never enough rhodes

MIX : "Higher Soul"

2012-01-06T10:27:00.009+11:00

Simon666 : "Higher Soul" - Warmup #5 Skid Row radio mix by Simon666

This is a mix I made for a friend's radio show a few weeks back - some new soul, some old funk and some 90s hip hop - plenty of rhodes, natch :) Hope you enjoy!

This has hit the download limit at Soundcloud, so grab it from here instead.

Various - "Library Rhodes 2" - comp. 15

2011-12-26T16:25:00.004+11:00

"Grand Roque" - Maurice Vander - excerpt

"The Investigator" - Brian Bennett - excerpt

"Beverley Hills" - Steve Gray - excerpt

"Base Line" - Syd Dale - excerpt

Time for a post! This is a sequel to my 2010 "Library Rhodes" compilation which people seemed to enjoy. So once again, here's another electric piano journey through the library production music archives from the 1970s, drawing on labels like KPM, Bruton, Amphonic, Montparnasse, Bosworth, Impulse, Major, and Themes International.

Some copshow, some vibes, some jazz and some funk for the holidays ....

Link is in the comments, hope you enjoy this one.

Covers are higher quality in the download.

Here's a tracklist -

01 the fat man - syd dale

02 number one spy - syd dale

03 leisure - jeremy lubbock

04 beverley hills - steve gray

05 on the scent - james clarke

06 the investigator - brian bennett

07 night raider - vic flick

08 second cut - james clarke

09 papillion rouge - paolo zavallone

10 basse duettino - raymond Guilot

11 hocus pokus - walter murphy

12 don’t be cool jacky giordano

13 high checker - scope

14 stadio - the swingers

15 grand roque - maurice vander

16 e.s.b. - frank ricotti

17 fresh appeal - brian bennett

18 the open road - duncan lamont

19 exotica - ole jensen & his music

20 walkabout - david lindup

21 cross rolls - janko nilovic

22 award for achievement 3 - tony kinsey

23 drama montage - brian bennett

24 stop gap - dave gold

25 base line - syd dale

26 turbulence - wally asp

27 waiting game - james clarke

28 storytime - clive hicks

More rhodes compilations here.

Peace go with you Gil ....

2011-05-28T16:06:00.006+10:00

I always wonder at public grief for the deaths of those we have never met, but some people work their way into our hearts, and so their deaths feel personal.

R.I.P. Gil. Thankyou for the wonderful, intimate show you performed in early 1999 at the Bottom Line in New York.

Check out some bootlegs on this blog.
Read Ish's tribute here

Nil's Jazz Ensemble (S/T) (1976)

2010-09-19T23:16:00.008+10:00

"Reflexiones" excerpt

"Summer Love" excerpt

"Black Angel" excerpt

Fantastic latin-jazz-funk album recorded in Lima, Peru in 1976, starring leader/saxaphonist/flautist Nilo Espinosa, formerly of Bossa 70, and also featuring keyboardist Miguel "Chino" Figueroa, a member of renowned latin-funk band Black Sugar.

A killer set from start to finish, starting off with the classic jazz-funker 'Reflexiones', and featuring giant covers of "Black Angel" (a Freddie Hubbard tune penned by Kenny Barron); John Handy's funk tune "Hard Work", and the Blackbyrd's track "Summer Love" (written by Allan Barnes).

The vinyl of this goes for way-too-big bucks, and the CD reissue has been deleted, so I've put the album together by combining relevant parts of an Espinosa CD compilation with a tracked-down missing track "Siempre" - so you can all hear the whole wonderful thing in either WAV or 320 mp3 (apart from 'Siempre', which is at 212kbps) - so check the comments for links and say hi .

TRACKLIST

01. Reflexiones (Figueroa)
02. Looking for a Blues
03. Summer Love (Allan Curtis Barnes)
04. Black Angel (Kenny Barron)
05. Siempre
06. Somos Nada
07. Hard Work (John Handy)

MUSICIANS

Nilo Espinosa: Saxophone [Tenor, Alto, Soprano], Flute
Pancho Saenz: Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Miguel "Chino" Figueroa: Electric piano, Clavinet, Mellotron
Richie Zellon: Electric Guitar
Oscar Stagnaro: Electric Bass
Ramon Stagnaro: Electric Guitar
Andres Silva: Drums
Jorge Montero: Guitar
Mauro Silva : Congas
Ary Quispe : trombone

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Recorded in Lima, Peru 1976.
MAG Records N. 2535

LINKS IN COMMENTS

"Sexual Healing" (Simon's Dark Keys mix)

2010-08-01T13:51:00.003+10:00

"Sexual Healing" (Simon's Dark Keys Mix)

This is my own mix/mash of the vocal from Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" with "Dark Keys" by the Jazz Liberatorz, with some additional editing work. "Sexual Healing" was never one of my favourite Marvin songs due to the original 80s instrumentation - so I replaced it :)

Edit : Thanks to Gilles Peterson for spinning this on Worldwide, and to all the other DJs who've subsequently picked it up for their mixes.

Feel free to publish on your blogs, but a link back would be nice! Hope you enjoy it, WAV and MP3 versions available in the comments.

"The Hanged Man" OST - Alan Tew / Bullet (1975)

2010-07-27T23:37:00.001+10:00

"Contract Man" (excerpt)

"Road Runner" aka "Money Runner" (excerpt)

"The Peterman" aka "The Fence" (excerpt)

"The Spic" (excerpt)

As a followup to the "Library Rhodes" compilation from the other day, here's Alan Tew's 1975 soundtrack to the Yorkshire TV series "The Hanged Man". This has been around the blogs in a lower bit rate, but here it is in glorious FLAC or 320-mp3, take your choice ...

Several (if not all?) of these tracks were Tew's former library tracks renamed for the series and album release, and four of them actually appeared on the above-mentioned rhodes comp under the original titles - but here's the whole thing.

"Bullet" were a studio band. No exact info is available, but I've read elsewhere that it was likely to have been library legends Alan Parker, Barry Morgan, Les Hurdle on bass, and possibly Alan Hawkshaw on keys.

My files come from a now-deleted CD re-release from 1998, but I've grabbed the images from the original vinyl version from Discogs, 'cos it's a nicer cover, love the star heads. Enjoy.

TRACKLIST

1. Contract Man
2. G.B.H.
3. Road Runner
4. The Heist
5. Duluth Blues
6. The Spic
7. Hanged Man
8. Blue Panther
9. Killer Hill
10. Smokey Joe The Dreamer
11. Gentle In The Night
12. The Peterman
13. Funky Bear
14. Hanged Man

LINKS IN COMMENTS

Various - "Library Rhodes" (compilation 14)

2010-07-25T18:03:00.005+10:00

"The Apartment"

"20 Mile High Swinger" (excerpt)

"The Fence" (excerpt)

"Black Light" (excerpt)

"Sidewalk" (excerpt)

"Running Fast" (excerpt)

The electric piano frenzy continues with 78 minutes of library goodness brought to you today, so make sure you return those overdue books and settle back for some Sunday sunshine.

If none of us read anymore, then at least we can listen to the library. I wrote a few paragraphs somewhere in another post about why I think we listen to library music, and there's something of a history here, but no need to analyse this weekend as we flow with some classics and favourites :

From Duncan Lamont's chilled opener "The Apartment" (of 'Sweeney' fame) we move into some flute-laden jazz funk territory for a few tracks, then move into some brazil soundalike tracks beginning with Andre Ceccarelli.

Alan Tew's "The Fence" and Stefano Torossi's classic "Fighting For Life" lead us through some wah wah and blaxpo near-tension, before John Cameron's "Half Remembered Daydream" takes us into the centre vocal section of the compilation : for six tracks you can practise your "woo woos", "bu-bu-bu-bu-buhs" and "da da das" - yes folks, welcome to vocalese language school.

Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett pick up the pace as we head into an action section that never quite requires us to remove our seatbelts, before Stan Sulzmann and friends drop us down to some jazz, and then the final soft but still uneasy tones of our constant host Alan Tew.

TRACKLIST

01 the apartment - duncan lamont
02 money runner - alan tew
03 gang progress - andre ceccarelli
04 at risk - david lindup
05 afro metropolis - john cameron
06 undergroove - alan hawkshaw
07 black light - alan parker
08 bossa for my eet - andre ceccarelli
09 virgin land - tony kinsey
10 flute in five four - duncan lamont
11 the fence (version a) - alan tew
12 fighting for life - stefano torrosi
13 the rub - alan tew
14 half forgotten daydreams - john cameron
15 husky birdsong - keith mansfield
16 liquid sunshine- john cameron
17 high diver - alan hawkshaw
18 shout - daniel janin
19 ski bird - alan hawkshaw
20 mile high swinger - alan hawkshaw/brian bennett
21 the rally - dennis farnon
22 dindou no.1 - andre ceccarelli
23 running fast - stefano torrosi
24 theme hypnose - jannick top
25 sojan - stan sulzmann
26 sidewalk - frank ricotti/tony hymas/stan sulzmann
27 nightwatch - alan tew
28 the fence (version b) - alan tew
29 eyes - alan tew

Thanks to my fellow bloggers everywhere for everything. I tend to heavily cull all the library stuff I collect, so it's hard to trace these all back - but I know that thanks should go, as ever, to Quimsy, Bacoso, Reza and many other masters of the known universe ...so please visit these people, talk to them ...

LINK IN COMMENTS

that's the place you can leave comments too :)

Various - "Brazil Rhodes 3" (comp #13)

2010-07-06T17:20:00.011+10:00

"Bem Vinda" (excerpt)

"Transamazonica" (excerpt)

"Brazilian Skies" (excerpt)

"Viramundo" (excerpt)

"A Chamada" (excerpt)

"Previsao do Tempo" (excerpt)

Commiserations to our brazilian friends for the football - some consolation here in the form of twenty-three storming rhodes tracks from, or inspired by their great land.

A brief intro from the master, Hermeto Pascoal, leads us into some jazz-fused bangers from Som Imaginario, Antonio Adolfo, Marcos Resende and others.

O Quarteto's clustered vocal tones take us through some live Sergio Mendes and Brasil '77 into the middle section, fusing pop, funk and soul with Marcos Valle, Hyldon, Banda Black Rio and more.

The fusions of Azymuth and Headhunter Bill Summers (check that keyboard solo) leads us back to the atmospherics of Robertinho Silva and the deeper jazz of an uncharacteristically instrumental Ed Motta, before we finish with the beautiful melancholy of instrumental Marcos Valle and the amazing voice of Alaide Costa accompanied by Oscar Castro-Neves.

Enjoy the comp, check the previews above - all tracks @ 320kbps bar one or two - and leave a comment so that I know you're with me on this blogging trip ...

Big everlasting thanks to many blogs and bloggers for feeding my love of various brazilian musics over the last few years - including Quimsy, Ish, Bacoso, Reza, BC, Porco Rosso, Flabbergast, J Thyme, Bruxa, all the Gears crew, and many more, sorry if I've forgotten you ....

LINK FOR "BRAZIL RHODES 3" IN COMMENTS

also available :

Brazil Rhodes 1

Brazil Rhodes 2

.... or check all 13 rhodes comps

Various - "Latin Rhodes 3" (comp #12)

2010-06-20T15:34:00.006+10:00

"Contradanza" (excerpt)

"Chekere Son" (excerpt)

"Pajaro Africano" (excerpt)

"Angelica" (excerpt)

"Saoco" (excerpt)

"Canto de los flores" (excerpt)

Back to some electric piano love. It's been a long time since the last Rhodes compilation, so here's a banging collection of funky, jazzy, 70s latin tracks for your listening pleasure! This is also in celebration of the completion of the Mongo Santamaria discography. Anyway ... the tracklist is on the back cover above, check the previews, and hope you enjoy it.

