everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Hardly as angst-ridden as Chet Baker’s legend would suggest, 1958′s It Could Happen to You is Baker still riding high, a star winsomely crooning some favorite standards over subtle accompaniment by small groups whose members include pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Sam Jones, and the unstoppable Philly Joe Jones on drums. Baker’s boyish moods are perfect for the likes of “How Long Has This Been Going On?,” “You’re Driving Me Crazy,” and (believe it) “Everything Happens to Me.” –Rickey Wright
Personnel: Chet Baker (trumpet, vocals); Kenny Drew (piano); George morrow, Sam Jones (bass); Philly Joe Jones, Danny Richmond (drums).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Originally released in May 1958, Black Pearls was a major step forward in the career of tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. Though Coltrane was already known as a fine soloist, mainly due to his association with Thelonious Monk’s quartet, Black Pearls proved that the saxophonist could also be a creative innovator. This dense, harmonically complex trio of compositions begins with the title track, a minor-mode but sprightly affair from the team of Romberg-Hammerstein. “Black Pearls” benefits from “the Coltrane changes”, chords that modulate every two beats instead of every one or two bars. His flurry of 16th notes is complemented by his use of substitutions, the practice of replacing common chords with complex chords consisting of higher intervals. In taking this practice to the extreme, the soloist fashioned a playing style referred to as “sheets of sound”. The same songwriting team returns in “Lover Come Back to Me”, which features an especially prescient Donald Byrd, who wields his trumpet with both fury and discipline. The final track is Robert Weinstock’s “Sweet Sapphire Blues”, a themeless, A-major excursion dominated by pianist Red Garland. Using the full range of the piano, Garland demonstrates his grasp of a number of performance styles within the 18-minute opus. Coltrane joins in with solo runs containing a multitude of melodies and rhythms, while drummer Art Taylor does more than simply keep time. The casual poise of Black Pearls is one of the album’s many pleasures, as is Coltrane’s democracy in allowing each member of his quintet to shine. An underrated, solid studio gem.
Personnel: John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Donald Byrd (trumpet); Red Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Art Taylor (drums).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Organist Don Patterson went through a richly productive period in the ’60s, fashioning a fortress of funky organ jazz hi-fi on the Prestige label. Various brave knights marched forth through the massive gates which can be imagined as fronting this real estate, their identity at times key to decisions made by fussy collectors regarding which Don Patterson album to own, which to stroll on by. Hip Cake Walk can also get the nod based on album title coolness, a set of standards promoted by individuals who absorb this kind of information as if blotting up anesthetic. Meanwhile the aforementioned scouts have identified brave knight Booker Ervin, a favorite of tenor saxophone fans one and all, the man who plays a beat as if winning the penalty kick, whose horn was once used to cook fish soup for Pancho Villa. The presence of one solid Patterson original after the other, from the title tune through the holistic introduction of “Sister Ruth” and the webbed-foot swing of “Donald Duck”, trumps any previously stated reason for this album’s special status. “Hip Cake Walk” is sliced and strolled with for more than a quarter-of-an-hour, alto saxophonist Leonard Houston jousting, knocking burning candles off drummer Billy James’ head which he then replaces with icing dripped off his sticks. Cover material is also nicely selected, an Earl Hines classic given a clever updating and “Under the Boardwalk” allowed to conclude the program with an enduring vision of the Drifters drifting out to sea, clinging to the keys of Patterson’s organ, a lifesaver indeed. (Eugene Chadbourne)
Personnel: Don Patterson (Organ); Booker Ervin (Tenor Saxophone); Leonard Houston (Alto Saxophone); Sonny Stitt (Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone); Billy James (Drums).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Wayne Shorter’s compositions helped define a new jazz style in the mid-’60s, merging some of the concentrated muscular force of hard bop with surprising intervals and often spacious melodies suspended over the beat. The result was a new kind of “cool,” a mixture of restraint and freedom that created a striking contrast between Shorter’s airy themes and his taut tenor solos and which invited creative play among the soloists and rhythm section. The band on this 1964 session is a quintessential Blue Note group of the period, combining Shorter’s most frequent and effective collaborators. Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones merge their talents to create music that’s at once secure and free flowing, sometimes managing to suggest tension and calm at the same time. –Stuart Broomer
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter didn’t truly fulfill Weather Report’s artistic and commercial potential until they brought on-board a bassist who could function as an equal partner in the musical equation, like co-founder Miroslav Vitous, whose main shortcoming was his inability to play funk. In renegade bassist Jaco Pastorius, the band found a formidable composer and improvisor, who possessed deep roots in funk and R&B, yet was equally at home in modern jazz and Afro-Cuban settings. Not coincidentally, the presence of this innovative fretless bassist on Heavy Weather gave Weather Report the rhythmic/melodic dimension it had been missing since Vitous’s departure, as evidenced by his voice-like declamations on Zawinul’s ballad “A Remark You Made.” On Zawinul’s chart-topping, big band-styled arrangement of “Birdland,” Pastorius provided the kind of big, sweeping orchestral gestures the tune required, while on the shifting canvas of Wayne Shorter’s “Harlequin,” the bassist’s ability to articulate complex chords allowed him to function as a string section unto himself. And on his own “Havona,” Pastorius not only soloed with horn-like artistry, but combined with drummer Alex Acuna and percussionist Manolo Badrena to give Weather Report its funkiest rhythm section ever. –Chip Stern
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Blackstone Legacy is the first instance of Woody Shaw stepping into the position of bandleader in the recording studio, something long overdue at the time. With a handpicked ensemble, Shaw was given total creative freedom, and the result is a landmark. His intention was to portray various sociopolitical dramas then being played out, from the ghettos of his youth to the war in Vietnam. That intention is clear in the complex energy exchanged between the horns and in Lenny White’s driving, polyrhythmic drumming.
