Célia – Celia – Mr. Bongo, 1970.
🇧🇷🗣️ 🎭🪦🫧:
Celia, the other—Brazilian, Celia Cruz, a Pop Singer and personality in Brazil, released 4 self-titled albums. This recording was the first, from 1970. It has a great song list featuring many of Brazil’s finest composers. The eponymous album titles are a Brazilian plague, you literally need to look at the cover and date to be sure what you are listening to. Also many Brazilian singers consolidate to shorter names, using only their first name or their name + where they are from. All this makes it a little confusing to decipher what’s what. There is a kind of lightweight depth to the material, which suggests record company control of the artist’s career. This isn’t a bad thing, but it tends to shepherd the music into some middle ground to hopefully create popular appeal. “David”
Overall = 5.2 (10) – Pop personality music from Brazil.Get it!
Alice Coltrane – Universal Consciousness/Lord Of Lords – Impulse, 1971/1972/2007.
🎺 ⏺I! 🪄🎻🧫:
An excellent two-fer of Alice Coltrane albums featuring Strings and some synthesizers. Very grand, and epic in scope. I think these recordings offer some avenues Mrs. Coltrane explored beyond the wake of her legendary husband’s work and the important musicians she worked with on her earlier albums. Here the feature is on her music and her devotion. I really love the two albums and recall my first hearing was driving through mountains in descent with a cold Summer rain.
Overall = 8.7 (10) – Powerful music. Get it!
Kenny Burrell/Gil Evans – Guitar Forms – Verve, 1964-65/1997.
🎺 ⏺🎸🪄🫂 🗝️ 🎨 👁️🎑🎧🥁 🧀 👩🏼⚖️🪦📔:
This is a somewhat strange Kenny Burrell album to start my review of his music. Kenny Burrell was a guitar stylist whom I wouldn’t necessarily describe as versatile, instead, he would bring his sound to a wide variety of contexts and fit into any of them. It always sounds like him, whether post-Bop, Organ combo, Soul Jazz, Swing or Orchestrated ensemble playing. He is also ever present, on dozens of recordings. This recording features Kenny Burrell in a guitar concerto setting, which differs slightly from his work as a bandleader or sideman. Here he is in soloist form presented in front of Gil Evans’ orchestra. If it doesn’t quite reach the majestic heights of some of Gil Evans’ other collaborations, it sounds quite nice – dramatic and colorful. It probably reaches in too many directions (Spain, Brazil, Country Swing, “Greensleeves”) to then feel immersive at the level of those other masterpieces.“Lotus Land”
Overall = 7.7 (10) – Might have rated it higher if I hadn’t heard Sketches of Spain first.Get it!
& Blue Lights vol. 1 & 2 – Blue Note, 1958.
🎺 ⏺ ♫🎸🪄𝍍🎶:
Kenny Burrell led over 20 recordings in the decade following his 1956 debut as a leader. At that point the music involved swinging small groups, Hard Bop, jam sessions, and organ combos, really only avoiding Avant Garde Jazz as a recording artist. Additionally as a sideman, he would continue that variety with Big Bands, Soul Jazz, Vocalists (including Aretha Franklin!.) and and dabble with conceptual albums. He maintained a busy recording schedule for decades, yet despite his prolific output, his reputation seems to have diminished over the years. I recall people, in college, disliking his Swing, and I expect that other, more recent, important guitarists may have bumped him down the list, but he released plenty of great albums and contributed frequently to the great albums of others. This is a classic “Blowing Session” with a Jam-like feel and a pair of hot Andy Warhol covers (which are not the only Kenny Burrell albums featuring sketches by Warhol.). Good players, a little fire, stretchy solos and constant swing. “Chuckin’”
Overall = 7.9 (10) – It builds a vibe and meets the definition of a Blowing Session. Get it!
Willie Colon & Ruben Blades – Siembra – Fania, 2006.