LINK IN COMMENTS

Also available :

Latin Rhodes 1 (click)

Latin Rhodes 2 (click)

... or check out all 12 rhodes compilations

for more electric jazz, afro, latin, MPS and brazil ...

John Shakespeare Orchestra - "Number One Theme" (1969)

2010-06-04T11:45:00.002+10:00

"Number One Theme" (excerpt)

TRACK OF THE DAY

John Shakespeare Orchestra - "Number One Theme" b/w "Fade Out" (1969), arranged by Quincy Jones, promo for BEA airlines in the UK.

Spotted for $1 at the market around the corner a few weeks back, grabbed this 45 immediately for Crap Jazz Covers, then saw Quincy Jones' name. "Number One Theme" is full of his harpsichord lines, lush strings, hammond solo, "do do-do-dooo" vocals, speedy summertimes at 100 mph ..... and all the not-so-hidden meanings are explained on the back cover above.

"Fade Out" (excerpt)

The B-Side "Fade Out" is the title theme from a TV episode of "ITV Saturday Night Theatre" starring Stanley Baker. Similar feel, instrumental with an energetic sax solo. Can't find a synopsis of the TV episode, but here's a pic :

Fade Out

People seem to want about 30 pounds for this single, so damn it, we'll give it away for free and throw in a free bikini wax, even for the guys above. Hope you enjoy it (the music, that is).

WAV and MP3 versions in the comments.

More Tracks of the Day here

Mongo Santamaria - "Mongo Magic" (1983)

2010-05-16T19:39:00.012+10:00

"Freedom" (excerpt)

"Time Will Tell" (excerpt)

"Pirana" (excerpt)

In the two years since I made a discography for Afro-Cuban percussionist extraordinare Mongo Santamaria, some readers have come forward with a series of donations of Mongo's albums.

This 1983 Roulette Records album (not to be confused with the Charly Records compilation "Mongo's Magic") has never made it to CD, and reader Remy has stepped forward with a nice vinyl rip for this blogosphere debut. Big thanks to you Remy!

In the timeline of his studio albums, "Mongo Magic" sits between 1980's "Images" and 1984's "Free Spirit". Longtime producer Marty Sheller is the only person remaining with with Mongo from the 1980 album. Earlier in 1983 Santamaria gave a blistering live performance, captured on Montreux Heat with an entirely different lineup, then got a new band together for this album, most of whom stayed on for "Free Spirit" in '84 and 1987's "Soy Yo".

This starts out as a low-key affair - was worried by the first two tracks with the dreaded DX-rhodes, but later "Rachael's Dance" is the best of the mellow ones, and "Time Will Tell" is a great jazz track, before Mongo's congas only really kick in on tracks like "Pirana". He's joined by Bobby Sanabria on timbales and other percussion. Sheller doesn't play on this album, but as usual wrote most of the tracks .

There's a strong brass and winds presence with Tony Hinson on tenor sax and flute; Chris Rogers on trumpet; and flautist/saxophonist Sam Furnace kicks in with two compositions, "Freedom" and "Should the Blues Be Suspended", which have some of the album's best melodies. Excellent piano work from both Hilton Ruiz and Bobby Quaranta.

Enjoy it!

TRACKLIST

01 'Rude Boy' (6:18)

02 'The Answer Is Love' (5:00)

03 'Freedom' (6:11)

04 'Time Will Tell' (6:27)

05 'Should the Blues Be Suspended' (6:16)

06 'Rachael's Dance' (6:20)

07 'Pirana' (4:38)

08 'Bonita' (4:57)

All tracks written by Marty Sheller except :

08 - Mongo Santamaria

03,05 - Sam Furnace

MUSICIANS

Mongo Santamaria - conga drums and bongos

Bobby Sanabria - timbales, drums and percussion

Sam Furnace - flute; soprano, alto and baritone sax

Tony Hinson - Tenor Sax and flute

Lew Soloff - trumpet on 3, 8

Chris Rogers - trumpet

Sal Cuevas - bass

Bobby Quaranta - piano

Hilton Ruiz - piano on 2,6,7

PRODUCTION

Produced by Marty Sheller

All arrangements by Marty Sheller except :

3, 5 arranged by Sam Furnace

Engineer - David Stone

Photography - Hal Wilson

Art Direction - Michael Mendel

MONGO SANTAMARIA discography

... is HERE

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip by Remy

Other album links in this post go to Orgy in Rhythm, Blog-O-Blog, AfroCubanLatinJazz and Si Se Rompe Se Compone. Please thank these people if you visit and download their albums, comments keep your favourite blogs alive.

LINK IN COMMENTS

The Sun Ra project @ Blackclassical

2010-04-08T17:42:00.006+10:00

Hi everyone, while I'm caught up in work and not posting much, I wanted to direct you to the Sun Ra Project by the very busy and creative Mr Blackclassical.

Check it out!

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live in Bremen" (1983)

2010-02-17T21:30:00.013+11:00

"We Almost Lost Detroit" (excerpt)

"Angola Louisiana" (excerpt)

Over two hours of Gil Scott-Heron and his Amnesia Express, live at the Kulturzentrum Schauburg in Bremen, Germany, April 18th, 1983.

Worth it alone for the Gil's opening solo voice-and-rhodes performances of "We Almost Lost Detroit", "Angola Louisiana" and "Three Miles Down", the last of these featuring a similar singalong to one I remember taking part in when I last saw him perform in 1998.

There's an intimacy in these three tracks that I haven't picked up from the other bootlegs. So this now becomes my second favourite GSH bootleg after the Bottom Line show.

Considering this has gone through a cassette generation, there's a good clarity to the recording of his voice throughout, even if he does complain at one stage that he must have "left his voice on Lufthansa". Bass guitar is a little far back in the mix from the recorder position, which probably explains the title that the original DIME seeders gave the set.

"The Bottle" (excerpt)

"Washington D.C." (excerpt)

In the band tracks, the reed and brass particularly shine through in the arrangements. There's a really superb, understated flugelhorn solo from Alonzo Bailey in "Better Days Ahead".

Lots of talk from GSH between tracks - he's still the only guy who can merge from spoken word to poetry to song without you noticing the joins, where the setup is all part of the song.

The seeders added a few other GSH songs from TV broadcasts, and a bonus live performance from Dana Bryant of Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not be Televised" from Jazzfest Berlin.

Fantastic stuff! WAV version in comment #29 ...

CD 1

1 Intro 1:26
2 We Almost Lost Detroit 5:42
3 Intro 2:13
4 Angola Louisiana 5:19
5 Intro 4:10
6 Three Miles Down 4:34
7 B Movie 16:28
8 Intro 1:03
9 A Legend In His Own Mind 5:14
10 Intro 0:30
11 Winter In America 7:49
12 Band Intro 3:27
13 Intro 1:26
14 Shut 'em Down 6:21

CD 2

1 Intro 1:24
2 Washington D C 4:39
3 Intro 1:29
4 The Bottle 14:00
5 Intro 1:08
6 Better Days Ahead 11:06
7 Intro 4:39
8 Johannesburg 7:12

bonus tracks:

9 Winter In America 4:34

"Ohne Filter" German TV March 1984 (broadcast date):
10 Not Needed/Statement 4:03
from "Keynote" (SAT1 - German TV) 1994
11 The Revolution Will Not Be Televised 5:18

Dana Bryant
Jazzfest Berlin, Traenenpalast, Oct 28 1993 (FM recording)

MUSICIANS

Gil Scott-Heron - vocals, keyboards

Alonzo Bailey - trumpet, flugelhorn

Vernon James - alto and soprano sax, flute

Ron Holloway - tenor sax

Larry McDonald - percussion

Kenny Powell - drums

Ed Brady - bass

Glen "Astro" Turner - keyboards, harmonica

CREDITS & BOOTLEG HISTORY

FM broadcast to cassette, cleaned and de-glitched by Langtang and Wolf.
Originally seeded at DIME by Langtang and Wolf.
Cover art by Wolf.

Also at 'Never Enough Rhodes'

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at the Village Gate" (1976)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at the Bottom Line" (1977) - start here!
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at Berkeley" (1978)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live At Glastonbury" (1986)

WAVs in comment #29

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at Glastonbury" (1986)

2010-02-13T00:31:00.014+11:00

"Gun" (excerpt)

"Blue Collar" (excerpt)

With much buzz surrounding Gil Scott-Heron's new album, here's a half hour bootleg featuring four kicking tracks from a 1986 live show at the Glastonbury Festival, originally broadcast on the BBC. Here we capture GSH somewhere in the middle of his 12 year hiatus between "Moving Target" and "Spirits", but he's in fine voice and spirit.

Keyboardist Kim Jordan switches between synth and piano, and she contributes some particularly fine piano solos - she was a member of Gil's touring band for 12 years, also appearing on the live "Minister of Information" album and "Spirits", both in 1994.

Also appearing on those albums was the Turrentine-ish saxophonist Ron Holloway, who also played on "Moving Target" from which both "Blue Collar" and "Washington DC" appear live here. He went on to record some albums for Milestone in the 90s, including 1998's "Groove Update" which features GSH on new versions of "Three Miles Down" and "We Almost Lost Detroit". That album also featured drummer Rodney Youngs from here.

Joe Phillips' guitar adds a blues sensibility to the proceedings, occasionally rocking things out a little too much for me, but holding back (or held back) enough to not ruin things. Bassist Robbie Gordon played with GSH from 1978 until 1994. He released a solo album called "Still Growing" in 1996, which included an unusual straight-ahead acid jazz version of Gil's classic song "B-Movie".

In the comments for this post, Jamie said :

"I was at this gig as a young, wide-eyed first-time Glastonbury festival-goer. I was 16 years old, I'd just left school two days previously and had just had the best weekend of my life up to that point. What this tape omits is that 'Johannesburg' was aborted initially due to the lack of crowd response. Gil had asked the crowd to sing along with the chorus and he'd explained, patiently, that if we didn't sing up he wasn't going to do it. Cue the first 'What's the word?' bit and a fairly lacklustre response from the crowd. Gil cut the band and gently mocked our poor singing. I remember him saying something along the lines of 'OK, I know you were probably too busy pulling on a joint and missed it but this time you've gotta sing up'. The next chant of'JOHANNESBURG!' you can hear on the recording."

An anecdote about this gig from the blog Look on the Nice Side :

"I once had a pee on a fence next to him at Glastonbury festival, right after he’d just come off stage. And when I asked him if he didn’t have a hospitality area backstage and his own posh toilets, he shrugged and sad, “Yeah man, but I like to pee with the people”.

TRACKS

01 'Gun' (4.23)

02 'Washington DC' (5.05)

03 'Blue Collar' (12.30)

04 'Johannesburg' (8.44)

MUSICIANS

Gil Scott-Heron - vocals, keyboards

Kim Jordan - keyboards

Joe Phillips - guitar

Robbie Gordon - bass

Ron Holloway - saxaphone

Rodney Youngs - drums

Larry McDonald - percussion

CREDITS & BOOTLEG HISTORY

FM > cassette (1st gen) > CDR > WAV > trader's little helper > FLAC
Originally posted on DIME by Roofwalker.
I've converted to WAV and 320-mps from the FLACS.
Thanks to Roofwalker, and Scott for the alert!

Blogs linked to in this post are Pure Diggin', BeeQ, RockNRollaZ, Look On the Nice Side and Blaxploitation Jive. Please say hi to these folks and thank them if sample their wares, so that they keep posting.

