Mike Longo - The Awakening Year: 1972
Style or Subgenre: Jazz Funk
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Pianaist Mike Longo was a long time fixture in a variety of jazz arenas. Notably, he played his first gig with none other than Cannonball Adderley while still a high schooler. His most notable long term stint was with Dizzy Gillespie who appears on this album, not as trumpeter (Virgil Jones fills that role) but as conga player!
This is a cool if not overly unique bit of early seventies jazz funk that occasionally gets a little free. Very serviceable and likable, but nothing about it jumps up claiming to be special. James Moody does some nice work on sax and flute, but Curtis Fuller seems underutilized.
I just learned we lost Mike Longo on March 28 due to coronavirus.
Herbie Nichols - Love, Gloom, Cash, Love Year: 1957
Style or Subgenre: Bop, Mainstream Jazz, Post Bop
I read that this album was the best entry point to Herbie Nichols' music. If being a good entry point means somehing easy to listen to but intriguing enough to want to learn mare about the artist, then I agree. Very nice piano trio music here. Just slightly angular, like a slightly less out-of-the-mainstream-of-the-day Monk, this music was easy enough to wrap my head completely around upon first listen, yet intriguing enough that I was always looking forward to what was around the next corner. This strikes me as music that should have received a rather more enthusiastic reception. Maybe the sort of poor-man's Monk comparisons were to his detriment. In any case, I'm glad I checked this out. Even if it won't supplant any of my favorites, it's a very nice addition to them.
Lester Bowie - The 5th Power Year: 1978
Style or Subgenre: Avant Garde
This is a live quintet date led by Art Ensemble of Chicago founder Lester Bowie on trumpet. A lot of avant garde music (be it classified as jazz, classical, or anything else for that matter) seems to drift either into seemingly random wankery or pretentious indulgence. My sense was that Bowie manages to keep his efforts nicely centered in this regard, blending seeming randomness and austere sounds without jettisoning entertainment value. Pretty cool album.
Hank Jones - Bop Redux Year: 1977
Style or Subgenre: Bop
Hank Jones - Groovin' High Year: 1978
Style or Subgenre: Bop
Long time veteran Hank Jones gave us a couple very fine straight ahead bop albums in the late '70. While this is all pretty standard bop which wouldn't have been out of place a quarter century earlier, Jones does bring out some interesting melodic choices in his soloing, keeping most of the music fresh and interesting. On Groovin' High, Thad Jones (Hank's brother) joins in on cornet along with Charlie Rouse on sax, adding orchestral color front line solo instruments. Both albums, be it trio or quintet, are very nice examples of honoring traditional forms and standards with lively new interpretations.
Joe Chambers - The Almoravid Recording Date: 1971 - 1973
Release Date: 1974
Style or Subgenre: Post Bop
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
I hope you like percussion! This album is short on melody and long on banging on things. That said, I did enjoy it quite a bit; even the closer, the rather militant and unpleasantly entitled "Jihad." But the music is the thing, and the thing here is creative drumming throughout with some front line instrumentation used more sparingly than is probably wise. But Chambers is highly musical as drummers go, and even with so much percussion out front, the album held my interest.
Betty Roché - Take the "A" Train Year: 1956
Style or Subgenre: Traditional Bop, Vocal Jazz
Betty Roché - Lightly and Politely Year: 1961
Style or Subgenre: Traditional Bop, Vocal Jazz
This evening, I was in the mood for some female vocals and I decided to lent an ear to Betty Roché. This really hit the spot. I usually have a fairly short attention span for vocal jazz, but after listening to her 1956 debut, Take the "A" Train, I was smitten enough to plow forward and also check out Lightly and Politely. While Betty could carry the tunes all on her own, I did like the addition of the guitar on the latter album. Sometimes I find her phrasing a little too staccato for my taste and at others it seems absolutely perfect. But either way, the voice delivering it is always spot on. I'm getting to the point where I no longer listen to myself when I remind myself I don't like vocal jazz. Apparently I know enough to know I don't know what I'm talking about.
Ted Curson - Plays Fire Down Below Recording Date: 1962
Release Date: 1963
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Latin Jazz, Post Bop
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Ted Curson - Pop Wine Year: 1971
Style or Subgenre: Avant Garde, Free Jazz
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
On Ted Curston Plays Fire Down Below, Curson plays straight ahead hard bop and Latin jazz, and does so quite nicely. Most songs begin in a rather understated way and gain intensity as they move into the heart of the solos. With each song, I'd start of thinking this might be rather boring, but always found myself getting into it quite a bit by mid song.
