Recorded May 25, 1972 at Estudios Ion, Buenos Aires
Alfredo Remus is not only an Argentinean jazz bass player: his many qualities make him world worthy. His jazz "walking" style, tempo and swing are unique --in my opinion - he ranks among the best players in jazz history. I remember hearing him in Buenos Aires for the first time at one of the Monday sessions of the Bop Club Argentino, probably in 1955, and then in 1956 playing with Lalo Schiffrin's quintet at "Le Roi"--a night club in Buenos Aires. The other members of that quintet were Gato Barbieri (tenor sax), Rubén Barbieri (Gato's elder brother, trumpet) and Oscar Mazzei (drums). To quote Fernando Gelbard, one of the producers of this album: "I couldn't dream that I was destined to partner with Alfredo in many projects and be privileged to have him in some of my recordings and as a member of my rhythm section so many times." Alfredo Remus performed with a who's who of the jazz and bossa nova world: Enrique "Mono" Villegas, Gato Barbieri, Lalo Schifrin, Chivo Borraro, Paul Gonsalves, Tony Bennett, António Carlos Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes, Maria Bethânia and tango-folk artists Mercedes Sosa, Ariel Ramírez and Susana Rinaldi.
Let us listen to Gelbard again: "This album was conceived by Alfredo and my participation in it was actually to donate free studio time at ION recording studios, of which I was the owner. The very date of the recording tells a story: May 25, 1972. May 25 is one of Argentina's most important patriotic holidays and the studio was closed to regular business. Alberto Cortez Funes and Felipe Eusebio are two inspiring individuals that lent their support and ideas to this project."
Alfredo Remus' sidemen in this album, are part of the group of the most talented musicians from Argentina: Hugo Pierre, on soprano and alto saxes, ranks among the ablest reed players in the country; Raúl Parentella, an excellent keyboardist; Carlos "Pocho" Lapouble on drums and Norberto Minichillo on percussion were--both died recently--two of the keenest rhythm providers of their generation.
The tunes played on this album show Remus's taste for varied material. They get started on the blues filtered through Bach's music as imagined by Lalo Schifrin: the many different facets of this interpretation of "Johan Sebastián Blues" are amazing. Then they turn to an Argentinean song. "Alfonsina y el Mar", that has been a popular hit almost from its very beginning, a zamba, full of nostalgia, which they explore from several points of view before going back in the end to it's lovely original melody. Afterwards they reveal the many sides of Remus's "Amor Por Todo Esto" (Love for All of This). And in the end they offer a short, juicy rendering of the Brazilian composer Luis Eça's "The Gentle Rain".
Remus had an intense artistic activity since the 60s, and despite having developed especially in the field of jazz, he also participated in productions linked to popular music and folklore, such as the "Misa Criolla" by Ariel Ramírez. , or the second part of "La Fusa", the famous recording by Vinicius de Moraes at the mythical venue in Mar del Plata.
Among the figures with whom he collaborated with his double bass are brilliant names such as Mercedes Sosa, Tony Bennet, Gato Barbieri, Enrique Villegas, Tío Los Panchos, Leonardo Favio, Sandro, Alberto Cortez, Susana Rinaldi, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Paul Gonsalves
Trauma is a 1968 recording by the great Argentine musician who, twelve months later, the famous Down Beat magazine would describe as "bass player of the year." This, their first album, starts with nothing more and nothing less than a free version of the superclassic “So what”, followed a little later by “Milestones”, as if to make it clear what was one of the decisive influences in those years for the Creole jazzers and how far the shadow of Miles Davis reached. There are also versions of more standard classics: “Autumn Leaves” and “Greensleves”. The arrangement and interpretation of the Latin “Manteca” is also very attractive.
Jorge Anders' saxophone and Osvaldo López's drums complete 3 and stand out together with the thick, heavy bass that Alfredo Remus leads firmly at his side. The album is dedicated to Lalo Schiffrin and the percussion of Domingo Cura also appears there. A beautiful period document, which, perhaps, can be criticized, and this would be its weakest point, a certain acceleration, as if anxiety reigned among the people of the River Plate to show that one knows (something that is also observed in the closing of few and complacent seconds dedicated to “Greensleves”).