Also at 'Never Enough Rhodes'

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at the Village Gate" (1976)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at the Bottom Line" (1977) - start here!
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at Berkeley" (1978)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live In Bremen (1983)

Files repeatedly deleted, have to give up on this one sorry ...

Stanley Cowell - "New World" (1981)

2009-12-08T23:13:00.005+11:00

"El Space-O" (excerpt)

"Come Sunday" (excerpt)

Hello everyone, I'm back after four months, and hope you'll all still come and visit here.

Stanley Cowell's "New World" - recorded in 1978, and released three years later - represents something of a transitional album for the pianist who co-founded the Strata-East record label with Charles Tolliver.

Cowell's instrumentation had always been about finding the right combination of instruments to create the right textures for particular compositions, whether his own or others. From the moment he burst out in 1969 with "Blues For The Viet Cong" (aka "Travelling Man") and then "Brilliant Circles" , he would embroider a piano trio base with a range of instruments - brass, winds, voices, vibes, strings - to find the instrumental palette to realise each musical vision; the roles of each instrument freely changing between lead and support; the tonalities veering between modal and the avant-garde as suited.

"Brilliant Circles", in particular, reflects the range of influences the pre-solo career Cowell had picked up as a sideman on various albums by Marion Brown, Max Roach and Bobby Hutcherson.

Cowell himself would move between (mainly) acoustic piano, rhodes and sometimes the african kalimba (or "thumb piano"). Some tracks featuring his kalimba have been heavily sampled over the years, notably several of his recordings of his track "Travelling Man" as well as "Smilin' Billy Suite" from the Heath Brothers' "Marchin' On" (1976)

Throughout the 1970s, Cowell would move back and forth between more intimate, piano-led sessions like the beautiful "Illusion Suite" (1972); the solo piano album "Musa Ancestral Streams" (1973) and the electric-acoustic solo album "Waiting for the Moment" (1977); and at other times would venture once again into larger instrumental electric/acoustic groupings on albums like "Regeneration" (1975) and the commercial RnB/jazz album "Talkin About Love" (1977).

In November 1978, Cowell indulged both sides of his musical personality by recording two albums. In the last few days of that month he recorded "Equipoise", a great trio album with Cecil McBee and Roy Haynes; but earlier in the month he recorded a larger group work, "New World" which I'm presenting today.

"Come Sunday" opens with solo piano, before church bells herald the entrance of a full vocal section ( Judy Lacey, Linda Mandolph, Robert Mandolph). Kenneth Nash's percussion enhances the trio of Cowell, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Roy Haynes; with Nate Rubin and Terry Adam's strings enhancing the melodic lines of Cowell's piano.

The gospel-flavoured "Ask Him" features Cowell on both rhodes and piano, with the vocal chorus alternating words and chord backing, and Headhunters Eddie Henderson and Julian Priester contributing brass.

From gospel we move to calypso in the album's dud track, "Island of Haitoo", which not even Cowell's kalimba can save from a fate of bad-travelogue-library resort music. It really needs a video of a cartoon sun going up and down on a blue cellophane ocean .... hmmm move on ...

Up next is a new version of "Trying to Find a Way", first recorded by Cowell on "Regeneration" - he's commonly revisited the same songs across various albums, placing them in new configurations and styles. It's a fairly exuberant version, with the trio backed by full vocal chorus and strings, and features a bass solo by McBee. I do miss Cowell's synth and the vocals by Charles Fowkles and Glenda Barnes from the original, but it's still a good version - almost Steve Reich-ish in the vocal arrangements.

"El Space O" is the standout track, with Priester's growling trombone locking in with McBee's bass to create a platform for Cowell's extraordinary rhodes and prepared piano work, with a subtle wah-wah allowing the keyboards to wind in and out of answering melodies provided by Priester and Henderson. The brass build up in modal chords behind a honking sax solo by Pat Patrick, before embarking on Mwandishi-like wails that lead back to the main melody. A great piece.

The album finishes with the solo piano track "Sienna : Welcome to this New World", and reminds me that I can happily listen to Cowell play the piano anywhere, any time and in any context. "New World" was the last time that Cowell would work with such a broad ensemble of musicians - after this most of his work would focus on the piano.

Hope you enjoy this album, bring on the comments so I know it's worth getting this blogging thing going again :)

TRACKLIST

01. 'Come Sunday' - 8:39 (Duke Ellington)
02. 'Ask Him' - 4:46 (Cowell-McBee)
03. 'Island Of Haitoo' - 4:14 (Cowell-Scott)
04. 'I'm Trying To Find A Way' - 7:27 (Cowell-McLaughlin)
05. 'El Space-O' - 8:20 (Cowell-McBee-Haynes)
06. 'Sienna: Welcome To This New World' - 2:43 (Stanley Cowell)

MUSICIANS

Piano, electric piano, prepared pianos, kalimba, hammond organ, orchestra chimes, occasional backing vocals - Stanley Cowell

Bass - Cecil McBee
Drums - Roy Haynes
Percussion - Kenneth Nash
Alto, Tenor and Bass Trombones - Julian Priester
Trumpet, Electric Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Eddie Henderson Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone - Pat Patrick
Cello - Terry Adams
Violin - Nate Rubin
Vocals - Judy Lacey , Linda Mandolph , Robert Mandolph

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, November 1978
Arranged and Conducted by Stanley Cowell
Producer - Ed Michel
Engineer - Baker Bigsby
Assistant - Wally Buck
Mastering - George Horn
Art Direction and Design - Phil Carroll
Photography - Phil Bray

POST CREDITS

Other albums linked to in this post are at Orgy In Rhythm, Musica en Enspiral, Strata-East Fan Club, El Goog Ja, Pharoah's Dance, Nothing Is V2.0, The Changing Same, My Jazz World, Muzikholic.

Please thank these folks if you visit them and download - your "thankyou" makes bloggers realise that people are there, and then they post more ...

WAV / MP3 versions in COMMENTS

Elvin Jones - "Summit Meeting" (1976)

2009-08-16T23:56:00.005+10:00

"Blues For Clark" (excerpt)

"Moody Magic" (excerpt)

To complete our series of Elvin Jones albums on Vanguard Records, reader Luis has kindly donated a vinyl rip of "Summit Meeting" from 1976.

This comes the year after "New Agenda" in Jones' Vanguard chronology, recorded a few months after "The Main Force"; and the year before "Time Capsule".

As the title suggests, this is more of a group album, and is listed in some places as such. It's generally a little more straight-ahead that the albums that preceded it and followed it - Jones is deferring to trumpeter Clark Terry and saxaphonist James Moody, neither of whom he had played with before.

The fusion touches of "The Main Force" are nowhere to be seen - guitarist Roland Prince has a more laid-back, supportive role than Ryo Kawasaki from the former album. Keyboards are provided by Albert Dailey - his rhodes work is as solid as ever - not working with the onboard FX, but more working in a blues-based piano style, while still mindful of the electric instrument's tonality.

Mostly, the tracks are a showcase for solos by Moody, Terry and altoist Bunky Green, who would come to the fore in "Time Capsule" the year after. Producer Ed Bland's composition "Moody Magic" is the closest track to the more organised and composed structures that would follow on that album. The other standout for me here is Bunky Green's "Blues for Clark", with great solos by Dailey, Terry and Green. Check previews of both of these tracks at the top of the post.

Hope you enjoy this one! Please thank Luis for the rip.

TRACKLIST

01. 'Tee Pee Music' - (Clark Terry) - 8.09
02. 'Blues for Clark' - (Bunky Green) - 5.59
03. 'Moody Magic' - (Ed Bland) - 6.11
04. 'Summit Song' - (Bunky Green) - 10.13
05. 'Jones' - (Pauline Reddon-Duke Ellington) - 9.54

MUSICIANS

Elvin Jones - drums
Clark Terry - trumpet and flugelhorn
James Moody - tenor sax
Bunky Green - alto sax
Roland Prince - guitar
Albert Dailey - electric piano, piano
Angel Allende - percussion
David Williams - bass

PRODUCTION

Vanguard Records VSD 79390
Recorded NYC November 18th, 1976
Produced by Ed Bland
Recording Engineers - Charlie Repka, Jeff Zaraya
Mixer - David Baker
Design - Jules Halfant
Photograph - Joel Brodsky

OTHER ELVIN JONES at this blog :

1975 "New Agenda"
1976 "The Main Force"
1977 "Time Capsule"

WAV / MP3 in comments

"Nytro" (1977) / "Return to Nytropolis" (1979)

2009-08-12T23:38:00.007+10:00

"Atomic Funk" (excerpt)

Yes, I'm being a blog slut .....

Baby Grandpa has done great new rips of the two funky albums by Nytro, produced by Norman Whitfield in 1977 and 1979, and asked me to write a post for it.

So head on over and check 'em out there - and catch me blabbing on somewhere else for a change :)

Naturally, these have been added to the Whitfield discography here.

Elvin Jones - "Time Capsule" (1977)

2009-08-02T23:28:00.005+10:00

"Moon Dance" (excerpt)

Elvin Jones' final album for the Vanguard label in 1977 was his most melodic and "produced" album from the period. His trademark fiery style is slightly reigned in within these highly arranged and produced tracks, which delve further into group-based jazz-funk fusion - quite different from the looser, post-electric Miles jamming which infused the previous year's "The Main Force", which I posted yesterday.

That said, there's some great playing and textures on "Time Capsule", with ample solo space offered and taken with gusto within these tighter structures. After this album, Jones would return to more 'traditional' post-bop territory and acoustic instrumentation with his newly-named "Jazz Machine" on 1978's "Remembrance" for the MPS label.

"Frost Bite" (excerpt)

Guitarist Ryo Kawasaki and percussionist Angel Allende return from the previous album. Whereas Kawasaki's electric edge somewhat stood out on "The Main Force", here it has become something of the norm. Once again he holds composition credits for the opening track : "Frost Bite".

With the reeds players working more in unison melodies, and Kawasaki contributing single lines and wah-chops, Kenny Barron's fender rhodes holds much of the harmonic background for the album. He had appeared on one track of 1975's "New Agenda", but here he's a strong presence throughout.

"Time Capsule" (excerpt)

Barron's solo work is great on tracks like "Time Capsule", "Spacing". and my personal standout track "Moon Dance" (see preview at top of post). The album catches Barron in his peak period as a rhodes player, coming after his albums "Sunset to Dawn", "Peruvian Blue" and "Lucifer" ; and just before "Innocence", after which he would mainly return to acoustic piano. So one more for the Kenny on electric piano discography.

Only Frank Foster remains from the previous album's reeds lineup, here just contributing his soprano sax to Ed Bland's track "Digital Display".

"Digital Display" (excerpt)

Drummer alert! Mark Feldman has transcribed some of Elvin's patterns for "Digital Display" over here at "Bang! The Drum School".

The dominant new guest here is alto saxophonist Bunky Green, who composed three of the five tracks here. After a decade-long recording break he had returned earlier in the year with his Vanguard album "Transformations", also produced by Ed Bland. Much of that album borders on proto-"smooth jazz", with highly modal covers of pop hits, but on "Time Capsule" he has a rougher, more interesting edge, perhaps from the company he's keeping here.

Tenor saxophonist George Coleman had played on some of Jones' later Blue Note releases, as well as a few Strata-East releases like Charles Tolliver's "Impact!" ; the Jazz Contemporaries' "Reasons In Tonality" and Keno Duke's "Sense Of Values". In 1977, the same year as this album, he also played on Charles Earland's "Smokin".

