Sahib SHIHAB - Conversations 1963

Sahib SHIHAB - Conversations 1963

Jazz

An outstanding underrated multi-reed player-composer. Like Tina Brooks, he was a huge talent with great technique and knowledge who didn't get the recognition he deserved even now, 15 years after his death.
This is his best album (hard to find, admittedly) next to his Savoy 1957 albums. The Montmartre location gives the group a very good resonance and Orsted-Pederson bass gives the music the fourth dimension. Sahib means friend in Arabic and you can hear the friendly way the group plays under his guide.
Shihab played with Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk and influenced a jazz generation but there isn't much recordings he made as a leader. So I would dare say this album is a very rare gem.
By David E.
**
Because he spent so much of his career living in Europe, Sahib Shihab is primarily known for being a baritonist in the bop era. As this very interesting CD shows, he was also quite original on the alto, soprano and flute and by the early 1960's was open to the influence of the avant-garde without losing his own musical personality. Shihab, who is teamed on this live Copenhagen session with flugelhornist Allan Botchinsky, guitarist Ole Molin, drummer Alex Riel and the 17-year old bassist Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen, performs "Someday My Prince Will Come," "Charade" and a lengthy version of "Billy Boy" along with five originals including the three-part "Conversations." This surprising music is well worth several listens and shows that Shihab was a much more diverse player than is usually thought.
By Scott Yanow, All Music Guide. 
**
Sahib Shihab- Alto, baritone, soprano saxophones, flute
Allan Botchinsky- Flugelhorn
Ole Molin- Guitar
Niels Henning Øersted Pedersen- Bass
Axel Riel- Drums
Bjarne Rostvold- Snare drum on Charade
**
01. Forty-Seventy Blues  12:06 
02. Not Yet  10:41
03. Not Yet  10:41  
04. Conversations, Pt. 1  10:40 
05. Conversations, Pt. 2  3:21 
06. Conversations, Pt. 3  9:14 
07. Charade  7:24 
08. Someday My Prince Will Come  6:35
**
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Grant GREEN - The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Grant Green With Sonny Clark 1961-1962

Grant GREEN - The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Grant Green With Sonny Clark 1961-1962

Jazz

Over a five-week period in early 1962, Grant Green recorded three amazing quartet sessions with Sonny Clark on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Louis Hayes or Art Blakey on drums. As magnificent as the results were, the three albums, considered too progressive for Green's soul-jazz following, languished in the vaults for 18 years. In 1980, "Airegin," the session with Blakey, came out in the United States, while the two with Hayes ("Gooden's Corner" and "Oleo") came out only in Japan. Later issued briefly on Mosaic with three bonus tracks, they have since become collectors' items of legendary proportions. Now Blue Note is finally making them available on this specially-priced 2-CD set. Some of the best music Grant Green ever recorded.
**
Mosaic released a four-disc box set titled The Complete Blue Note With Sonny Clark in 1991, rounding up everything that the guitarist and pianist recorded together between 1961 and 1962. Blue Note's 1997 version of the set, The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark, trims Mosaic's collection by two discs, offering only the quartet sessions (the Ike Quebec sessions, Born to Be Blue and Blue and Sentimental, are available on individual discs). In some ways, this actually results in a more unified set, since it puts Green and Clark directly in the spotlight, with no saxophone to complete for solos, but it doesn't really matter if the music is presented as this double-disc set, the four-disc box, or the individual albums — this is superb music, showcasing the guitarist and pianist at their very best. All of the sessions are straight-ahead bop but the music has a gentle, relaxed vibe that makes it warm, intimate, and accessible. Grant and Clark's mastery is subtle — the music is so enjoyable, you may not notice the deftness of their improvisation and technique — but that invests the music with the grace, style, and emotion that distinguishes The Complete Quartets. Small group hard bop rarely comes any better than this.
By Stephen Thomas Erlewine.
**
Grant Green - Guitar
Sonny Clark - Piano
Sam Jones - Bass
Art Blakey - Drums (cd1, #1-7)
Louis Hayes - Drums
**
Cd1
01. Airegin (Rollins) 7:32
02. It Ain't Necessarily So (Gershwin, Gershwin) 10:20
03. I Concentrate on You (Porter) 5:40
04. The Things We Did Last Summer (Cahn, Styne) 5:54
05. The Song Is You (Hammerstein, Kern) 7:44
06. Nancy (With the Laughing Face) (Silvers, VanHeusen) 6:20
07. Airegin [alternate take] (Rollins) 7:34
08. On Green Dolphin Street (Kaper, Washington) 6:25
09. Shadrack (MacGimsey) 6:20
10. What Is This Thing Called Love ? (Porter) 5:40
*
Cd2
01. Moon River (Mancini, Mercer) 5:34
02. Gooden's Corner (Green) 8:11
03. Two for One (Green) 7:38
04. Oleo (Rollins) 5:35
05. Little Girl Blue (Hart, Rodgers) 7:12
06. Tune-Up (Davis) 7:17
07. Hip Funk (Green) 8:35
08. My Favorite Things (Hammerstein, Rodgers) 8:28
09. Oleo [alternate take] (Rollins) 6:00
**
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Alan SKIDMORE - Alan Skidmore's Ubizo, Leipzig 2007