🌶️💃🏽🪘 ✪ ✪ 🗝️ 🗝️🗣️⎄🫂:
Often described as the greatest Salsa album of all-time, Siembre features the primary architect of Salsa and one of its greatest songwriters collaborating. Apparently, their relationship wasn’t so smooth. Mr. Colon has several albums that fall into that top 10 Salsa album category, including several with Salsa’s most popular singer Hector LaVoe. This album is what occurs when all the skill, talent, hard work, top performers, best engineering and studio work arrive at the perfect moment and are captured. Those rare recordings feel alive, honoring the past and prognosticating the future of the moment they document. It is one of those rare moments that are impossible to actively create, they occur, be ready “Buscando Guayaba”
Overall = 10 (10) – One of the best! Get it!
The Adderley Brothers – The Summer Of ’55 – Savoy Jazz, 1999. [Includes Kenny Clarke: Bohemia After Dark; Cannonball Adderley: Spontaneous Combustion & Nat Adderley: That’s Nat]
🎺❂🪄🎷𝍍🎶 ✪ 🗝️:
My suggestions for reviewing any artist’s work include: their most popular “Hit” recordings; first, last and transitional recordings; historically important recordings; live recordings and atypical scenarios (unusual collaborators, ensembles, styles or songbooks). With examples of each of these, you can create a solid perspective of an artist’s career and its highlights, deciding if you need to be more completist in your appreciation of their work. This collection covers the debuts of the Adderley Brothers. All 3 debut recordings are featured here, including: Nat & Julian’s first recording with Kenny Clarke as the leader and then both of their leadership debut recordings. The bands for each recording are close to the same personnel, with some changes to the bass and piano players and an occasional visit by Jerome Richardson. Content wise It is bright, fun, Swing and Hard Bop. The brothers sound great, if not as great as they will in the next few years we can forgive because they are learning the ropes on the job. It is great to hear them in their early stages, they sound close to fully formed, just lacking experience in the situations. “With Apologies to Oscar” (Take 3) is a little contrafact based on “Sweet Georgia Brown”.
Overall = 7.9 (10) – The beginning of something great.Get it!
Charles Tolliver – Mosaic Select 20 – Strata East/Mosaic, 1972/1974/2005 [Includes Music Inc. Live At Slugs’ Volume 1 & Volume 2 and Live In Tokyo]
🎺⏺️ ⏺ ❂🥁 ➕🪄🧫⎄🎟️:
One of two Mosaic collections of Charles Tolliver’s music, both of which gather some under-appreciated, powerful music. There are a few reasons to check these out: Tolliver’s intense, rigorous, Coltrane inspired approach to the trumpet and improvisation and they feature his collaborative ensemble with Stanley Cowell, Music inc.. Music inc. attempted to create a Coltrane style quartet featuring the trumpet, and they appeared on Cowell & Tolliver’s musician run Strata East label (everything recorded for this label was worth a listen). There is a variety of great compositions, and these collections mostly feature Live performances, where the soloists stretch out. The recordings in this set are top notch and the vigor of the ensemble is well displayed. Strangely I think this group recorded live, more frequently than in the studio? “Stretch”
Overall = 8.2 (10) – I think these great recordings may be best digested individually, one at a time.Get it!
Pepper Adams – The Cool Sound Of – Savoy Jazz, 1957/1992.
🎺🪄🎷𝍍🎶:
An early Pepper Adams album, with Mr. Adams as the leader, features a “cool” cover but a slightly deceptive album title. Mr. Adams is one of the great Baritone saxophonists. He is most often considered a Hard Bop player (not a Cool Bop one), and while he appears in larger ensembles occasionally, he is primarily a small group player. He is one of the great soloists on the Baritone Saxophone and tends to shine on fast-paced tracks, tracks which are mostly unavailable on this recording. The album features a great rhythm section, but it is also possibly the only album to feature a Baritone Saxophone/Euphonium front line. Bernard McKinney/Kiane Ziwadi is potentially the greatest jazz euphoniumist, and he gets a lot of solo space on the songs. Since he is most often an ensemble player, not a soloist, this is an album worth hearing for that reason. It is otherwise a solid, basic, Hard Bop album, not by any means the greatest that any of the participants have waxed. “Settin’ Red” (by Bernard McKinney)
Overall = 4.7 (10) – Nothing wrong here, just nuts & bolts playing, great for a listen, quickly slips from memory. Get it!