At this stage, prolific flautist Frank Wess was straddling both the jazz world and the disco-funk session game - recent credits had included albums as diverse as Sister Sledge's "Circle of Love"; Van McCoy's "Disco Baby"; Oscar Brown's "Brother Where Are You"; Woody Shaw's "Rosewood"; and Crap Jazz Covers' favourite, "Sweet Buns and Barbecue" by Houston Person.

In the few years preceding this album, bass player Juni Booth had worked on Larry Young's "Lawrence Of Newark" ; McCoy Tyner's "Song of the New World" and "Atlantis"; and Joe Bonner's "Angel Eyes" . 2nd bassist Milt Hinton has been described as probably appearing "on more records than any other musician", so feel free to peruse his thirteen pages of credits.

Hoping you enjoy this one folks!

TRACKLIST

01. 'Frost Bite' - 7:53 - (Ryo Kawasaki)
02. 'Digital Display' - 7:31 - (Ed Bland)
03. 'Moon Dance' - 6:20 - (Bunky Green)
04. 'Time Capsule' - 8:07 - (Bunky Green)
05. 'Spacing' - 10:35 - (Bunky Green)

MUSICIANS

Drums - Elvin Jones
Bass - Milt Hinton (1-2), Juni Booth (3-5)
Electric Piano - Kenny Barron
Flute - Frank Wess (1-2)
Guitar - Ryo Kawasaki
Percussion - Angel Allende
Alto Saxophone - Bunky Green
Soprano Saxophone - Frank Foster (2)
Tenor Saxophone - George Coleman (1, 3-5)

PRODUCTION

Vanguard Records, 1977
VSD 79389
Producer - Ed Bland
Mixed By - David Baker
Engineer - Charlie Repka , Jeff Zaraya
Photography - Joel Brodsky
Design - Jules Halfant
Montage - Hy Radin

OTHER ELVIN JONES at this blog :

1975 "New Agenda"
1976 "The Main Force"
1976 "Summit Meeting"

POST CREDITS

Rip from deleted Vanguard CD re-release by Simon666

Other albums linked in this post are at the blogs : Ile Oxumare, Strata-East Fan Club; Magic Purple Sunshine, Nine Sisters, Orgy In Rhythm, My Jazz World, Everything Is On The one, Pharoah's Dance, Raider of the Lost Ark, Jamz for the Soul, Mientras Otros Duermen, My Favourite Sound, Marramua, and Musica Y Programas.

Please thank these people if you visit them.

WAV / MP3 versions in COMMENTS

Elvin Jones - "The Main Force" (1976)

2009-08-01T21:36:00.003+10:00

"Mini Modes" (excerpt)

A year along from "New Agenda", Elvin Jones and his group are in a jamming mode, working over looser structures with improvisational groupings amongst the reeds and percussion, with plenty of solo space as well. "The Main Force" is a more african-focused event with early fusion touches, ripped freshly from vinyl and presented here today in WAV and MP3.

Sometimes it sounds like they're all auditioning for Miles Davis' mid-70s live band, none so more than guitarist Ryo Kawasaki, who's coming off Gil Evans' "Music of Jimi Hendrix" and "There Comes a Time" albums, and here keeps his foot planted firmly on the wah-wah pedal, still a year away from smoothing things out considerably on his solo album "Juice". Kawasaki's track "Salty Iron" opens the album.

"Salty Iron" (excerpt)

There are no less than four reeds players here; with Frank Foster and Steve Grossman joined this time round by Dave Liebman (who along with Grossman, of course, had successfully auditioned for the Davis band), and Pat La Barbara, who'd been working with Buddy Rich for the previous decade on albums like "Roar of '74" and "Stick It". La Barbara would continue as a central player for Jones for several years after this.

"Song of Rejoicing ..." (excerpt)

The woodwinds wind around each other in afro-style coils pushing eastwards on the sprawling fifteen-minute jam "Song of Rejoicing after returning from a hunt", which closes the album. The track is adapted by Jones from the djoboko rhythm of the Ba-Benzele pygmies; and arranged by Gene Perla. Perla doesn't play on this album, but would go on to form Stone Alliance the next year with Grossman and Liebman.

Or, as Todd Barkan writes in his hysterical liner notes :

"Here we are taken on a liferaft shooting the rapids of Elvin's bloodstream. A stream of consciousness hurtling us through lush, green river valleys into dens, electric jungles, and out onto sun-yellowed plains - flowing all the way back to the blood of his African ancestors."

I'll take two of whatever Todd's on, then chase them with a few margaritas.

Elvin Jones gets to break out with his signature thunder rolls on Gene Perla's "Sweet Mama", built around some wild impro from bassist Dave Williams. Williams had played on the first Blackbyrds album and Kenny Barron's "Peruvian Blue", then worked again with Elvin Jones the next year on Hadley Caliman's "Celebration". His composition here is "Mini Modes" - see the preview at the top of the post.

Producer Ed Bland contributes the modal "Philomene", and the man holding down the rhodes (and occasional piano) is Albert Dailey, fresh off Azar Lawrence's "Summer Solstice" and soon to record on Reggie Workman's "Conversation".

Jones confines himself to one percussionist at a time on this album. Angel Allende had built up an impressive track record in the years preceding this album - Mongo Santamaria's "Mongo '70"; Idris Muhammad's "Black Rhythm Revolution" and "Peace & Rhythm"; Lonnie Liston Smith's "Visions of a New World"; and Sonny Fortune's "Awakening"; "Long Before Our Mothers Cried" and "Waves Of Dreams". Allende gets a good workout with Jones on the aforementioned "Song of Rejoicing ... ".

The other percussionist, and the other Dave, is Dave Johnson. Imagine naming your child 'Dave Johnson', destined to be lost amongst forty-eight other 'Dave Johnsons' at the All Music Guide. Child abuse, pure and simple. Sensibly, this particular Dave took on the name Mguanda in the early 1970s, and appeared on both Bayete's classic "Worlds Around the Sun" and Horacee Arnold's "Tales of the Exonerated Flea".

Hope you all enjoy this further slice of Elvin.

TRACKLIST

01. 'Salty Iron' - 5:15 - (Ryo Kawasaki)

02. 'Sweet Mama' - 6:22 - (Gene Perla)

03. 'Mini Modes' - 10:32 - (David Williams)

04. 'Philomene' - 4:38 - (Ed Bland)

05. 'Song Of Rejoicing After Returning From A Hunt' - 15:43
Adapted by Elvin Jones from the Djoboko Rhythm of the Ba-Benzele Pygmies; arranged by Gene Perla.

MUSICIANS

Drums - Elvin Jones
Bass - Dave Williams
Guitar - Ryo Kawasaki
Keyboards - Albert Dailey
Percussion - Angel Allende (3-5), Dave Johnson (1-2)
Reeds - Dave Liebman (1-2) , Frank Foster (3-5) , Pat LaBarbera , Steve Grossman (2-5)

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Vanguard Records
VSD 79272
Producer - Ed Bland
Recording Engineer, editing and mixing - Ben Taylor
Cover photos - Joel Brodsky, Frank Kolleogy
Design - Rafael Rovira

ALSO BY ELVIN JONES at this blog :
"New Agenda" (1975)
"Summit Meeting" (1976)
"Time Capsule" (1977)

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip and scans by Simon666

Other albums linked to in this post are at the blogs Ile Oxumaré, Regaláme Esta Noche, JJ's Jazz and Such, Music You Don't Care About, My Jazz World, Pharoah's Dance, Flabbergasted Vibes, Happy as a rat in a Cheese Factory, Into the Rhythm, and DJ Ulison Professor Groove. Please thank these folks when you visit them - comments keep music blogs alive.

WAV/MP3 downloads in the comments

Elvin Jones - "New Agenda" (1975)

2009-07-25T21:45:00.007+10:00

"Someone's Rocking My Jazzboat" (excerpt)

ELVIN JONES on VANGUARD

Regarded as one of the world's greatest drummers, with his alternately thunderous and light-skipping percussive styles, Elvin Jones will always be remembered as Coltrane's drummer from the 1960-66 period, but also has an interesting output as a leader in his own right.

His Impulse and Blue Note albums straddled both avant-garde and post-bop influences, always allowing plenty of space for his collaborators, and by the 1970s, albums like Merry Go Round were beginning to annoy purists like l'il Scotty Yanow in their eclectic grab-bag that began to explore influences like latin and brazilian styles.

He continued to explore all corners of jazz in when he moved across to Vanguard Records in 1975, in a group of albums that I'm going to present in a series of posts. I didn't have this one, so my friend WK stepped forward with a nice 320 vinyl rip.

"New Agenda" was his first release for the new company in 1975. There's a pretty heavyweight reeds section behind him here - mainstay Steve Grossman with help on different tracks from Azar Lawrence, Joe Farrell and Frank Foster. That's how many winds players you need to compete with Jones' snare drum.

"Agenda" (excerpt)

As if the power of his kit wasn't enough, on this album he brings in three percussionists - Candido, Guillermo Franco and Frank Ippolito, but this doesn't result in the bombastic chaos you might expect - rather, Jones works with them in a cohesive unit, often exploring subtle cymbal work to complete the percussive textures; and really letting them have their heads on the closer "Agenda".

No review for this album on AMG, presumably because it contains the dreaded, jazz-destroying electric piano, adroitly handled here by Kenny Barron on the opening soul-jazzer "Someone's Rocking My Jazzboat" ; and by Gene Perla on the aforementioned "Agenda" and "Stefanie" (penned by producer Ed Bland and later recorded by James Moody, see file within his discography here ). Anyway, Barron's presence gets this added to the Kenny on electric piano discography.

"Haresah" (excerpt)

The pianoless tracks are anchored harmonically by guitarist Roland Prince, a veteran of many fine early 70s albums like Buddy Terry's "Awareness", Larry Willis' "Inner Crisis"; Shirley Scott's "Lean On Me"; Roy Haynes' "Senyah", Pete Yellin's "It's the Right Thing" and Compost's "Life Is Round". Here he's got a restrained style that on tracks like "Haresah" that almost mimics the tonality of Barron's and Perla's rhodes on other tracks.

Hope you enjoy this one!

TRACKLIST

01 'Someone's Rocking My Jazzboat' - 6:49 - (Foster)
02 'Naima' - 6:10 - (Coltrane)
03 'Haresah' - 8:09 - (Grossman)
04 'Anti-Calypso' - 5:18 - (Prince)
05 'Stefanie' - 4:39 - (Bland)
06 'My Lover' - 3:36 - (Hito)
07 'Agenda' - 7:55 - (Jones)

MUSICIANS

Drums - Elvin Jones
Bass - Dave Williams
Guitar - Roland Prince
Percussion - Candido (5,7) , Frank Ippolito (1,2,4,5,7) , Guillermo Franco (3,4)
Piano - Gene Perla (5,7) , Kenny Barron (1)
Reeds - Azar Lawrence (3,4) , Frank Foster (1,2,5) , Steve Grossman
Saxophone - Joe Farrell (5,7)

PRODUCTION

Producer - Ed Bland
Engineer, Mixed By - David Baker
Mixed By - John Kilgore

ALSO BY ELVIN JONES at this blog :
"The Main Force" (1976)
"Summit Meeting" (1976)
"Time Capsule" (1977)

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip @ 320 donated by WK (thanks!)

Other album links in this post go to Orgy In Rhythm, Office Naps, My Jazz World, the Shad Shack, and Oufar Khan.

Please thank these folks if you visit them and download their albums, commenting keeps music blogs alive and well.