Alan SKIDMORE - Alan Skidmore's Ubizo, Leipzig 2007
All The Credits Go To *UBU*
(Alan Skidmore's Ubizo
31. Leipziger Jazztage
Leipzig (Germany),
Moritzbastei, October 3, 2007)

Jazz

This is the first supplement (at least one more to come) to my South Africal posts. Alan Skidmore, the sax player known from S.O.S. and other projects, was the first British jazz musician to visit post-Apartheid South Africa in the nineties. This led to the 1999 album "The Call", with Amampondo, a Cape Town group of drummers. Skidmore's Ubizo project continues in the same vein. "Ubizo" means "the calling" (as in "vocation") and adds German trumpet player Ingolf Burkhardt to the mix. They released an album in 2003 and were touring again in recent years. This is a long and fine recording I got from dime recently and find worthy to spread further, beyond the dime community.
**
Alan Skidmore- Tenor Sax
Ingolf Burkhardt- Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Steve Melling- Piano
Colin Towns- Keyboards
Mick Coady- Bass
Mike Paxton- Drums
Joe Legwabe- African Percussion
Jjkj Kanda- African Percussion
Musa Mboob- African Percussion
**
01. Band Intros AS, Sweet S.A. (14:07)
02. Evening Song, Salam Salam  (14:14)
03. Bridges Of Sand  10:22 >
04. Coat Of Many Summers  13:01
05. Dumisani  (9:22)
06. Bamboo Harmon  (7:40)
07. Africa, After The Rain  18:07
**
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Anita O'DAY - At Mister Kelly's 1958

Anita O'DAY - At Mister Kelly's 1958

Jazz

Recorded in her hometown of Chicago and opening with the rarely-heard verse of “But Not For Me,” this nice nightclub date is notable for containing three tunes by Joe and Eileen Albany: “I Have a Reason For Living,” “My Love For You,” and the poignant “Loneliness is a Well.” O’Day goes out of her way to introduce the composers on each of these songs, causing one to wonder exactly what kind of backroom deal she struck with the Albanys. The person who previously owned this LP wrote an exclamation point on the track listing after “The Song Is You,” but it’s actually kind of a wack closer. Still, a good live record
**
Caught live with just her piano trio at Chicago's famous now-defunct nightclub, Anita O'Day is in an ebullient mood as she tosses off a series of standards and novelties. Whether this is an accurate snapshot of her live act is open to question; the stage business in between numbers seems rather formal and one doesn't really feel the excitement of a live performance. Yet O'Day is clearly in a creative mood, whether allowing her vulnerability to show in the torchy ballads or reveling in the boppish uptempo workouts. Her vocal on "Tea For Two" is a virtuoso deconstruction, full of satiric quotes and rhythmic shifts at a warp-speed tempo. Fleet-fingered Joe Masters decorates the fills with standard bop runs on the slightly-out-of-tune house piano.
By Richard S. Ginell. AMG.
**
Joe Masters- Piano
Larry Woods- Bass
John Poole- Drums
Anita O'Day- Vocal
**
A1. But Not for Me  
A2. I Have a Reason for Living-My Love for You     
A3. Varsity Drag  
A4. It Never Entered My Mind  
A5. Tea for Two  
B1. Every Time I'm With You  
B2. Have You Met Miss Jones  
B3. The Wildest Gal in Town  
B4. Star Eyes  
B5. Loneliness is a Well  
B6. The Song Is You
**
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Airto - Free 1972

Airto - Free 1972

Jazz

Airto Moreira's first album for Creed Taylor's nascent jazz-fusion label CTI contributed magnificently to Taylor's modus operandi--expanding the boundaries of jazz to include elements of indigenous cultures, rock, and even classical modes. FREE is Airto in full, unencumbered flight.

His version of Chick Corea's own genre-defining classic "Return to Forever" sets the listener adrift in a choppy sea of vocal atmospheres, crests of electric piano, and Airto's simmering squall lines of percussion. The title track conjures the Brazilian rainforest with a thick underbrush of rhythm, tribal howls, and chatter. Airto and his cohorts play a wonderful array of ceremonial woodblocks, wood flutes, and other natural Brazilian noisemakers. Accompanying the percussionist are such stellar figures as Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Stanley Clarke, Ron Carter, and George Benson.

