other styles of music in a personal way and he is a very self reflective artist. This collection features mostly “Out” music, with interesting bands. I think there are 3-4 long form compositions between the 2 discs. There are several songs(?)/movements where Mr. Brown isn’t featured at all, there is some Spoken Word, many bell and whistle type strangeness and then the unusual inclusion of some electronics in an early Free Jazz setting. My favorite suite, of the 3 or 4, is “Eleven Light City” off of Sweet Earth Flying. “Eleven Light City, part 3” (This collection is curiously missing “Sweet Earth Flying, Part 2”?!)
Overall = 5.1 (10) – Some hard listening here, but rewardingGet it! Oop.
George Benson – Giblet Gravy – Verve, 1968.
🎺 ⏺𝒱🎸 🪄🥁🏌🏿♂️ ✪🧀:
There are many sides to Verve records: It is often the place where Swing and Big Band artists did small group, mainstream, swinging Jazz recordings; occasionally featured some Avant Gard or Soul Jazz to catch the fad; some Latin, and World, influenced Jazz and frequently a chance for iconic artists to do “Showcases” with Big Bands, special ensembles, songbook features or specialized occasions to feature them in fresh recording scenarios. This recording is one of those.
George Benson also has many sides, this recording is prior to his enormous success as a singer and Popular crossover work. Here he is the up and coming soulful guitarist being placed in a Showcase type recording that often curdles into his cheesy side. The rippling streams of guitar work are never fatty with the arrangements and there are excellent players here. But there are also glimpses of where his music will go, into the smoother territories, where his guitar playing becomes less of a feature. “What’s New” (Alt. Take #2)
Overall = 4.7 (10) – Good, but some songs sound overly rich.Get it!
Art Blakey – Drums Around The Corner – Blue Note, 1958/1959.
🎺 ⏺ ♫ 🪄𝍍🎶 ✪:
Art Blakey, early and late in his career, would frequently work as a sideman or in collaboration with other legends. In his peak years, mostly recording for Blue Note, he would step out of his Messenger’s leader role and record Percussion heavy ensembles that delved into his interests in drums and Africa. I appreciate these recordings, more than I call them my favorite Blakey recordings. I think the creative forces being applied are really important, because he is recording music that is outside of his popular appeal, which is a risk, and one he took for his own self discovery. These are valuable documents that reveal a deeper sense of Art Blakey the man. “Lee’s Tune”
Overall = 5.2 (10) – Drum orgy!Get it!
Celia Cruz, Johnny Pacheco, Justo Bentancourt & Papo Lucca – Celia, Johnny, Justo & Papo: Recordando El Ayer – Fania, 1976/2007.
🌶️💃🏽🪘 ✪ ✪🔥:
A super group and a celebration. Fania often features super groups and heavyweight collaborations between their feature artists. There are many Fania All-Stars albums for example, which featured most of the label’s stars. Many record labels had a stable of performers they preferred and many would guest or work as sidemen and side-women on other featured artist’s albums, but I don’t think any label really did the promotion of these collaborations as well as Fania did. It capitalized on their popularity positively and created unique moments on record. This is very exciting and perfect sounding record, that also sounds as casual and fun as the album cover is. “La Equivocada”
Overall = 8.4 (10) – Pretty hot stuff!Get it!
Rabih Abou-Khalil – Between Dusk & Dawn – MMP/Enja, 1987/1993.
🎺🇱🇧 🪄 ⎄⨻:
An earlier album, rereleased on Enja, that features another collaboration with Charlie Mariano, who sounds very at home here. World Music can blossoms from a variety of contexts, Rabih About Khalil’s music features modern compositions in a traditional style. He uses modern concepts, but creates something that still sounds traditional. He also utilizes musicians from other cultures and involves instrumentation that is reflective of other musical traditions, the saxophone here, and that further refracts what the blend of old and new elements is. Mr. Abou-Khalil’s song titles also start to get weird around this album. “The Thing That Came Out Of The Swamp”
Overall = 7.8 (10) – This album seems to be the starting place for his more experimental sounds.Get it!!
& Tarab – Enja, 1993.
🎺 🇱🇧🤿 👁️ 👁️🗨️ 🪄 ⚙︎🎑 ⎄⨻:
This group is all over the music! The Bass sounds like Ambient Metal, mixed with the army of percussion it allows the Oud and Ney to vibrantly, spring into action and it grooves hard. I think the Bass strings of the Oud match the upper range of a Bass guitar and on other recordings the instruments can get in each others way, here the sparseness of Glen Moore’s playing and his pulsing, bottom end, sounds far from Abou-Khalil’s Oud. There are brilliant moments in every song. “A Tooth Lost”
Overall = 8.6 (10) – This is a great disc to introduce oneself to Mr. Abou-Khalil’s music! Get it!
Duke Pearson – Mosaic Select #8 – Blue Note/Mosaic, 1968/1969/2003. (The Phantom, I Don’t Care Who Knows It, It Could Only Happen With You, How Insensitive & Merry Ole Soul)
🎺⏺️ ⏺ 🪄 ⎄ 🎨🗣️🇧🇷🎄🧀 𝍍🎶🥁🏌🏿♂️📀:
A man of many hats, Duke Pearson composed, arranged, was a skilled pianist and a record producer for Blue Note records. He had an ear for contemporary popular music and would sneak in some cheese in elegant ways. There is a good amount of Bossa here and it is good to hear Airto in this environment. Mr. Pearson wrote many catchy pieces, he orchestrates with a full palate of tonal colors and produced many sample-able recordings. “Say Your Mine”
The middle disc features bigger ensembles than are on the other 2 discs, but they are conceptually trio pieces + ensemble. Pearson’s arranging with the bigger groups are often my favorite place to sense Mr. Pearson’s touch. I think he possibly missed out by not gravitating to a Big Band in Hollywood as Quincy Jones and Oliver Nelson did. He created a lot of music that could have worked in that context, I can imagine his style being employed in film scores and writing jingles and such.
