Young Holt Unlimited - Soulful Strut Year: 1968
Style or Subgenre: Chicago Soul, Pop-Soul, Soul, Soul Jazz
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Young Holt Unlimited - Oh Girl Year: 1972
Style or Subgenre: Chicago Soul, Pop-Soul, Soul, Soul Jazz
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Young Holt Unlimited were the group that took Barbara Acklin's pop hit "Am I the Same Girl" and recast it as an early smooth jazz infused soul instrumental called "Soulful Strut." It's catchy as hell. Earworm central. I figured out I should check out other offerings by this one hit wonder. I found pretty much what I expected; warmed over smooth jazz/R&B tunes. Honestly, there's not much jazz here, but this is pretty solid instrumental pop with just a bit of a jazzy touch.
Gene Quill - Three Bones and a Quill Year: 1958
Style or Subgenre: Bop. Cool
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Gene Quill is joined by three trombonists (Jim Dahl, Jimmy Cleveland, and Frank Rehak) to make this totally cool bop album. Quill's alto is as hot as it is cool and as swinging as it is melodious. All three bones bring their own flavor, but all find the same cool groove. Both rhythm section and solos are delightful throughout. This is a totally fun album.
Rickie Lee Jones - Pieces of Treasure Year: 2023
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
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For Saturday Night Vocals, I grabbed a familiar name in an unfamiliar setting. Bohemian pop star Rickie Lee Jones has migrated to jazz and that seemed an interesting exploration. In the end, it didn't really work for me despite this being a fairly well received albums. Over the intervening decades, that vocal affect that gave Rickie that sort of combination of hip, edgy, and endearing seems to have aged and intensified to distraction. My ear just hears more of a youthful edge that didn't age gracefully and I get images of the crazy old cat lady trying to remake jazz standards into Chuck E's In Love.
Anthony Davis - Episteme Year: 1981
Style or Subgenre: Avant Garde
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Stephen Cook's Allmusic review begins by saying "As a composer, Anthony Davis sensed the limitations of free jazz improvisation while coming up through the music's hotbed in the '70s. While seeing the benefits of wide open solo and ensemble playing, he also pushed for something akin to thoroughly composed music with improvisation as its lifeblood."
After listening, I have to say I agree completely. This music is highly structured. Now what it does within that fairly narrow structure is where the brilliance is.
Cook finishes by saying "Like the work of similarly disposed artists such as Henry Threadgill and Muhal Richard Abrams, Davis' pieces require effort to understand and appreciate. It's definitely knotty and cerebral stuff, but repeated exposure will bring its own rewards."
Again, I agree, but only in part this time. "Knotty and cerebral" are excellent words to describe this, and that's probably a big part of why I took to this right away, which is where I will part from Cook's assessment; no repeated exposure necessary... I felt like I "got" this on first spin and I darn sure enjoyed the heck out of it.
Charles Lloyd - The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow Year: 2024
Style or Subgenre: Post Bop, Avant Garde
Wayne Shorter has passed, Sonny Rollins has retired, and Charles Lloyd is not the elder statesman of jazz saxophone. At age 85, he releases this marvelous double album of sax quartet music displaying his creative lines, fluid phrasing, and occasional forays into aggressive tonality. Jason Moran's piano is breathtaking and Brian Blades drums are, as always, both creative and on point. At a time when most folks still breathing are just happy to be on this side of dirt, Lloyd is turning out fresh and interesting music. This is an inspiring release.
Joya Sherrill - Joya Sherrill Sings Duke Year: 1965
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
Saturday night vocals was another treat last night. I broke out the amazing Joya Sherrill and was floored at the amazing clarity of her voice, enunciation, and phrasing. She has the vocal timbre of the most finely constructed and casted bell. Really, this voice is one for the ages! But unlike so many singers with beautiful pipes and no individual vibe, Sherrill is marvelously expressive and versatile. She can go rich and pure or she can go a little sassy and brassy, and always does so with an ear for the song. A stunning talent. Would have loved to have seen her live with Duke, it must have been like being in the presence of the very perfection of human art.