LINK IN COMMENT #47 - leave a comment please

John Sangster - "Australia and all that Jazz" Vol 1 (1971)

2009-07-16T14:21:00.011+10:00

"Rain"

"man, the destroyer"

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ - THE LIBRARY CONNECTION #3

Some jazz, some bossa rhythms, and some easy-listening-musique-concrète soundtrack all in the one package. What a bargain!

John Sangster's fascinating soundtrack album for a series of nature documentaries is buried behind one of the one of the worst, most generic titles of all time - not to mention the skanky record cover, which doesn't even have his name on it - but that was the lot of the commissioned library/soundtrack composer in 1970s Australia.

On the upside, that's probably a factor that allowed me to grab it for $3 at a street market a few months back, rather than having to pay the hundreds of dollars that some of his albums go for. Anyway, it's something of a buried treasure that we'll try and dig up today.

John Sangster was a vibraphonist, percussionist and composer who started out in fairly straight-ahead jazz groups as a cornettist, releasing two albums in the late 1940s. During the 1960s he developed an interest in the avant garde and then broadened his listening and composing to latin and other musical forms, releasing three albums that are now quite hard to get hold of - "The Trip" (1967), "The Joker Is Wild" (1968) and "Ahead of Hair" (1969).

The last of these was an idiosyncratic, percussion-laden take on the musical "Hair", recorded while he was working as a drummer in the Sydney stage version alongside prog-rock group Tully. Here's the title track (thanks Reza!) :

"Hair" - John Sangster
DOWNLOAD TRACK - not included in album download

During the mid to late 1960s, Sangster was also a member of the Don Burrows Quartet, and played on the album "The Jazz Sound Of the Don Burrows Quartet", previously featured on this blog.

That group, combined with Sangster's vibes, formed the core sound for a series of soundtracks by renowned soundtrack composer Sven Libaek, including "Inner Space" and "Solar Flares".

"Australia and All That Jazz" was commissioned by the Australian Museum - a museum of natural history - as the soundtrack for a series of 16mm wildlife documentary films by the museum's filmmaker Howard Hughes (no, not that one). Working here with the Burrows group and three additional woodwind players, Sangster himself plays vibraphone, an array of percussion and occasional simple fender rhodes (see the "Rain" preview at the top).

Ironically, the bulk of the funding for the project was provided by mining company BHP, perhaps as a payback for the fact that they were ripping up the Australian landscape at the time and wiping out much of the wildlife being celebrated here.

"First Light"

Sangster had previously worked on Sven Libaek's soundtrack for a series of nature documentaries that ran under the title "Nature Walkabout". Libaek's 1965 soundtrack had followed the standard formula, applying "human" drama to the scenes of animal activities and the power of nature.

from internal booklet, full scans in downloads

"The Birds"

For a nature documentary score, Sangster's approach here is radically different to that of Libaek - he incorporates the sound of nature itself into the soundtrack, via field recording, tape manipulation and melodic scoring for instruments - including Don Burrow's flute utilising echo-delay - that reflects the calls of birds, other animals and the elements.

While these are techniques that were common to the work of classical and experimental composers of the time, it was unusual to hear them both in a jazz context and used in such a lyrical fashion. Later on the the 70s and 80s these sort of techniques were used and abused in a range of appalling "new age" music, but here there's still a freshness.

"The City"

Nature's drama is also reflected in rhythmic sequences that reference occasional latin and afro-style beats, in the time-honoured 70s library tradition of non-european cultures being seen as 'wild', but also stemming from Sangster's genuine love for and engagement with a range of musics.

The first of his albums to cross over with his environmental interests, it's divided into two sides : "Where Water is Plentiful" and "Dry Australia", referring to the titles of two of the films the music was originally scored for. This album took the structures of and ideas behind the original recordings and developed them further in the studio.

"man, the destroyer"

I've got several albums by Sangster and others to follow in a continuing examination of the "library connection", so I hope you enjoy this one. The WAV and MP3 downloads in the comments both include scans of the four page internal booklets from the album.

TRACKLIST

All tracks written by John Sangster except Track 1 by Don Burrows.

SIDE ONE - "WHERE WATER IS PLENTIFUL"

01. 'first light'
The bush comes to life

02. 'sunrise'
The rising sun brings to life the flowers' colours - the Waratah, Gymea Lily and Banksia. This composition features Don Burrows' bass flute.

03. 'the birds'
features Graeme Lyall's tenor saxaphone

04. 'procession of tadpoles & waterstriders'
Don Burrows on alto flute

05. 'possum'
Errol Buddle on bassoon

06. 'forest with birds'
John Sangster on vibraphone and Don Burrows on alto flute

07. 'man, the destroyer'
Tony Buchanan's bass clarinet depicts the destruction of this beautiful environment - but with care, it will survive.

SIDE TWO - "DRY AUSTRALIA"

08. 'the desert'
Don Burrows - bass flute

09. 'skull & bones'
The sun-bleached remains of victims of drought

10. 'the sand swimmer'
Sangster on vibraphone slap-mallets

11. 'rain'
Water brings the desert to life. John Sangster on fender rhodes.

12. 'the knob tailed gecko'
Errol Buddle on tenor saxaphone

13. 'the centre'
Vibraphone improvisation by John Sangster

14. 'the city'
Even the distant city-dweller has his responsibility to preserve this land

MUSICIANS

John Sangster - vibraphone, electric piano, quijada, bells and windchimes, bongos, conga drum.
Erroll Buddle - flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, tenor sax
Don Burrows - Concert, alto and bass flutes; clarinet
Tony Buchanan - Flute, clarinet and bass clarinet
George Golla - classical and electric guitars
Graeme Lyall - Flue, clarinet and tenor sax
Derek Fairbrass - drums
Ed Gaston - bass

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Cherry Pie Records
CPS-1008
Recorded at Cherry Pie Studios, Sydney, 1971
Recording Engineers - Warren Mills, Max Harding
Studio Technician - Godfrey Gamble
Cover Design and Layout - Adrian Baine
Photography - Howard Hughes
Front Cover - Darke's Forest, New South Wales
Back Cover - near Bourke, western New South Wales

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ AND THE LIBRARY CONNECTION

#1 : Don Burrows - "The Jazz Sound of the Don Burrows Quartet" (1966)
#2 : Don Burrows - "The Tasman Connection" (1976)
#3 : John Sangster - "Australia and All That Jazz - Vol. 1" (1971)

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip, scans and text by Simon666

Thanks to Reza for the mp3 of "Hair".

Other blogs referenced here are The Manchester Morgue, Fine Folk and Rafter Lights.
Please thank these folks if you visit them and download their records - comments keep music blogs alive.

WAV/MP3 in comments

D.J.Rogers - "Bail Out" (1973)

2009-07-02T00:11:00.006+10:00

A recommendation. Love this track, keep coming back to this dirty dirty slice of funk ...

ALBUM at Funk My Soul

Just tipped over 300,000 views on this blog today. Thanks for your support guys, even in these times where I'm not posting as much!

Mongo Santamaria - "Drums and Chants" (1978)

2009-06-20T12:05:00.001+10:00

"Margarito" (excerpt)

A new vinyl rip by reader Rowan, donated to the ongoing Mongo Santamaria discography.

This album, containing some of Mongo's earliest recordings a leader/percussionist, was first released as "Changó" in 1955 on Tico Records. Vaya Records re-released the recordings in 1978 as "Drums and Chants", from which this rip comes. Later it was also compiled on an album named "Mongo Santamaria and his Afro-Cuban Beaters".

Here's Thom Jurek from AMG :

"Whatever possessed Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaria to release this recording of traditional chants and drumming modes from the various traditions of the Afro-Cuban experience reinvented him not only for his own people, but for the legions of Americanskis who only knew him as the cat who did the Latinized soul-jazz version of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," which became a pop hit.

Here, Santamaria enlisted the help of Carlos "Potato" Valdes, Antar Daly, Silvestre Mendez, and Julio Collazo in a burning collection of rhythms and call-and-response chants from the various traditions that make up the island's roots music -- Yoruba, Lucumi, Dahomeyanos, Carabalies, and the Congos -- all of whom originated in the river region of Niger before they crossed the Atlantic.

In each case, the listener is treated to a fantastically complex recorded example of rhythms and then chanted information that accompanies them: harvest songs, traveling songs, songs of sorrow, songs of mating, and more. Occasionally, as on "Margarito", a wooden flute accompanies the song, and in the case of "Congo Mania", a trumpet does the same thing. There are numerous drums employed to both solo and "choir" effect like the batas, bembe, congos, quinto, and more.

This is deep Afro-Cuban music from the heart of the Niger region, crossing the ocean with blood, sweat, and tears and finally taking root in the land of sugar cane. There are stories and legends in these tracks -- they are as authentic and raw as it gets."

Link is in the comments, please thank Rowan for ripping this for us.

Various - "Jazzier Rhythms" Vol. 1

2009-06-20T01:57:00.003+10:00

"Samba To Remember You By"

"Space A La Mode"

"Baltimore Oriole"

Great compilation of 70s-80s soul-jazz, jazz-funk and some latin jazz, originally put in 1996 by the now-defunct Hubbub Records.

Compiled by Malachi Trout, these are mostly vocal tracks with a few jazz dancers as well, including the classics "Baltimore Oriole" by Lorez Alexandria and "What's Wrong With Groovin" by Letta Mbulu. Lots of other good stuff here, check it out.

Flageolette recently posted the equally-great Volume 2 of the series. I asked if he had other volumes then remembered that I had Volume 1 myself - pensioner moment, call the doctors ...

You'll find it in the comments here in both WAV and MP3 formats.

TRACKLIST

01 Herb Geller Feat. Mark Murphy - 'Space A La Mode' (8:50)
from "An American In Hamburg" (1975)

02 Sathima Bea Benjamin - 'Africa' (6:15)
from "Dedications" (1982) ft. Buster Williams on bass

03 The Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble - 'Wet Walnuts And Whipped Cream' (8:37)
from "Le Le" (1986)

04 Lorez Alexandria - 'Baltimore Oriole' (3:13)
(1978)

05 Nicos Jaritz Unidad - 'Hasta Siempre Comandante' (7:46)
from "Para Los Companerous" (1985)

06 Sam Most With Joe Farrell - 'Samba To Remember You By' (5:50)
from "Flutes Talk" (1979)

07 Nanette Natal - 'It's Over' (7:02)
from "My Song of Something" (1979)

08 Letta Mbulu - 'What´s Wrong With Groovin' (2:50)

Don Burrows - "The Tasman Connection" (1976)

2009-06-17T17:23:00.008+10:00

"Twilight Zone" excerpt

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ - THE LIBRARY CONNECTION #2

Don Burrows and his partner George Golla get down to business with three New Zealand musicians in Burrow's most "electric" studio album, named for the Tasman Sea which separates Australia and New Zealand. Although his liner notes propose this as a cross-cultural collaboration, it's more of a disparate group of musicians pushing their individual influences through on different tracks. Some nice bits of fusion, some good easy, some bad easy - a mixed bag that's worth a listen, and quite different from "The Jazz Sound of ..." album - as you'd expect ten years on.

Whereas you can retrospectively draw some musical throughlines from New Zealand albums that involve the indigenous Māori people - particularly through funk, reggae, dub, soul and hip-hop (see my Johnny Rocco Band post) - other New Zealand musicians/composers of the time, rather like their Australian counterparts, don't tend to have a common regional sound or set of styles - though there's some good jazz from New Zealand, check this post.

Too much Fosters? : L-R Don Burrows; Frank Gibson Jr.; Julian Lee; Andy Brown, George Golla.

From memory I saw a version of this band live - I was 14 and playing guitar in metal bands, and my mother used to take me to jazz concerts to try and gently enact some sort of conversion. It didn't work at the time - I went funk then punk instead - but here I am posting the album more than thirty years later. Congratulations mom.