Percussion – Domingo Martino, Ernesto Ringer, Carlos Lapouble
Soprano Saxophone, Soloist – Bernardo Baraj
Tenor Saxophone – Mariano Grisiglione, Oscar Tissera
Tenor Saxophone, Soloist – Horacio Borraro
Trombone – Abel La Rosa, Jorge Ramírez
Trombone, Soloist – Christian Kellens
Trumpet – Emilio Martino, José Granata, Roberto Fernández*, Tomás Lepere
Trumpet, Soloist, Flugelhorn – Gustavo Bergalli
Tuba – Jorge Rodríguez
Alberto Favero is an Argentine musician, pianist, composer, educator and conductor. His work is associated with composition, musical arrangement, orchestration, musical conducting and supervision in various genres, both in musical theatre, ballet, jazz, as well as songwriting, as a solo musician, and in various audiovisual media, TV, Film and Phonographic Production, in collaboration with various artists. Among these, the Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti stands out, with whom he carried out extensive joint work, Gian Franco Pagliaro, Julio Bocca, Eleonora Cassano, Nacha Guevara and Pedro Orgambide among others.
In 1968, impressed by the talent and early death of saxophonist John Coltrane, he composed the Trane Suite, a Jazz Suite in his memory. The work premiered at the Teatro del Globo in Buenos Aires with the participation of the greatest figures of the jazz scene in Argentina, under his direction. "Suite Train" (In Memoriam John Coltrane) is a Suite for jazz orchestra and soloists; It was recorded and released by the Sello Trova in 1970 under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Arts.
It was premiered by an impressive all-star orchestra, as can be seen in the corresponding credits, soloists and ensemble: everyone wanted to pay tribute to one of the most paradigmatic jazz creators of the era. Today I still hold in my heart the warmest memory and appreciation for the musicians of my country, for the faith and trust placed in my project and in my unknown person. Reaching an agreement that this unknown young man be in charge of the conception of the work and its more practical dimension (rehearsals and direction) despite his young age: what I say: age does not have much to do with these things. Impressive... It was premiered by an impressive all-star orchestra, as can be seen in the corresponding credits, soloists and ensemble: everyone wanted to pay tribute to one of the most paradigmatic jazz creators of the era. Today I still hold in my heart the warmest memory and appreciation for the musicians of my country, for the faith and trust placed in my project and in my unknown person. Reaching an agreement that this unknown young man be in charge of the conception of the work and its more practical dimension (rehearsals and direction) despite his young age: what I say: age does not have much to do with these things. Impressive... It was premiered by an impressive all-star orchestra, as can be seen in the corresponding credits, soloists and ensemble: everyone wanted to pay tribute to one of the most paradigmatic jazz creators of the era. Today I still hold in my heart the warmest memory and appreciation for the musicians of my country, for the faith and trust placed in my project and in my unknown person. Reaching an agreement that this unknown young man be in charge of the conception of the work and its more practical dimension (rehearsals and direction) despite his young age: what I say: age does not have much to do with these things. Today I still hold in my heart the warmest memory and appreciation for the musicians of my country, for the faith and trust placed in my project and in my unknown person. Reaching an agreement that this unknown young man be in charge of the conception of the work and its more practical dimension (rehearsals and direction) despite his young age: what I say: age does not have much to do with these things. Today I still hold in my heart the warmest memory and appreciation for the musicians of my country, for the faith and trust placed in my project and in my unknown person. Reaching an agreement that this unknown young man be in charge of the conception of the work and its more practical dimension (rehearsals and direction) despite his young age: what I say: age does not have much to do with these things.
At some point later, a credit from the National Endowment for the Arts came to my aid (the orchestra required 23 performers), and the work established itself firmly in the world of phonographic records when it was recorded in 1969 and released for the first time. edition by trova in 1970, at that time led by Rodolfo Radoszinsky. After that came the release in Uruguay (Tacuabé / Ayuí / 1971 editions), made by the composer Coriún Aharonián who decided that it would be part of his catalogue. Then the US edition: (Catalyst Records / springboard international / 1977). The suite won important awards and special mentions (“best work of the year” Fernando Alvarado, La Prensa newspaper, Buenos Aires / 1968) and “Best International Jazz Work” (Monthly Jazz Magazine, London/UK, 1969), to name a few. Finally, and before this reissue of Acqua Records in Argentina, came the magnificent English reissue of Whatmusic in London, which was managed by Fernando Gelbard, a great friend and musician linked in different ways with this work, more than 30 years after the original release of Trova , with the necessary technological updating, digital re-mastering and the addition of three bonus tracks recorded in 1967, neighboring the record of the Trane Suite. Considering that the suite was the most important work of my youth, and also my first jazz recording and/or production, it is obvious that this was also the first reissue in my career as a musician." great friend and musician linked in different ways with this work, more than 30 years after the original release of Trova, with the necessary technological updating, digital re-mastering and addition of three bonus tracks recorded in 1967, neighboring the record of the Trane Suite . Considering that the suite was the most important work of my youth, and also my first jazz recording and/or production, it is obvious that this was also the first reissue in my career as a musician." great friend and musician linked in different ways with this work, more than 30 years after the original release of Trova, with the necessary technological updating, digital re-mastering and addition of three bonus tracks recorded in 1967, neighboring the record of the Trane Suite . Considering that the suite was the most important work of my youth, and also my first jazz recording and/or production, it is obvious that this was also the first reissue in my career as a musician."