Ella Fitzgerald/Duke Ellington – Ella & Duke At The Côte D’Azur – Verve, 1966/1997.
🗣️🎺🥁🪄 🎨 ✪ ✪ 🗝️ 🗝️⎄🫂🎟️:
A two disc compilation of selections from the 8 disc set of these two luminaries performing live together. It features a mix of the Ellington band, Ellington band with Ella, a smaller group of Ellington band members with Ella and a Ella’s own trio. The material varies. Although Ellington worked with many vocalists over the years and had all-star collaborations, this material takes unusual directions—featuring fewer Ellington pieces and some surprising song choices. Regardless of the different settings, you have one of the greatest bands and bandleaders of all time, the greatest vocal improviser, and a singer often considered the most important Jazz vocalist. High, deserved, praise for the performers. Often pairings of “greats”, like this performance, mute each other’s large personalities, but this recording swings hard and features both artists in their element, even if the collaboration isn’t as miraculous as one would hope. “Mack The Knife”
Overall = 7.5 (10) – Duke & Ella are worth a few points on their own, but there are other recordings where they actually play together more. This is more of a sharing of the bill.Get it!
Vashti Bunyan – Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind (Singles & Demos 1964 to 1967) – Dicristina/Spinney 2007.
🪨🫧 🌾 🪩 🗣️⎄❂ ➕👜:
Mid Sixties Pop/Folk from a UK singer songwriter who became successful long after her debut album came and went in the 1970’s. Her success was based on a retro popularity for that recording and then she began her career again more than 30 years later recording a few more albums. These are light and airy performances, as often happens for me with Pop/Folk is the depth of the song can be debased by the Pop affectations. The simplicity of the music puts a focus on the lyrics and these songs lean more into Pop lyric territory and not in the catchiest sense of that approach. Mrs. Bunyan has a sweet voice and some thoughtful content in her songs. There are several songs with Winter references. I enjoy the “woman with guitar” recordings the best, the less orchestrated versions feel like the right size for her music. A few of these songs are poorly recorded demos – distant sounding and unclear, but show a little variety in style. “Winter Is Blue” ? – A 2 disc set, each disc about 25 minutes long, needless brevity and excessive packaging…
Overall = 3.7 (10) – I think this recording is served best to Mrs. Bunyan’s fans and others interested should focus on her actually released albums. Get it!
James Brown – James Brown’s Funky Christmas – Chronicles, 1985.
🔈🎄 𖫪 ✪ ❂ 🗝️:
These tracks compile earlier Christmas music recordings by James Brown. Christmas music is the smallest category in my collection, but it is actually an absurdly large general category! The music is so good that it doesn’t matter what Mr. Brown is singing about and there is an occasional need for a Funky vibe on Christmas. I had no problem listening to this recording in June. Christmas music can be performed in every style, so stylistic interpretations of Christmas music often accompany popularity. Do a Christmas album to capitalize on your success. These songs are more than that and it is one of my favorite Christmas albums to play. “Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year”
Overall = 7.7 (10) – Great bands play great music.Get it!
Lester Bowie – The Great Pretender – ECM, 1981.
🎺🌌🎑📔🪄🧫 🦴⨻📔🎧:
This is a pretty great Avant Garde Jazz album, but minor framing issues keep it from being among my favorite Lester Bowie albums. ECM has a beautiful sound recording concept. Usually their recordings have an incredible sense of space that reminds me of listening to a concert under the stars. That sound concept is great for some music, but this album should sound like you are hearing it in a crowded room. Also Mr. Bowie’s role as a musical trickster feels a bit muted, despite the clarity of the sound. Overall it runs through unusual versions of the title song, “It’s Howdy Doody Time” and some original works. At turns, it is abrasive, silly, swinging and obscure. *Note: “It’s Howdy Doody Time” is also, “Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay” which I recalled from grade school, where that song was used to torment other students – but I wouldn’t have known that as the Howdy Doody song based on my age.
Overall = 6.5 (10) – Diverse avant explorations. Get it!
Found Sounds 