Jazz Beat (Part 27)

Some great midsummer listening...



I greatly prefer Sergio Mendes' early work to his better known A&M recordings, this lacks the polished, smooth edges of the A&M hits. Bud Shank does his best to play like Stan Getz (but on alto sax), and the Mendes trio is further augmented by vocalist Wanda de Sahand and guitarist Rosinha de Valenca.

This LP is a 1972 budget release on Pickwick, but it originally appeared on Capitol in 1965.

 

You're pushing at the boundaries of the Jazz Beat's focus - don't get me wrong, I like it - but careful there, you might get some folks riled up... (been there, done that recently ). I like Mendes, even the more polished A&M stuff - very artful crossover - but I agree with you, the early material is really nice.

I was listening to the CD below on Sunday, and feeling like it "belonged" in a Jazz Beat thread as well, but then chickened out. Now your post on Mendes has empowered me - even though some will undoubtedly cry "not jazz," I feel it has a definite jazz sensibility, and after all I believe Stan Getz knew a thing or two about jazz:


Joao Gilberto, LIVE IN MONTREUX (recorded 1985, released on Elektra Musician). Just Joao, voice and one acoustic guitar, one of his glorious solo sets. Though the end results are very different, I think he's right up there with Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden in that "voice and instrument are as one" category - you simply can't separate the voice from the guitar, they are elements in a single unified sound. This CD is typically mesmerizing, well over an hour of music and never once does the attention flag. I don't know how he does it, on the surface the ingredients are so simple, the voice downright insubstantial (one reviewer memorably characterized his vocal interpretations as sounding simultaneously provisional and definitive). The quiet yet irresistibly propulsive swing he generates certainly doesn't hurt.

As fresh and restorative as a cool summer evening breeze.

 

No worries, doc. You've earned the right to post whatever you wish at will Just no Monkees Play the Best of Red Garland, please.

 

PB:



NP:



Giorgio Gaslini R.I.P

 

Finally released on cd. Previously only available on vinyl or the Mosaic box.
All standards.

 

Aw shucks, and here I was getting ready to wax rhapsodic about Mickey Dolenz's perfectly placed "bombs"...

 

Ah, didn't know he'd passed - that's a shame, RIP Signore Gaslini. I'll have to revisit this one tonight, a favorite:

 

Great album, as with all of Rivers' Blue Notes. The reading of "Detour Ahead" is a favorite.

It's also quite a different line up of musicians for Blue Note, not the usual suspects. In particular, I believe it may have been pianist Hal Galper's only appearance on the label (at least in its original incarnation) - though someone please correct me if that's not the case.

 

I can never get enough of this one; playing the LP this morning. An album that just begs for a proper CD mastering...

 

Did he eat Tex-Mex that day?

 

East>West traditions meld into a gorgeous stew of "arabic-jazz" where Abou-Khalil's traditions involving improvisation and his own ethnic blues (forced into exile in 1978) make this one of the finest examples of this genre. It certainly doesn't hurt having Glen Moore on board but I find the most surprising standout is Fortunes Alto; he plays this music as though he was born into it. Just watch out for the NSA if you go looking for this one.

Rabih Abou-Khalil: Al-Jadida

Abou-Khalil: Oud
Sonny Fortune: Alto Saxophone
Glen Moore: Bass
Ramesh Shotham: South Indian Drums, Percussion
Nabil Khaiat: Frame Drums, Percussion

 

I wouldn't post Mendes' "Look Around" album in Jazz Beat (it's more EZ Listening than jazz), but this album is a very jazz-infused real bossa nova session, in the same ballpark as "Getz/Gilberto."

 

Hod O'Brien / Jon Eardley Quartet – Yardbird Suite (Blue Jack Jazz Records) — With Hans Mantel, Bram Wijland

 

Compiles 1953 and 1954 sessions (Hope's first two albums, 10" LPs, on Blue Note) with 1957 recordings from Los Angeles.

• Elmo Hope - piano
• Charles Freeman Lee (tracks 11-17), Stu Williamson (tracks 18-20) - trumpet
• Frank Foster (tracks 11-17) Harold Land (tracks 18-20) - tenor saxophone
• Percy Heath (tracks 1-17), Leroy Vinnegar (tracks 18-20) - bass
• Art Blakey (tracks 11-17), Philly Joe Jones (tracks 1-10), Frank Butler (tracks 18-20) - drums

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio on June 18, 1953 (tracks 1-10) and May 9, 1954 (tracks 11-17) and in Los Angeles on October 31, 1957 (tracks 18-20)

[Blue Note/Connoisseurs Series 2005 CD]

 

Fred Anderson: The Missing Link

Fred Anderson: Tenor Sax
Larry Hayrod: Bass
Hamid Drake: Drums
Adam Rudolph: Percussion

Anderson's second recording, on Nessa, from 1979 when he was already in his 50's. His debt to Jug is evident in his delivery of the AACM-blues.

 

All time great. All time favorite of mine.

 

Great record. I'm gonna be spinnin' this one tonight:

 

I played this one last night:

 

Nice, I need to check out AreA more deeply.

 

See, now you're on The List. Assuming you weren't already on it.

Great band and great run of Enja's for Rabih eh?

 

Ordered from Amazon today, I expect to hear odd clicking noises on the phone soon!
Sonny Fortune is a helluva player!

 

I remember some 20 years ago when I was first introduced to this album it hit me like a ton of bricks and for quite some time I needed my daily dose (read 4-5 spins) of it. The whole thing is available here:

 

Oh yeah, I'm sure they've got my number already.