Alberto Favero (About Suite Train-2011)
Mr. Favero and his orchestra faithfully capture the phases of John Coltrane's musical ascension through these five beautiful movements. I had the record but somehow I lost it - contacted Mr. Favero and he responded that the CD was about to be release. That was perhaps fifteen or so years ago. Glorious Music!
Tracks 2-01 to 2-19 rec. Pershing Lounge, Chicago, 16-17/1/1958
Tracks 3-01 to 4-09 rec. Spotlight Club, Washington DC 5-6/9/1958
Tracks 4-10 to 4-19 rec. Ter-Mar Recording Studios, Chicago 20-21/1/1960
Tracks 5-01 to 5-09 rec. Nola's Penthouse, NYC 27-28/2/1959
Tracks 5-10 to 5-10 rec. Ter-Mar Recording Studios 15-16/8/1960
Tracks 6-01 to 6-03 rec. Ter-Mar Recording Studios 5/6/1961
Tracks 6-04 to 7-11 rec. Ahmad Jama's Alhambra, Chicago 6/1961
Tracks 8-01 to 9-09 rec. The Blackhawk, San Francisco 31/1-1/2/1962
Edition number stamped on the outside back cover of the liner notes booklet included inside the box set.
Jamal was born Frederick Russell Jones in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 2, 1930. He began playing piano at the age of three, when his uncle Lawrence challenged him to duplicate what he was doing on the piano. Jamal began formal piano training at the age of seven with Mary Cardwell Dawson, whom he described as having greatly influenced him. His Pittsburgh roots remained an important part of his identity ("Pittsburgh meant everything to me and it still does," he said in 2001) and it was there that he was immersed in the influence of jazz artists such as Earl Hines, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Williams, and Erroll Garner. Jamal also studied with pianist James Miller and began playing piano professionally at the age of fourteen, at which point he was recognized as a "coming great" by the pianist Art Tatum. When asked about his practice habits by a critic from The New York Times, Jamal commented that, "I used to practice and practice with the door open, hoping someone would come by and discover me. I was never the practitioner in the sense of twelve hours a day, but I always thought about music. I think about music all the time."
Jamal began touring with George Hudson's Orchestra after graduating from George Westinghouse High School in 1948. He joined another touring group known as The Four Strings, which disbanded when violinist Joe Kennedy Jr. left. In 1950 he moved to Chicago, performing intermittently with local musicians Von Freeman and Claude McLin, and solo at the Palm Tavern, occasionally joined by drummer Ike Day.
Born to Baptist parents, Jamal became interested in Islam and Islamic culture in Detroit, where there was a sizable Muslim community in the 1940s and 1950s.He converted to Islam and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal in 1950. In an interview with The New York Times a few years later, he said his decision to change his name stemmed from a desire to "re-establish my original name." Shortly after his conversion to Islam, he explained to The New York Times that he "says Muslim prayers five times a day and arises in time to say his first prayers at 5 am. He says them in Arabic in keeping with the Muslim tradition."
Jamal made his first records in 1951 for the Okeh label with The Three Strings[18] (which would later also be called the Ahmad Jamal Trio, although Jamal himself preferred not to use the term "trio"): the other members were guitarist Ray Crawford and a bassist, at different times Eddie Calhoun (1950–52), Richard Davis (1953–54), and Israel Crosby (from 1954). The Three Strings arranged an extended engagement at Chicago's Blue Note, but leapt to fame after performing at the Embers in New York City where John Hammond saw the band play and signed them to Okeh Records. Hammond, a record producer who discovered the talents and enhanced the fame of musicians like Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Count Basie, also helped Jamal's trio attract critical acclaim.Jamal subsequently recorded for Parrot (1953–55) and Epic (1955) using the piano-guitar-bass lineup.