Burrows had been experimenting with electronic attachments across a few albums, and here he's often using harmonic-doubling, wah-wah and some distortion on some of his woodwinds, particularly the clarinet that you hear in "Twilight Zone" (preview at top) and at the start of "The Tasman Connection" :

"Tasman Connection" excerpt

Guitarist George Golla seems to have been listening to some CTI-era George Benson, but he's using a seven-string guitar so clearly is one up on George B :) Actually, I should stop being mean to George, he released his solo album "Easy Feelings" in 1976 which contained one decent track called "The Dancers", which was sampled by DJ Shadow at some stage (but wasn't everyone?)

"The Dancers" (excerpt) - George Golla
DOWNLOAD TRACK (not in album download)

Back to the album ... On keyboards and horns we have Julian Lee, a blind man who had a substantial career as an arranger and musician. He was George Shearing's primary arranger for much of the 1960s on albums like "New Look!" and "Deep Velvet". He did string arrangements on a few albums by Gene Harris and the Three Sounds, including "Beautiful Friendship" from 1965, as well as a few albums by Gerry Mulligan.

"Judo" excerpt

With that background, Lee is something of an easy listening force here melodically, and contributes three compositions which range from pleasant soul-jazz ("Judo") to übercheese ("Get Into it" and "Long White Cloud") The Māori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, most commonly translated as "land of the long white cloud". In recent years Lee has moved to Australia, and has won several awards for his music education programs for blind children.

In contrast, drummer Frank Gibson Jr is more of a fusion figure - the year before this, he led a group called Dr Tree on a self-titled album that Reza pointed us to in one of the recent recommendation posts here (someone's subsequently posted a better version at the Prog Not Frog forum). That album began with a short track called "The Twilight Zone" which is here expanded in a six minute version built around Gibson's rolling Elvin Jones-ish scatter drums, and is the best thing going here.

"Twilight Zone" - 2nd excerpt

Frank Gibson moved to the UK soon after this recording, initially working with some jazz and fusion groups like Paz and Morrissey-Mullen, then moving into pop and art-rock circles with Rick Wakeman, Leo Sayer and others. Back in New Zealand he frequently collaborated with Andy Brown, the bass player from here, on projects like their Space Case band.

Anyway hope you enjoy this one, vinyl rips/posts take a while to do so keep the comments a comin' thanks ...

MUSICIANS

Don Burrows - clarinet, electric clarinet, flute, alto flute, B-flat school flute, percussion
George Golla - seven string electric guitar
Julian Lee - electric piano, electric organ, flugel horn, trumpet
Andy Brown - bass, electric bass
Frank Gibson Jr. - drums, percussion

TRACKLIST

01. The Tasman Connection (4:52) - Don Burrows
02. Blues Crossover (5:06) - George Golla
03. Don't Contact Us (5:41) - Don Burrows
04. Remember When (4:50) - George Golla
05. Judo (5:36) - Julian Lee
06. Get Into It (2:30) - Julian Lee
07. Long White Cloud (6:11) - Julian Lee
08. In A Mellow Tone (8:34) - Duke Ellington
09. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (2:58) - Billy Taylor
10. Twilight Zone (5:58) - Frank Gibson Jr.

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Cherry Pie CPF 1026
Album concept and direction - Don Burrows
Recorded at Stebbing Studios, New Zealand
Additional recording, mixing and post-production at EMI Studio, Sydney Australia.
Engineer - Martin Benge
Production - Graeme Rule
Design concept and graphics - Brian Crowther
Cover notes - Don Burrows
Cover photo by Stephen Cooney
Many thanks to Julian Lee for his inspiration, interest and support.

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ AND THE LIBRARY CONNECTION

#1 : Don Burrows - "The Jazz Sound of the Don Burrows Quartet" (1966)
#2 : Don Burrows - "The Tasman Connection" (1976)
#3 : John Sangster - "Australia and All That Jazz - Vol. 1" (1971)

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip by Simon666
Other blogs linked to in this post are : Prog Not Frog, Music Peace & Love to the World, My Jazz World and Aussie Funk.
Please thank these other folks if you visit and download from their blogs

WAV / MP3 in COMMENTS

"The Jazz Sound of The Don Burrows Quartet" (1966)

2009-06-13T19:48:00.009+10:00

"Kaffir Song" excerpt

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ - THE LIBRARY CONNECTION #1

I want to write about some ideas here, so click the preview above for a soundtrack while you read. While I've been following a couple of strands in 70s Australian jazz, I've also been listening to a lot of 'library' music, and have been led to wonder why I hear so many similar stylistic threads across these two genres.

Library music, for those unaware, is music composed under contract to companies who subsequently sell it off to film makers, TV programs and commercials, usually by genre - action, romance and so on. Strangely, this older production process is most closely paralled in the production and marketing of contemporary pop music, as the large companies battle to get singles from their latest flash-in-the-pan starlets over the credits of the latest teen slasher film ...

A lot of library music records from the 1970s (and more recently, the 1980s) have retrospectively been hailed as great music, although they were not taken seriously back in the day. In the same way that we recycle fashions and cultures from decades past - by reducing them to signifiers, dressing with an 80s "look" taken from a video clip rather than dressing like people actually dressed in the 1980s - over time we appreciate the reductionist vision of something like "soundalike" blaxploitation library music; whereas back-in-the-day we may have seen it as a gauche simulacrum of what we considered to be "real".

In some ways the Australia of my childhood in the 1960s and 1970s was a "library culture", a distant vision of an idea of England transplanted into a hostile climate. As a then-anglo culture, we would sweat it out over a hot oven roast for Christmas lunch (these days it's cold seafood) in a mid-summer temperature of 40 degrees, the sun nearly melting the fake Christmas snow that shopkeepers would spray onto their windows from a can. Heavily winter-robed Santas would faint in shopping centres from heat exhaustion. As late as the early 80s I remember marvelling at the 60s 'mod' revivalists sweating it out in their thick parkas in the hot summer sun, as they rode their scooters in formation to Bondi Beach. A copy of a copy of a copy.

It was a million miles away from the diverse Sydney that I live in now, with its essentially eurasian population - we all eat with chopsticks as much as with knives and forks - with architecture that begins to emerge from the urban environment rather than pining for an imagined homeland, and social mores that reflect a mix of cultures, sexualities and peoples.

Musically - particularly in genres with an african or afro-american heritage, such as jazz - in these earlier times we were a step further removed from the European distillation of jazz that occured from interaction with American players - on the other side of the planet, we'd copy the distillation, which is perhaps why some of the Australian jazz of the period - Crossfire, Galapagos Duck and others- reminds me of some of the MPS catalogue.

With a small population, jazz players and composers were also forced to find employment wherever they could, often composing for nature documentaries, TV shows, commercials, corporate videos - whatever they could get. This would often make up the majority of their recorded output, and thus it was natural for some of the made-to-style aesthetics to carry across to their "own" records - music that refers to jazz, or as in the title of this record, a "Jazz sound".

I'm starting this strand of exploration with this particular record because it features two of the people I'm going to track across a few albums each, woodwind player Don Burrows and percussionist/vibraphonist John Sangster. You might know their sound from a series of better-known soundtrack albums by film composer Sven Libaek, such as the underground "Inner Space" soundtrack for a television ocean documentary, and "Solar Flares". Burrows' tenor and breathy flute, together with Sangster's vibes, are pretty much the hallmark of the Libaek sound.

Most of the other players here would also appear on Libaek's soundtracks, as well as Burrows' earlier, great soundtrack for the 1968 film "2000 Weeks". Interestingly, that film itself engaged with the same concerns of "faux-English" culture that I was talking about above. Now, I'm with Bacoso in his summation of Burrows' 70s albums there - they're uneven, always include some stinkers, and his constant guitarist George Golla was always a somewhat-constrained, workhorse jazz musician. Neverthless, there are some good moments on several of these albums that I'm going to try and extract.

In retrospect, I think Burrows' importance in Australian jazz was more that he attempted to explore beyond his own capabilities and experience, delving into many musical cultures, and opening the eyes of people who were attracted to his own easy style, but subsequently led to other places. John Sangster, however, went on to achieve more in his own explorations.

This album was originally released in 1966 on EMI/Columbia, then re-released in 1977.

The '77 version has a cover (above) that could have resulted from a psychedelic battle between the various 1970s wallpapers that inhabited my childhood home, with everything eventually merging to a sullen, browny pink. I've put both covers in the downloads so that you can choose your favourite.

"Kaffir Song" excerpt

Although this is neither a library nor a soundtrack album, the good tracks here are the ones that reference other musical cultures in what I'd call a "library style". I can imagine some sections of Sangster's "Kaffir Song" played over flickering black-and-white 50s footage of African natives on a hunting expedition, with a jokey faux-British voiceover contextualising their exploits for Harry and Mabel back home. But I like it for Sangster's vibes workout and Burrows' fife sound.

"Esa Cara" excerpt

Burrow's "Esa Cara" shows his burgeoning interest in the rhythms and melodies of Brazil, a fascination that would later result in a number of interesting collaborations. I like the sweetness of his tenor here, even if it does dive for the easy harmonic resolve a little more often than the relative boldness of 'actual' Brazilian harmonic progression.

"Rain On Water" excerpt

Starting with a cymbal crash, Sangster's "Rain On Water" would go well with faded colour 16mm footage of Japanese people undertaking some sort of religious ceremony (El Goog reaching adulthood? Wara Katsu attaining ninja status?) - perhaps with a dissolved overlay of falling cherry blossoms. It's a distant Antipodean idea of "Japanese-ness" that I somehow like on its own referential terms.

"De Veras?" has some good melodies, but after that we descend into the elevator filler. Generally we've got sparse textures here - there's no drum kit apart from on the closer "Pink Gin". Sangster later developed his skills as a drummer on the local stage version of 'Jesus Christ Superstar', but after this album the quartet took on Alan Turnbull as a drummer while Sangster went off to develop his own work.

Anyway, I'm clearly back to my long rants, so I'll leave you to check this one out. Let me know what you think of it.

TRACKLIST

1. "Kaffir Song" - 4:27 - (John Sangster)
2. "Love Is For the Very Young" - 2:25 - (David Raksin, arr. Golla)
3. "Esa Cara" - 3:18 - (Don Burrows)
4. "Slightly Blue" - 5:50 - (Don Burrows)
5. "Hard Sock" - 4:06 - (Don Burrows)
6. "Rain On Water" - 3:25 - (John Sangster)
7. "Algeciras" - 3:13 - (John Sangster)
8. "De Veras?" - 3:29 - (George Golla)
9. "Pink Gin" - 3:50 - (George Golla)

MUSICIANS

Don Burrows - fife, flute, alto flute, clarinet, alto saxaphone
John Sangster - vibes, percussion
Ed Gaston - bass
George Golla - guitar

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Produced by Eric Dunn
Columbia-EMI SCXO 7781
Recorded on 8 June & 5 October 1966
re-release 1977 : World Record Club R 05193
Liner notes by John Rippin

AUSTRALIAN JAZZ AND THE LIBRARY CONNECTION

#1 : Don Burrows - "The Jazz Sound of the Don Burrows Quartet" (1966)
#2 : Don Burrows - "The Tasman Connection" (1976)
#3 : John Sangster - "Australia and All That Jazz - Vol. 1" (1971)

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip by Simon666 (WAV/MP3)
Album links in this post go to Orgy In Rhythm, The Manchester Morgue and Holy Warbles.
Please thank these folks if you visit them and snatch their records.