Cecile McLorin Salvant - Dreams and Daggers Year: 2017
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
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For Saturday Night Vocals, I wanted to step out of my recent fixation on traditional, sweet standards. I wanted something a little more modern. Something with a little edge, but not too far out, not avant garde; just a little sassy. That said, I didn't bother to research anything to ensure that's what I would actually get. I just looked into my queue and saw the name Cecile McLorin Salvant which intrigued me so I gave her Dreams and Daggers double CD a spin.
Boy, did that hit the spot! Either the universe was on my side, or I just got lucky. However it happened, I couldn't have been happier. This album is mostly standards with a few originals, but the selected standards lend themselves to edgier interpretation and Salvant seems to be perfectly suited to bringing out that underlying edginess. Her voice can be oh, so sweet and seamlessly transition to sassy or sorrowful. Her natural timbre is most pleasing, which makes the contrast all the more effective when she gets a little brassy.
In terms of being able to effectively bring a range of expression to varied material, Salvant is a savant. Truly marvelous.
Adding to the glory of this album is the Monk-influenced dissonance pianist Aaron Diehl brings to these otherwise potentially fun of the mill tunes. There's also very effective strings on some songs. I'm not talking about the sort of easy listening smooth "with strings" that often accompanies jazz albums for commercial appeal, but rather edgy, modern string quartet sounds that even further set this album apart.
Lots of great ingredients here, all expertly prepared and presented. This album is a huge winner. I would have loved to have caught this live.
Anni Kiviniemi - Eir Year: 2024
Style or Subgenre: Contemporary Jazz, Piano Jazz
This 2024 inaugural release (as leader) by Finnish composer/pianist Anni Kiviniemi and her trio is areal gem. It can be brooding and intense, but then Kiviniemi can also swing, all the while making coherent and engaging trio music. All eight cuts are originals, which is exactly as it should be given Kiviniemi's strength as a composer. Each song goes somewhere and doesn't outstay its welcome. The variety across cuts sits well and the whole thing is perfectly sequenced. This album is a must for anyone who appreciates contemporary trio music.
Kahil El'Zabar - Another Kind of Groove Year: 1987
Style or Subgenre: Free Jazz, World Jazz, Spiritual Jazz
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Kahil El'Zabar - Sacred Love Year: 1988
Style or Subgenre: Free Jazz, Spiritual Jazz
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Kahil El'Zabar - Spirit Groove Year: 2020
Style or Subgenre: Free Jazz, Soul Jazz, Spiritual Jazz
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Went on a bit of a binge this morning. Wanting to hear something on the exotic side, I spun Kahil El'Zabar's Another Kind of Groove. I must have been in exactly the right mood as this bit of international spiritual free jazz hit me just right. I dropped everything I was doing and just sat with this magnificent movement. Malachi Favors's bass sets the groove, El'Zabar's drums create the vibe, and Bily Bang's violin puts the most delectable frosting on this exotic cake. Wow. This is definitely going to get some more spins.
Wanting more, I then moved forward a year and grabbed El'Zabar's collaboration with Favors, but this time replacing Bang's strings with Lester Bowie's trumpet. The mood of this outing is significantly different, carrying a more classical avant garde feel with Bowie's trumpet really setting the mood. On paper, this should have been my favorite listen of the day, but I was still reveling in awe of the previous spin. Still, I think this is a superb album and fully expect it to be a grower, especially if I approach it in its own context.
Not quite done , I jumped forward this time almost a third of a century, to El'Zabar's 2020 outing, Spirit Groove. This time, the album runs a full CD length and has a good deal of vocals bringing a Chicago Soul vibe into the mix. Sometimes they work better than other, just as the expanded length of the cuts sometimes work better than others. When in the mood for a sort of exotic world jazz type of repetitive/trance music, this would surely hit the spot.
I'd say finding Kahil El'Zabar was a major triumph today. I look forward to repeated listening of these albums, as well as exploring more of his catalog.
Bobby Watson - Appointment in Milano Year: 1985
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Post Bop
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Art Blakey alum altoist Bobby Watson seemed to have a real talent for bringing pop-worthy melody into his work as leader while still keeping it real jazz. Oh, and dude could also play the heck our of that little reed! I'm definitely adding this to my list of potential jazz gateway drugs; album that might lead a newb into the wonderful addiction to jazz. This album is loaded with amazing improvisation, but remains easy to follow and, most importantly, extremely easy to enjoy and hard not to just get seriously excited about. Watson's lines are killer. Great stuff here for sure.
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