The trio's sound changed significantly when Crawford was replaced with drummer Vernel Fournier in 1957, and the group worked as the "house trio" at Chicago's Pershing Hotel. The trio released the live album, At the Pershing: But Not for Me, which stayed on the Ten Best-selling charts for 108 weeks. Jamal's recording of the well-known song "Poinciana" was first released on this album.
Perhaps Jamal's most famous recording, At the Pershing, was recorded at the Pershing Hotel in Chicago in 1958; it brought him popularity in the late 1950s and into the 1960s jazz age. Jamal played the set with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier. The set list expressed a diverse collection of tunes, including "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" from the musical Oklahoma! and Jamal's arrangement of the jazz standard "Poinciana". Jazz musicians and listeners alike found inspiration in the At the Pershing recording, and Jamal's trio was recognized as an integral new building block in the history of jazz. Evident were his unusually minimalist style and his extended vamps, ccording to reviewer John Morthland. The New York Times contributor Ben Ratliff said, in a review of the album, "If you're looking for an argument that pleasurable mainstream art can assume radical status at the same time, Jamal is your guide."
fter the recording of the best-selling album But Not For Me, Jamal's music grew in popularity throughout the 1950s, and he attracted media coverage for his investment decisions pertaining to his "rising fortune". In 1959, he took a tour of North Africa to explore investment options in Africa. Jamal, who was 29 at the time, said he had a curiosity about the homeland of his ancestors, highly influenced y his conversion to the Muslim faith. He also said his religion had brought him peace of mind about his race, which accounted for his "growth in the field of music that has proved very lucrative for me." Upon his return to the U.S. after a tour of North Africa, the financial success of Live at the Pershing: But Not For Me allowed Jamal to open a restaurant and club called The Alhambra in Chicago, which lasted barely one year. In 1962, The Three Strings disbanded and Jamal recorded Macanudo with a full orchestra. He then took a brief hiatus from performing.
In 1964, Jamal resumed performing after moving to New York, and started a residency at the Village Gate nightclub. He recorded a new album, Extensions, with bassist Jamil S. Nasser in 1965. Jamal and Nasser continued to play together from 1964 to 1972.He also joined forces with Fournier (again, 1965–1966) and drummer Frank Gant (1966–77), among others. Until 1970, he played acoustic piano exclusively. The final album on which he played acoustic piano in the regular sequence was The Awakening. In the 1970s, he played electric piano as well; one such recording was an instrumental recording of "Suicide is Painless," the theme song from the 1970 film MASH, which was released on a 1973 reissue of the film's soundtrack album, replacing the original vocal version of the song by The Mash. It was rumored that the Rhodes piano was a gift from someone in Switzerland. He continued to play throughout the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in trios with piano, bass and drums, but he occasionally expanded the group to include guitar. One of his most long-standing gigs was as the band for the New Year's Eve celebrations at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., from 1979 through the 1990s.
In his 80s, Jamal continued to make numerous tours and recordings, including albums such as Saturday Morning (2013), the CD/DVD release Ahmad Jamal Featuring Yusef Lateef Live at L'Olympia (2014), Marseille (2017), and Ballades (2019), featuring mostly solo piano.Jamal was the main mentor of jazz piano virtuosa Hiromi Uehara, known as Hiromi. In 1986, Jamal sued critic Leonard Feather for using his former name in a publication.
Trained in both traditional jazz ("American classical music", as he preferred to call it) and European classical style, Jamal was praised as one of the greatest jazz innovators over the course of his exceptionally long career. Following bebop greats like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Jamal entered the world of jazz at a time when speed and virtuosic improvisation were central to the success of jazz musicians as artists. Jamal, however, took steps in the direction of a new movement, later coined "cool jazz" – an effort to move jazz in the direction of popular music. He emphasized space between notes in his musical compositions and interpretations instead of focusing on the fast-paced bebop style.
Because of this style, Jamal was "often dismissed by jazz writers as no more than a cocktail pianist, a player so given to fluff that his work shouldn't be considered seriously in any artistic sense". Stanley Crouch, author of Considering Genius, offered a very different reaction to Jamal's music, claiming that, like the highly influential Thelonious Monk, Jamal was a true innovator of the jazz tradition and is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Parker.His unique musical style stemmed from many individual characteristics, including his use of orchestral effects and his ability to control the beat of songs. These stylistic choices resulted in a unique and new sound for the piano trio: "Through the use of space and changes of rhythm and tempo", wrote Crouch, "Jamal invented a group sound that had all the surprise and dynamic variation of an imaginatively ordered big band." Jamal explored the texture of riffs, timbres, and phrases rather than the quantity or speed of notes in any given improvisation. Speaking about Jamal, A. B. Spellman of the National Endowment of the Arts said: "Nobody except Thelonious Monk used space better, and nobody ever applied the artistic device of tension and release better." These (at the time) unconventional techniques that Jamal gleaned from both traditional classical and contemporary jazz musicians helped pave the way for later jazz greats like Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton, Ethan Iverson, and Bill Charlap.