On the third disk there is some “High Cheese” in the ensemble, swinging vocals, but also a lovely Andy Bey moment. Pearson is attentive to Bossa Nova music throughout the recordings, he was clearly aware of what music was having success in this era. His Christmas album is excellent, something that takes a lot for me to endorse. I generally think of Christmas recordings as an unusual money grab for a successful artist to draw their fans into their work, but using a secondary context. This recording is honest and celebratory. “Horn In” – my bet is this Frank Foster song is also arranged by Foster and maybe orchestrated by Pearson.
Overall = 7.2 (10) – This is a great, smooth-sounding, collection of recordings by Duke Pearson. It offers a little of everything you might want, it will appeal to fans and interest the uninitiated. Get it!!!!
Rez Abbasi – Rez Abbasi’s Invocation: Suno Suno – Enja, 2010.
🎺 🪄🎸🎷:
Mr. Abbasi is a fine guitarist, originally from Pakistan and who has also spent some time in India studying music. This ensemble features the intense piano and saxophone of Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa and the album fits nicely with their own albums from this time period. There is a similar language to their compositions and improvisations. Abbasi has a sound that seems influenced by John Abercrombie and this album could have been on the ECM label in another time and place – it has the sound and concepts favored there. I enjoy these albums, but also find a sameness in the tone, there are exceptional moments, but it rarely stays with me. The musicianship is exceptional, but I struggle to find meaning beyond the tones. “Monuments”
Overall = 3.7 (10) – It’s great if you like this type of thing, but rarely out of its holster for me.Get it!
Jackie Cain & Roy Kral – A WIlder Alias— CTI, 1974.
🗣️🏌🏿♂️🧀 🎺:
Wordless vocals have a high Cheese factor, this album is also pretty experimental with a bitching band, which offers some balance. There are a wide variety of musical styles with High Cheese qualities: Disco, Musicals and Smooth Jazz for example, but the wordless vocal can find many stylistic homes and it brings its own cheese to the party. This band embraces electronics, includes moments of intense Fire Music/Avant Gard and has a few burning groovers, it is the vocal duo’s album, but I think it is unusual to their oeuvre. It’s fun, it fits the CTI sound which embraces the weird in a popularist way and the Cheese factor is welcome here. “A Wilder Alias”
Overall = 4.4 (10) – Some will probably hate this, but I’m in. Get it!
Blonde Redhead – Misery is a Butterfly – Cad, 2003.
🪨🫧 🪩 🤿 👁️ 📹 🗣️ :
I recall Anawim Avila hipped me to Blonde Redhead, back when I worked at a CD store on South st.. Nawi has great ears, and has helped me conceptualize layering in my own compositions, I believe he described it as Classical mixed with Alternative Rock then, but it can sound a little like Noise Rock and Shoe Gaze too. They definitely compose their songs with some interesting forms and structures. I’m a fan of this album, well produced, sonically engaging and fresh feeling two decades later. “Elephant Woman”
Overall = 8.4 (10) – Hypnotic and mesmerizing.Get it!
Brand New Heavies – Brand New Heavies – Delicious Vinyl, 1991.
🔈🗣️:
This is an odd revisitation of music I got into in my senior year of High School. It felt fresh then, I was initially getting into Jazz and responded to the grooves and horns. The band’s band/Rapper collaborations were groundbreaking. Listening to this now, after hearing so much classic Funk, R&B and Jazz, the grooves feel light and none scare me. It is retro and derivative. I also had a huge crush on N’dea Davenport, but I think it was just the right time and place for this music in my life, when it came out. And that time is gone, it is just memories now and ultimately this has been replaced by things that are more intense and deeper. “Never Stop”
Overall = 3.6 (10) – Maybe there is a place for certain music and some music becomes just a memory of that time and place. Get it!
Art Ensemble of Chicago – Nice Guys – ECM, 1979.
🎺🌌🎑 🪄🧫:
The Art Ensemble of Chicago evoking strange tonalities and distant worlds of imagination. Avant-Garde music is truly for a different audience, an audience who may have their ears in a variety of weird spaces. And this music is best experienced live. They work in the conceptual, but also offer humor, misery and joy mixed with a variety of impressions of earlier music and introducing us to new sounds. This recording is a good example of their work, but I’m not sure I like the ECM sound for this music. It renders their music a bit cold and dry. “CYP”
Overall = 5.4 (10) – A conglomerate of musical master impressionists.Get it!
& Full Force – ECM, 1980.
🎺🌌🎑 🪄🧫:
I like this slightly later album, and the recording sound, better. Something about the performance leaves me feeling more present, where in the earlier recording I felt like their were events I couldn’t capture with my ear. Lester Bowie sounds great and I really favor his sound over the Young Lion trumpet players of the eighties. Perhaps the compositions are better realized here. “Old Time Southside Street Dance”
Overall = 6.5 (10) – More listenable and engaging.Get it!
Found Sounds 