What a difference a decade makes. On the latter Pop Wine, Curson teams up with Paris' Gorges Avanitas Trio and opens with the largely free, and not very boppish, "Quarter Latin." While the first few minutes of random sounds might turn some away, those who hang in there can expect to be strongly rewarded; this is a powerful, even entrancing piece. The trio is fantastic, with intriguing piano from Avanitas, inspired drumming by Charles Saudrais, and excellent bass work throughout, both plucked and bowed, by Jacky Samson. The group does settle back into some lightning fast bop on "Flip Top" and some slower burning funky sould jazz on the title cut. The quirkily titled "L.S.D. Takes a Holiday" proves to be another avant gardish highlight.
As enjoyable as the earlier bop album was, I have to say it was the later, more varied and far more intense release that I expect will hold my attention most in the long run. Incredible album!
Booker Little - Booker Little 4 + Max Roach Year: 1958
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop
Booker Little - Out Front Year: 1958
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Post Bop
After enjoying the morning with Ted Curson, I was still in the mood for some trumpet jazz led by a name I need to get more familiar with. Enter Booker Ervin.
Wow! What an amazing trumpeter! Why relatively little ink? I was unaware he died at 23. Which makes this music all the more impressive; his debut as lead, Booker LIttle 4 & Max Roach, came at only age 20. I love how he goes positively ape (with precision and control) on the opening "Milestones," and then opens the following "Sweet and Lovely" with a completely exposed solo with the warmest, most gorgeous tone I've heard from a trumpet. I had to double check to see that he didn't also play flugelhorn on this album! He repeats this feat on the equally lovely "Moonlight Becomes You" where he adds the smoothest vibrato (pianist Tommy Flanagan also gets in some very sweet bars on this one). Very versatile. And when he lights it up, Roach's aggressive drumming makes for an excellent pairing.
On the latter Out Front, has Booker bringing out some rather advanced compositional skills (again, more so for a now 23 year old) in a slower burning, rather more moody affair. If not delivered with such deftness and conviction, a program like this could easily lose me. "Man of Words is easily one of the most powerfully captivating first listens I've ever had with such a slow tempo song.
Blue Mitchell - Down With It! Recording Date: 1965
Release Date: 1966
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Soul Jazz
I have long considered Blue Mitchell's The Thing to Do to be one of the all time great trumpet albums. I also very much enjoy any of the 8 Blue Mitchell albums that appear on my bargain basement set of all eight Blue Mitchell albums from 1958 to 1963, Blue Soul also being one of the all time greats and most of the rest being at least excellent. So I figure it was time to move forward and see where Mr. Mitchell went after his seminal album. Next up in the chronological queue was this, Down With It!.
To be fair, probably nothing could have followed The Thing to Do! without being a bit of a letdown. Down With It, is a bit more letdown than I hoped. It's a fine album as a representative of good quality hard bop/soul jazz of the time, and well worth a listen, but hardly a barn burner. A young Chick Corea plays well enough but doesn't come across as particularly inspired. Sax man Junior Cook occasionally cooks, as does Mitchell, and there are enough memorable moments to make this album worth the time.
I found the album's high point to be the lively, soulful, and impressively delivered "March on Selma," which would have been a standout track on any Blue Mitchell album. Unbeatable, that one; it'll be taking a prominent place in my best jazz playlist.
Jimmy Forrest - All the Gin Is Gone Recording Date: 1959
Release Date: 1965
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Soul Jazz
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Jimmy Forrest - Forrest Fire Year: 1960
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Soul Jazz
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Jimmy Forrest, who had had some R&B hits carries a good deal of that influence into his early jazz albums (although he was not at all new to jazz itself). All the Gin Is Gone is fairly standard blues based hard bop, but Forrest's tone and presentation frequently ooze a little of that R&B. The lineup is quite solid, with Harold Mabern on piano, Gene Ramey on bass, and Elvin Jones' drumming particularly well suited to the effort. Also in the lineup is Grant Green in his recording debut. He seems a tad tentative at times but adds nicely to the mix. It wasn't an album I took really to all the way through, but the opening title cut, and especially the closing "Sunkenfoal" were most enjoyable.
For Forrest Fire, Forrest drops the piano, but picks up a very young Larry Young on organ. Forrest gets smokier in both tone and attitude, which ends up complimenting Young's organ exceptionally well. It seems everyone and his brother has recorded a version of "Bags' Groove," but Forrest's here may be one of the better ones. Again, I found the album closer ("Help!" - no relation to you know who) to be another highlight.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