Though Jamal is often overlooked by jazz critics and historians, he is frequently credited with having a great influence on Miles Davis. Davis is quoted as saying that he was impressed by Jamal's rhythmic sense and his "concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement". Miles used to send his crew to concerts of Jamal, so they could learn to play like Miles wanted it. Jamals contrasts, to craft melodies that included strong and mild tones, fast and slow rhythms was what Miles had impressed. Jamal characterized what he thought Davis admired about his music as: "my discipline as opposed to my space." Jamal and Davis became friends in the 1950s, and Davis continued to support Jamal as a fellow musician, often playing versions of Jamal's own songs ("Ahmad's Blues", "New Rhumba") until he died.
Jamal, speaking about his own work, said, "I like doing ballads. They're hard to play. It takes years of living, really, to read them properly." From an early age, Jamal developed an appreciation for the lyrics of the songs he learned: "I once heard Ben Webster playing his heart out on a ballad. All of a sudden he stopped. I asked him, 'Why did you stop, Ben?' He said, 'I forgot the lyrics.' Jamal attributed the variety in his musical taste to the fact that he grew up in several eras: the big band era, the bebop years, and the electronic age.[48] He said his style evolved from drawing on the techniques and music produced in these three eras. In 1985, Jamal agreed to do an interview and recording session with his fellow jazz pianist, Marian McPartland on her NPR show Piano Jazz. Jamal, who said he rarely would play "But Not For Me" due to its popularity after his 1958 recording, played an improvised version of the tune – though only after noting that he moved on to making ninety percent of his repertoire his own compositions. He said that when he grew in popularity from the Live at the Pershing album, he was severely criticized afterwards for not playing any of his own compositions.
In his later years, Jamal embraced the electronic influences affecting the genre of jazz. He also occasionally expanded his usual small ensemble of three to include a tenor saxophone (George Coleman) and a violin. A jazz fan interviewed by Down Beat magazine about Jamal in 2010 described his development as "more aggressive and improvisational these days. The word I used to use is avant garde; that might not be right. Whatever you call it, the way he plays is the essence of what jazz is."
Saxophonist Ted Nash described his experience with Jamal's style in an interview with Down Beat magazine: "The way he comped wasn't the generic way that lots of pianists play with chords in the middle of the keyboard, just filling things up. He gave lots of single line responses. He'd come back and throw things out at you, directly from what you played. It was really interesting because it made you stop, and allowed him to respond, and then you felt like playing something else – that's something I don't feel with a lot of piano players. It's really quite engaging. I guess that's another reason people focus in on him. He makes them hone in."
Jamal recorded with the voices of the Howard A. Roberts Chorale on The Bright, the Blue and the Beautiful and Cry Young; with vibraphonist Gary Burton on In Concert; with brass, reeds, and strings celebrating his hometown of Pittsburgh; with The Assai Quartet; and with tenor saxophonist George Coleman on the album The Essence Part One.
"When I listen to these records now... when I listen to the Pershing, it's phenomenal, I must say. What they were doing, phenomenal, the lines and the purity. It's so pure ... It was sheer joy working with these two individuals. Master musicians," writes pianist/bandleader Ahmad Jamal in the liner notes to this collection.
If there ever was a subject worthy of a Mosaic box set, Jamal is it. For six decades, he has been, for several reasons, one of the most enduring and identifiable artists in jazz, or, as he prefers to describe it, "American classic music." First, there is his sound: a breathtaking amalgam of Erroll Garner's pithy touch, Nat "King" Cole's intricate horn-like, pre-bop lines, and Art Tatum's Mephistophelean technique. Second, Jamal conveys his signature sound through his inventive, crystalline re-arrangements of show tunes, consisting of his intelligent, ingenious interludes, orchestral chord voicings and asymmetrical tempo changes (communicated on stage with mysterious hand signals). Those attributes contributed to the reason third for Jamal's immortality: his 1958 version of the obscure Broadway tune "
All of those aforementioned attributes are highlighted in this terrific and long overdue nine-CD box set, culled from 13 albums, brilliantly produced by Michael Cuscuna, with ebullient liner notes from drummer Kenny Washington - Vocals—who played with Jamal—that chronicle Jamal's trademarked trio with bassist Israel Crosby and drummer Vernel Fournier, mostly on live club dates and some studio records, with unreleased tracks and alternate takes. To set the stage, it's important to know how Jamal arrived in Chicago; the scene of his greatest musical triumphs.