WAV / MP3 in comments

Gil Scott-Heron "Live at the Village Gate" (1976)

2009-06-11T16:44:00.005+10:00

"17th Street" excerpt

"Must be something we can do" excerpt

Well, why not two Gil Scott-Heron posts in a row?

Following the 1977 Bottom Line show and the 1978 Berkeley show, here are Gil and the Midnight Band at the Village Gate in NYC, 1976.

Tracks not appearing on the others are the latin-funk banger "17th Street" and "Must be Something We Can Do" but it's all good, starting off with the usual kickass latin percussion jam.

This is a soundboard rip that has then been broadcast on WRVR-FM, and finally recorded on reel-to-reel quarter-inch tape. Hope you enjoy it!

TRACKLIST

01. Intro Jam (3:16)
02. 17th Street (6:12)
03. Must Be Something We Can Do (5:24)
04. It's Your World (4:45)
05. Home Is Where The Hatred Is (12:40)
06. Johannesburg (6:36)

Also at 'Never Enough Rhodes'

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at the Bottom Line" (1977)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at Berkeley" (1978)

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live In Bremen (1983)

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live At Glastonbury" (1986)

SOURCE

A DoinkerTape
SBD - FM - 1/4 inch tape
Upped at Dime by tgb25nld

FLAC / MP3 in comment #25

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at Berkeley" (1978)

2009-06-11T00:05:00.009+10:00

"The Bottle" excerpt

I joined the DIME network to see what I could bring across to the blogosphere, and the first score is this wonderful show (in FLAC and MP3) from Mr Gil Scott-Heron in Berkeley, California in 1978. Thanks to Scott for pointing me at it.

This comes from an FM broadcast. An MP3 recording of it was posted at Sounds From the Edge of the Universe earlier this year by Miles from Birds With Broken Wings.

Essentially we've got the same band - minus one percussionist - that I wrote about in the 1977 Bottom Line show post. Six months after that, it's a pretty similar tracklist, but they're playing with formats and structures a little more. Allan Barnes' synthesiser lines are coming more to the fore, but without sacrificing Brian Jackson's jazzy rhodes tones.

"Home is Where The Hatred Is" excerpt

Gil characteristically opens with local issues, attacking recent cuts to the Afro-American Studies program at Berkeley, seamlessly swinging between polemic and poetry in a spoken piece called "Them Other Niggers". This leads straight into "The Spirit of the Drum", with Gil leading call-and-response vocals with the band, most of whom are on percussion.

From there on it's all-out latin, funk and jazz with not a moment of filler. 73 minutes of joy, hope you like this one!

Tracklist

01. Intro
02. Gil's Opening Speech
03. The Spirit of the Drum
04. Hello Sunday, Hello Road
05. 95-South (All of the Places We've Been)
06. Racetrack in France
07. We Almost Lost Detroit
08. Home is Where the Hatred Is
09. Band Introductions
10. Song of the Wind (aka Blow Wind Blow)
11. Band Introductions / The Bottle
12. Johannesburg

The Midnight Band

Gil Scott-Heron (Vocals, Guitar, and possibly Piano)
Brian Jackson (Keyboards, Flute)
Allan Barnes (Saxophone, Synthesizer)
Delbert Taylor (Piano, Trumpet, Congas, Flugelhorn, Vocals)
Barnett Williams (Congas, Percussion)
Siggie Dillard (Bass)
Reggie Brisbane (Drums)

Also at 'Never Enough Rhodes'

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at the Bottom Line" (1977)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live at the Village Gate" (1976)

Gil Scott-Heron - "Live In Bremen (1983)
Gil Scott-Heron - "Live At Glastonbury" (1986)

Source

SBD or FM Broadcast (my guess is SBD to FM)
CD-R > EAC > WAV > foobar2000 > FLAC(level 5)
Upped at DIME by bootfreak82

FLAC / MP3 versions in comments

Marvin Gaye & the Mizell Brothers - "Where are we going?" (1972)

2009-06-05T23:46:00.006+10:00

"Where Are We Going?"

DOWNLOAD MP3 @ 320kbps

TRACK OF THE DAY

Forgive me again if I'm the last to know, but this is a little like the WTF moment I had with Donny Hathaway - suddenly discovering a 70s song of his that I'd never heard before. Honestly, I was quite sure I had everything that Marvin Gaye had touched in the 1970s ...

I was just listening to an old Gilles Peterson interview with Larry Mizell, who was talking about three tracks that he and his partners recorded with Marvin Gaye in 1972 for an album which was shelved after some 'political trouble' at Motown, after which Gaye went off to record "Trouble Man".

Marvin Gaye and the Mizell Brothers, shelved??
Apparently so ....

Anyway, a track called "Where Are We Going?" surfaced 30 years later on one of the Gaye compilations, and you can grab it here.

1972 is the same year that the Mizell sound broke through with Donald Byrd's jazz-funk album "Black Byrd", and you can hear a pop-soul version of that sound here, from the backing vocals by Freddie Perren, Fonce Mizell and Larry; through the classic Mizell middle-eight at 1:35; then onto the brief trumpet solo. Would love to hear the other two tracks ...

Album links in this post to 'Into the Rhythm' and 'Un Mondo in Mi Settima'

Marvin Gaye discography @ Blaxploitation Jive
More Tracks Of The Day
More funk n' soul

Two killer compilations!

2009-06-05T19:38:00.004+10:00

After four hours last night listening to bad student electro, ill-conceived soundtrack work and messy hiphop beats looped at just at the wrong place, I am now free from lecturing for another six weeks and can start to write posts for growing piles of vinyl that I've spent too much money on ...

But in the meantime I have two killer comps to recommend to you ...

Blackclassical and Monohub's Blue Note @ 70 mix celebrates 70 years of the label by jamming 42 classic tracks into 80 minutes. This is no simple comp, but rather the usual artfully composed mix that is recommended no matter how many of the tracks you might have! Blue Note themselves have OK'd it and think it's cool, so you should get over to Blackclassical and grab it. Don't be a blogkiller, remember to leave a comment ...

Exhibit #2 is E-Mile's "Summertime 2009", his ultimate tribute to the song "Summertime", especially for you a-holes in the northern hemisphere enjoying the warm days, damn you! There are no less than 72 different versions included which should carry you through to the winter, so get your summertime goods here and don't forget the 28 bonus versions to round out the century. And while you're there, wish E-Mile well as he recovers from his burns injuries!

Sunday ... and more

2009-05-29T12:34:00.025+10:00

One crazy week of semester to go, then blogging can start to dominate again .... anyone in Sydney on Sunday drop by, we're at Cafe Lounge, 277 Goulburn St Surry Hills from 4-9pm, good food! pizza! beer! dodgy live keyboards! This week is kinda jazzy hiphop, afrobeat, some jazz and some late 70s snappy soul with synth bass ...

Some recent fave downloads :

Herbie Hancock / Mwandishi FLAC version @ Kinebees Sounds

Soul @ Oufar Khan

Jazz @ CIA

Bigband @ Arkadin's Ark

Jazz @ El Goog

"Like a spiritual Gato Barbieri" (Reza) @ Los Que No Se Consiguen

Afro/soul @ My Favourite Sound

Jazz @ Private Press

Latin @ Oufar Khan

Brazil @ Musica

Seven more recommendations

2009-05-20T13:11:00.020+10:00

DJ Mitsu - "Library Mix"
@ Beatbox Radio Show

Typically great library music mix from DJ Mitsu, one of the best compilers in the business. He's also one of my favourite hiphop DJs; having spun a wide variety of jazz, hiphop and jazzy hiphop releases and radio mixes; and a great artist on his own.

I love this new library mix, but if you don't know him, you also need his three rhodes compilations, his classic "New Awakening" album; his remixes and his official Blue Note mix, best 70s Blue Note mix evahh. I'm a bit obsessive with his stuff and tend to grab anything he touches because it's all very, very good. Going further, there's lots of other great stuff on the Tokyo-based Jazzy Sport label in general - Grooveman Spot is another big favourite.

José Mangual - "Buyú" (1977)
@ Lakasafunk

Good varied latin percussion album from former Machito and Herbie Mann percussionist José Mangual, includes a great cover of Tito Puente's "Chinatown", some funky moments like "Black and Brown Boogie", and other styles.

Starcrost - Starcrost (1976)
@ Blog-o -Blog

Looks like any old mid-70s overproduced funk album, but sounds like some nice jazz rhodes and vocal stylings mixed in with the funk, apparently featuring many of the same people as this album. Incidentally, the cover artist was apparently killed by a stray gun shot in Texas soon after this, was it you guys ?

Various Artists - "Galaxy Around Olodumare"
@ Ile Oxumare

Ish does nothing less than re-contextualise our understanding of the roots of what we casually call "spiritual jazz", by exploring its historical and contemporary incarnations through latin music and latin jazz. Great post, great writing and great music !

Donald Byrd - Jazz Workshop, Boston (bootleg, 1973)
@ Kinebees Sounds

Recorded September 4th 1973 : post-Miles / pre-Mizells funky, loose, electric Donald Byrd. Think "Electric Byrd", think "Ethiopian Nights", rhodes, synth ... good recording too.

Stanley Cowell & others: “Spirituals and Dedications” (2001)

@ Where Did All This Steam Come From?

Renditions of Stanley Cowell tracks like "Illusion Suite" with vocals, Jane Burnett's flute, and Cowell at his best on piano? Yes please.

Wilson Simonal - "Ninguem Proibe o Amor" (1975)
@ Loronix

1975 : Brazilian singer Simonal with wah-wah guitar, rhodes n' brass in FLAC. Yes please again!

Hi folks, got lots of new vinyl ripped that will be up soon, but work is crazzzzzy this week, so hope you get something from these recommendations. See you soon.

Six (+6) of the best!

2009-05-16T19:56:00.017+10:00

In case you missed any of these, get them all this weekend.

Theses are six albums I've particularly loved recently, some new to me and some upgrades of favourite albums ... also Reza added his own six recent favourites in the comments , so I've added them at the base. Hope you enjoy these!

"Schoolhouse Bigband Funk Vol 1". One of the best funky bigband comps ever. Seriously. Really. I don't care if you don't like "bigband", just get it at Fraykerbreaks.

Minority Band - "Journey to the Shore" (1980). Great private press jazz/funk at A Pyrex Scholar

The Lightmen Plus One - "Energy Control Centre" (1972) Pure wonderfulness at Private Press

A new FLAC rip of one of my very favourite library records, "The Brazilian Suite" (1970) by composer/arranger Rogerio Duprat at Loronix.

FLAC rip of the Brazil classic "Tropical" by Meireles & Copa 7 at new blog Guitar and the Wind. You need this.

Cuban jazz banger "2" from Emiliano Salvador at Orgy In Rhythm.

PLUS : SIX FROM REZA

Reza dropped six of his recent recommendations in the comments here, click the album covers to go to these albums :

Give all of these bloggers some thanks when you go visit, hope you enjoy this stuff ..

Herbie Hancock - Live at NDR Studios (1971)

2009-05-09T18:57:00.012+10:00

(excerpt : first two minutes)

Herbie Hancock Bootleg #45 for the collection :

Well why not a 2nd post in a day for this blog's anniversary ?
Two hours and four minutes of Herbie Hancock and his Mwandishi band, recorded live on August 4th, 1971 at NDR Studios in Hamburg, Germany as a continuous take.

1970-71 saw a seismic change in Hancock's music - after finishing the "Fat Albert Rotunda" album at the end of 1969; his major recordings during 1970 were the Miles Davis albums "A Tribute to Jack Johnson" and "Live Evil", then his studio album "Mwandishi" was recorded on December 31st, 1970. Quite a way to spend New Year's Eve! This session comes eight months later.