Compositions by Shaw, such as the title track, are alive with urgency and exploration. His trumpet is warm and fierce as ever and sparkles with all his influences, from Clifford Brown to Lee Morgan. Keyboards player George Cables contributes two fine tunes, “Think On Me” and “New World”; the latter builds from its slow, emotional intro into a funky, rock & roll energy, perfectly reflecting the charged political climate of the early ’70s. Blackstone Legacy was a bold step forward.
Personnel: Woody Shaw (trumpet); Bennie Maupin (flute, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone); Gary Bartz (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); George Cables (piano, electric piano); Lenny White (drums).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Although introduced as a protégé of John Coltrane and touted by many as his heir apparent, reedman Pharoah Sanders quickly proved his own man. His shared interest in the “cosmic” music of Coltrane’s final period belies the fact that Sanders frequently plays with an unhurried sense of peace and satisfaction rarely found in his mentor’s music. His use of space, African and Asian motifs and instruments, and simple, repetitive melodies also pointed the way for jazz, rock, and new age musicians in the ’70s and ’80s, while his sometimes raucous use of harsh, shrieking runs influenced many of jazz’s most adventurous saxophonists.
The centerpiece of Karma is the marathon half-hour octet recording “The Creator Has a Master Plan.” Although the track features a warm vocal by Leon Thomas, its true feature artist for almost the entire length is Sanders, who carries the melody, feel, and improvisation firmly on his shoulders. All of Sanders’s key elements–Afro-centric spiritualism, sweeping use of mood from long, relaxed intervals to frenetic cacophony, and a deep sense of melody and rhythm–are in evidence. The album’s religious feeling is cemented by the album’s closer, “Colors,” which serves as a deeply felt invocation. –Fred Goodman
Personnel includes: Pharoah Sanders (tenor & soprano saxophones, alto flute, fife, bailophone, brass bell, bells, maracas, cow horn, percussion); Michael White (violin, percussion); Lonnie Liston Smith (bailophone, piano, electric piano, claves, ring cymbals, percussion, background vocals); Cecil McBee (bass, finger cymbals, percussion, sound effects); Clifford Jarvis (drums, maracas, bells, percussion); Roy Haynes (drums); Chief Bey, Majid Shabazz, Anthony Wiles, Nat Bettis (percussion); James Jordon (ring cymbals).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
This Max Roach Riverside date is notable for featuring the great young trumpeter Booker Little and for utilizing Ray Draper’s tuba as a melody instrument; tenor saxophonist George Coleman and bassist Art Davis complete the excellent quintet. Highlights include “It’s You or No One,” “You Stepped out of a Dream” and Roach’s unaccompanied drum piece “Conversation.” This is fine music from a group that was trying to stretch themselves beyond hard bop.
Personnel: Max Roach (drums); Max Roach; Oscar Pettiford, Art Davis (upright bass); George Coleman (saxophone, tenor saxophone); Booker Little (trumpet); Ray Draper (tuba).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Sweetly funky and very slinky – this is one of the best early 70s scores by the great Italian composer Piero Umiliani! The record has lots of bubbling electric piano, rumbling electric basslines, warm acoustic percussion, and moody wordless vocals. At some level, the album sounds a lot like the contemporaneous work by the great Italian Fender Rhodes combo – but it’s also filled with a spacey madness that could only come from the pen of Umiliani! (dustygroove)
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
So dubbed because these three sessions — two from early 1949, one from March 1950 — are where the sound known as cool jazz essentially formed, Birth of the Cool remains one of the defining, pivotal moments in jazz. This is where the elasticity of bop was married with skillful, big-band arrangements and a relaxed, subdued mood that made it all seem easy, even at its most intricate. After all, there’s a reason why this music was called cool; it has a hip, detached elegance, never getting too hot, even as the rhythms skip and jump. Indeed, the most remarkable thing about these sessions — arranged by Gil Evans and featuring such heavy-hitters as Kai Winding, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, and Max Roach — is that they sound intimate, as the nonet never pushes too hard, never sounds like the work of nine musicians. Furthermore, the group keeps things short and concise (probably the result of the running time of singles, but the results are the same), which keeps the focus on the tones and tunes. The virtuosity led to relaxing, stylish mood music as the end result — the very thing that came to define West Coast or “cool” jazz — but this music is so inventive, it remains alluring even after its influence has been thoroughly absorbed into the mainstream. (allmusic)