2004 remastered reissue of 1972 album from the most high-profile Latin jazz percussionist of the 1970s. Soloists include George Benson, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Joe Farrell & Airto's wife Flora Purim. Eight tracks including three previously unreleased bonus tracks, 'So Tender', 'Jequie', & 'Creek (Arroio)'. CTI.
Jazz percussionist Airto Moreira's breakthrough 1972 album FREE included an incredible all-star jazz line-up, highlighted by Chick Corea, George Benson, Stanley Clarke, and Keith Jarrett.
From CD Universe.
**
Don Sebesky- Arranged By [Brass]
Ron Carter- Bass
Chick Corea- Piano
Stanley Clarke- Bass
George Benson- Guitar
Hubert Laws- Flute (tracks: A2 to B2)
Airto- Flute [Wood] (tracks: A2, B1)
Airto- Percussion, Vocals
Flora Purim- Vocals
Keith Jarrett- Piano (tracks: A2, B2)
Joe Farrell- Soprano Sax  (tracks: A1, A2, B2, B3)
Garnett Brown- Trombone (tracks: A1, A2) ,
Joe Wallace- Trombone (tracks: A1, A2) ,
Wayne Andre- Trombone (tracks: A1, A2)
Alan Rubin- Trumpet, Flugelhorn  (tracks: A1, A2)
Burt Collins- Trumpet, Flugelhorn (tracks: A1, A2)
Mel Davis- Trumpet, Flugelhorn (tracks: A1, A2)
**
A1. Return To Forever 10:15
       Composed By - Chick Corea
       Electric Bass - Stan Clarke
       Electric Piano - Chick Corea
       Flute [Alto And Bass], Flute [Piccolo] - Joe Farrell
       Vocals - Airto , Flora
A2. Flora´s Song 8:30
       Composed By - Flora Purim
       Flute [Alto And Bass], Flute [Piccolo] - Joe Farrell
       Guitar - Jay Berliner
B1. Free 10:35
       Composed By - Airto Moreira
       Vocals - Airto , Flora
B2. Lucky Southern 2:35
       Composed By - Keith Jarrett
       Flute, Flute [Alto] - Joe Farrell
       Guitar - George Benson
B3. Creek (Arroio) 6:00
       Composed By - Victor Brazil
       Electric Piano - Nelson Ayres (2)
       Flute - Joe Farrell
       Piano - Chick Corea
**
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Bobby "Blue" BLAND - His California Album 1973

Bobby "Blue" BLAND - His California Album 1973
DSX 50163

Blues

A nice little record from Bobby -- quite different from his 60s sides for Duke/Peacock, and recorded in California (as you might guess from the title!) with a smoother more soulful approach. The style works well for Bobby -- and kind of gave him a new lease on life during the 70s, as he mixed his rougher bluesy vocals with some hipper arrangements -- still quite deep in soul, but with a compressed sound that creates a new mode of expression. Titles include "Goin Down Slow", "Up & Down World", "Help Me Through The Day", "Where My Baby Went", "Friday The 13th Child", "This Time I'm Gone For Good", and "I've Got To Use My Imagination". 
From Dusty Groove.
**
And his first for ABC-Dunhill in 1973 after more than two decades with Duke (Robey's still represented, though, under his songwriting alias of Deadric Malone on four cuts, including the album's biggest hit, "This Time I'm Gone for Good"). Producer Steve Barri contemporized Bland by having him cover Leon Russell's "Help Me Make It Through the Day," Luther Ingram's "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right," and Gladys Knight & the Pips' "I've Got to Use My Imagination."
By Bill Dahl, All Music Guide.
**
Bobby Blue Bland - Vocals
Ben Benay,David Cohen,Larry Carlton,Mel Brown,Dean Parks - Guitar
Chuck Findley,Paul Hubinon,Dick Hyde,Ernie Watts,Jack Kelson Jr. - Horns
Michael Omartian - Piano,organ
Wilton Felder,Max Bennett - Bass
Ed Greene - Drums
Ginger Blake,Julia Tillman,Maxine Willard - Background Vocals
**
A1 This Time I'm Gone for Good  3:33
A2 Up and Down World  3:29
A3 It's Not the Spotlight  3:52
A4 (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right)  3:50
A5 Goin' Down Slow  5:35
B1 The Right Place at the Right Time  2:57
B2 Help Me Through the Day  3:50
B3 Where My Baby Went  3:19
B4 Friday the 13th Child  3:14
B5 I've Got to Use My Imagination  4:14
**
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Carvin JONES Band - I Walked All Night 2000

Carvin JONES  Band - I Walked All Night 2000

Blues

Jones is one of those infuriating musicians who makes the guitar look easy and gigs seem like a walk in the park. Don't be fooled. To reach this stage of total brialliance, Carvin Jones has made the Stratocaster his weapon of choice. The smile from the audience when you walk into the California said it all. There is no side to Carvin. No rock star pretence hiding in the dressing room until it was time to stride on. But does he look the part? Oh yes. Dressed in Hendrix style black hat, his influences are obvious and he doesn't hide them under a bushel.
By Keith Thompson.
**
01.I Walked All Night Long
02.Speed Of Light
03.Sweet Little Angel
04.Crosscut Saw
05.Catfish Blues
06.Hawaii Hawaii
07.Down Don't Baoter Me
08.Dust My Broom
09.Blue Bossa
10.Hey Pretty Woman
**
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