In searching for information about this session, I can only see that it's changed hands between traders as a tape and then a 2 CD set for many years; and that the 50 min section of "Ostinato" has sometimes been sold in some places. My version is a Soulseek find @ 192kbps; and I thought it would be good to release this into the blogosphere.

Hope you enjoy it!
... and more Hancock bootlegs here.

TRACKLIST

1. Toys (46:44)
2. Speak like a child (27:13)
3. Ostinato (50:36)

MUSICIANS

Herbie Hancock - fender rhodes, acoustic piano
Bennie Maupin - tenor sax, flute, bass clarinet
Billy Hart - drums
Buster Williams - bass
Julian Priester - trombone
Eddie Henderson - trumpet, flugelhorn

DETAILS

NDR Studios, Hamburg, Germany, August 4th 1971
Thanks Max for the details.

POST CREDITS

Other albums linked to here are at San Pasquale Ent., Call It Anything, Oufar Khan, Into the Rhythm.
Please thank them if you click through and download.

LINK IN COMMENTS

Please leave a comment

Mongo Santamaria - "A La Carte" (1978)

2009-05-09T01:23:00.006+10:00

'Asika' excerpt
more previews below

ANNIVERSARY
A year ago today I started this blog with a rhodes compilation, and it's been a satisfying journey communicating with all of you folks ever since then. I want to thank all of my buddies - you know who you are - for the contributions, support, help and frequent comments that make it all worthwhile; as well as your own fantastic blogs that have allowed me to hear so much great music.

MORE MONGO
Still catching up to the some of the contributions down in the archives here, many of which don't appear elsewhere in blogland. Xerxes donated this great Mongo Santamaria album to the Mongo discography a while back, and I thought I'd bring it up to the top for your weekend dancing pleasure!

Sometimes thought of as a disco album more in the vein of albums like "Sofrito" and "Red Hot", this one's actually quite a smorgasboard of styles and is thus receiving labels here for latin, african, funk-soul, and disco - just check the range in the three previews here. After the funk efforts of "Afro-Indio" pushed him into some musical fusions, Santamaria was clearly in a period of broadening each of his bases here - in fact, a close look at his 70s work shows an almost constant vacillation between commercial latin-fusion and roots styles.

'Hey, You Sexy Thing' excerpt

"A La Carte" is produced by Marty Sheller and William Allen, who are mostly responsible for the funk-latin fusions of his albums in this Vaya Records period. The adaptable Sheller started out as Santamaria's trumpet player, but after 1968 switched to arrangements, going on later to work with many other latin greats. Allen joined Mongo as bass player at the end of the 60s, taking on co-arrangement duties a few years before this album. He was also working a lot with Roy Ayers around this time on albums like "A Tear To A Smile" and "Vibrations", often contributing bass and arrangments, and did some great string arrangements on Sylvia Striplin's "Give Me Your Love" a few years after this.

Allen's compositions and arrangements of "Smiling Brown Eyes" and "Hey You Sexy Thing" fit the disco slots here, the latter being the best, replete with some unison vocals from Peggy Harris and Carol Woods and slap bass from Allen himself.

Flautist/arranger/composer Doug Harris contributes three numbers : "It Feels So Good" has a Mizells-meet-Bobbi-Humphrey feel; "Nada Mas" starts out as latin-jazz before the piano leads it back to latin, with Mongo letting loose on the congas; and the closer "Umbayalo" dives back to acoustic Afro-Cuban roots with an added vocal chorus.

'Umbalayeo' excerpt

William Allen's "Asika" (see preview at the top of the post) is a latin-jazz stormer that feels like some of the 70s New York-based funk-jazz-latin fusions that I particularly like. Arranger Marty Sheller puts together a great vocal version of Marcelino Guerra's Cuban number "Guajiro"; and finally "Bombora" is a cover of a 1970 Celia Cruz song.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this one. Give thanks to Xerxes and don't forget to check out the other Mongo albums.

TRACKLIST

1. 'Smiling Brown Eyes' - 5:08 - (William Allen)
2. 'Asika' - 3:20 - (William Allen)
3. 'Guajiro' - 5:09 - (Marcelino Guerra)
4. 'Hey, You Sexy Thing' - 4:15 - (William Alllen)
5. 'Bomboro' - 3:22 - (Zamora)
6. 'It Feels So Good' - 4:23 - (Doug Harris)
7. 'Nada Masa' - 4:11 - (Doug Harris)
8. 'Umbalayeo' - 2:34 - (Doug Harris)

MUSICIANS (known)

Percussion - Mongo Santamaria

Smiling Brown Eyes
Vocals - Carol Woods, Peggy Harris
Asika
Keyboards - Bill O'Connell
Guajiro
Trumpet - Mike DiMartino
Piano - Eddie Martinez
Lead Vocals - Héctor Aponte
Chorus Vocals - Papaito (Mario Muñoz Salazar)
Hey, You Sexy Thing
Vocals - Peggy Harris
Bass - William Allen
Bomboro
Lead and chorus Vocals - Héctor Aponte
Chorus Vocals - Papaito
Piano - Eddie Martinez
It Feels So Good
Flute - Doug Harris
Nada Masa
Flute - Doug Harris
Umbalayeo
Vocals - Héctor Aponte, Papaito, Olimpia Alfaro, Wilfredo "Moreno" Tejeda

CREDITS

Vaya Records JMVS-74
Released in 1978

POST CREDITS

Album donated by Xerxes.
Other albums linked in this blog are at I Think I See the Mothership Coming, Hasta Luego Baby!, Blak's Lair, Blaxploitation Jive and Funk My Soul. Please thank them if you click through and download.

LINK IN COMMENT #17

Bennie Maupin - Live In Berlin (2008)

2009-05-06T09:42:00.018+10:00

'Prophet's Motif' excerpt

'Atma' excerpt

MP2 conversion to MP3 not working well in the previews, but recording sounds great ...

A great live date by ex-Headhunter Bennie Maupin recorded last November at the Berlin JazzFest, donated by Upkerry14.

A very different, extended version of the "Walter Bishop Jr." track I posted a while back; some guest vocals from Hanka Chowaniec-Rybka (check the "Atma" preview above) and a good recording.

Download link below, more Bennie Maupin at this blog here.

Please thank Upkerry14 in the comments.

Bennie Maupin Quartet
Quasimodo, JazzFest Berlin, 7th November 2008

MUSICIANS

Bennie Maupin - reeds
Michal Tokaj - piano
Michal Baranski - bass
Lukasz Zyta- drums, percussion
guest: Hanka Chowaniec-Rybka, vocals (8, 9)

TRACKLIST

01. 'Walter Bishop jr.' 23:34
02. band intros 02:25
03. 'Message To Prez' 10:55
04. 'Tears' 08:00
05. 'Prophet's Motif' 05:42 (end missing)
06. 'Jewels In The Lotus' 16:59
07. 'Escondido' 14:06
08. 'Spirits Of The Tadras' 07:41
09. 'Atma' 07:18

DETAILS

Total Time : 1:36:07

source: DVB-S@256, 48kHz > raw data > ProjextX > mp3DirectCut > mp2
(lossy recording seeded in its original broadcast codec)

DOWNLOAD
Please thank Upkerry14 in the comments, don't lurk!
Cover only in post, grab from here.

To join his blog "Live Jazz Allowed", see comments ...

Peter Herbolzheimer - "Live Im Onkel Pö" (1975)

2009-05-03T22:36:00.003+10:00

'Corean Chick' excerpt

'Catfish' excerpt

'Peyotl' excerpt

This one's for Orgy In Rhythm's Bacoso, the first chimp in space, and generous donor of many a fresh musical banana. In order to extend the viral blog spread of his ubiquitous catch-cry : I declare this irresistably funky, jazzy big band album to be all-killer-no-filler !

When he closed down OIR for a few months last year, Bacoso allowed Ish and myself to feature some of his extraordinary catalogue online, and one of my first "OIR Classic" posts was a summary of his seven Peter Herbolzheimer albums, to which he added an eighth for the occasion, "Touchdown".

More recently, Arkadin tracked down some MP3s of this album for Ish's goldmine requests thread, and I liked it so much that I tracked down the vinyl, freshly ripped here in WAV and MP3. So thanks to Arkadin and Ish as well for leading me here ...

As the title suggests, the opener "Corean Chick" references Chick Corea's early 70s Spanish chord structures, but way beyond that it's driven by a killer bassline and has this kicking, building brass arrangement by composer/arranger Peter Herbolzheimer.

Dieter Reith's bell-like rhodes anchors "P.M", which features trumpter Palle Mikkelborg on an extended solo that takes the Miles Davis - Eddie Henderson wah-wah trip before being faced by a wall of brass madness.

"That's Live" is a souljazz stormer that has an interesting chord-cluster sequence in the middle.

Side 2 opens with "The Catfish" - a later re-release of the album also used that title. It's the album's funk bomb, with an irresistable dual flute line over Dieter Reith's ARP bass, which turns into a nicely-tweaked funky synth solo over slap bass.

Reith's "Head-Egg" has the feel of one of those post-Headhunters albums by Bennie Maupin, Eddie Henderson or Hancock himself.

Horst Mühlbradt's "Peyotl" closes the album. The opening few minutes are built around rolling chord structures that recall some of those 70s New York jazz-latin fusions by people like Bobby Vince Paunetto, mixed with a dash of cop show mystery. After that it turns into an all-out latin banger, with a great trumpet solo by Benny Bailey leading the full pack over percussive pounding by Sabu Martinez, drummer Todd Canedy and Mühlbradt himself.
So yep, not a bad track in sight, hope you enjoy this one guys.

TRACKLIST

01. 'Corean Chick' (4:40)
Composed and arranged by Peter Herbolzheimer
Solo : Ferdinand Povel (tenor saxaphone)

02. 'P.M.' (6:16)
Composed and arranged by Peter Herbolzheimer
Solo : Palle Mikkelborg (trumpet)

03. 'That's Live' (5:47)
Composed and arranged by Jerry van Rooyen
Solo : Dieter Reith (rhodes); Jiggs Whigham (trombone)

04. 'The Catfish' (6:35)
Composed and arranged by Peter Herbolzheimer
Solo : Dieter Reith (synthesiser)

05. 'Head-Egg' (5:40)
Composed and arranged by Dieter Reith
Solo : Ferdinand Povel (sax)

06. 'Peyotl' (4:45)
Composed and arranged by Horst Mühlbradt
Solo : Benny Bailey (trumpet)

MUSICIANS

alto, soprano and tenor saxaphones, flute - Ferdinand Povel
baritone, soprano and tenor saxaphones, flute - James Towsey
bass - Bo Stief
congas, percussion - Sabu Martinez
drums - Todd Canedy
electric piano, clavinet, percussion - Horst Mühlbradt
fender rhodes, ARP synthesizer, string organ - Dieter Reith
trombone - Jiggs Whigham , Otto Bredl , Peter Herbolzheimer , Rudi Fuesers , Vincent Nilsson
trumpet - Ack Van Rooyen , Benny Bailey , Palle Mikkelborg , Ron Simmonds, Heinz Hobermann (tr 3 only).

DETAILS

Polydor Records, 1975
Catalogue # 2371 564
Producer - Peter Herbolzheimer
Recording and remix engineer - "Justus" Liebich
Assistants - Jürgen Arnold, Uwe Peters, Wolfgang Prey

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip by Simon666
Other blogs linked in this post are : Orgy In Rhythm, Ile Oxumaré, Arkadin's Ark

LINKS IN COMMENTS