Born in 1930 in Pittsburgh, Jamal was a child prodigy that Art Tatum prophesized would be a "coming great." By the time he was 11 years old, he was already a professional musician, and he received an exceptional musical education that included the classics: European and African-American, from composer Franz Liszt, Tatum and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie to the blues. Discovered by bandleader George Hudson during his senior year at Westinghouse High, he traveled with Hudson to Atlantic City and the Midwest, played with an R&B group The Caldwells and ended up in Chicago. He formed the Four Strings, a drumless quartet consisting of piano, bass, violin and guitar. He later switched from a foursome to a trio sans violin, and recorded for the Parrot and Epic labels before signing with the Argo label in 1955, when he released his last drumless trio recording, Chamber Music of the New Jazz, with guitarist Ray Crawford and Israel Crosby. Another Chicago treasure, Crosby previously played with clarinetist Benny Goodman, and is one of the music's most criminally underrated musicians, whose impeccable intonation and sure-footed, rock-steady basslines were indispensable to the Jamal sound.
Jamal eventually added the trap drums in place of the guitar. The first eight tracks on the first CD are from Jamal's first drum-trio studio Argo album, Count 'Em 88, with Walter Perkins, a capable local drummer. Perkins transferred the conga rhythms that the guitarist in the Four Strings played to the drums, as evidenced by the bouncy take on the Russian folksong "Volga Boatman," and a pedal point-pulsed "Green Dolphin Street," along with two early original compositions , the 4/4 numbers "Beat Out One," "Aki and Ukthay (Brother and Sister)" and "Jim Love Sue," along with the wistful, ivory tickled ballad dedicated to his first wife, "Maryam."
Everything that we have come to associate with Jamal—what Washington writes in the liner notes as "Jamalisms"—is heard here: his near impossible arpeggios, tricky, unexpected bursts of piano prowess, his penchant for dancing, Latin-style, brush- beats, grooving, ostinato basslines, and lush dynamics. But with all of those "Jamalisms" in place, it was addition of the New Orleans Creole Vernel Fournier, who replaced Perkins, that rocketed the Jamal trio into the orbit of stardom. Fournier's unique ability to bridge Crescent City cadences with Afro-Latin rhythms set the standard for all drummers who came after him in the Jamal triad, including his Big Easy homeboys Idris Muhammad and Herlin Riley, which explains the dynamic difference on the music on the next disc.
Disc two contains the treasure of the entire box set. Recorded in a Black South Side lounge called the Pershing, in 1958, the immortal sides from this historic date came to be known as the album But Not for Me: Ahmad Jamal Live at the Pershing. Simply put, this is arguably the greatest live jazz recording ever made. The superb, digital remastering puts you right next Jamal's percolating keyboard, where you can hear and almost feel him tickling those ivories, and the finger-snapping, vocal African-American clientele adds to the recorded magic. Jamal, Crosby, and Fournier are in superb form; in perfect, swinging sympatico. The mid-tempo title track grooves with the same kind of cool intensity of a Modern Jazz Quartet treatment, with what Washington describes as a "businessman's bounce tempo,"
But of course, its Jamal's complete reimaging of the show tune "Poinciana" that steals the show. Jamal proves on this selection why he deserves to also be listed as one of jazz's greatest arrangers. Buoyed by Fournier's funky and finessed, Afro-Carib/second line pulsations, and Crosby's "hipnotic" lines, he explores, extends and exploits the composition's rhythmic, melodic and harmonic possibilities in cool, compelling and calculated chorus after chorus, much in the same way Duke Ellington did on his equally stupendous, masterpiece live cut, "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," recorded a couple of years earlier. What comes through on this session, and on the second volume recorded at the Pershing in June of that same year,
If Jamal's career had stopped at that recording, his place in jazz would have been assured. But as the rest of the tracks on this box set show, Jamal and company built on the success of But Not for Me with sustained artistry and creativity. Disc three features tracks recorded at Washington, DC's Spotlite Club, another African-American venue. By now, Jamal and his triad are stars, and they do not disappoint. Dig the 4/4, soulful "Ahmad Blues" (contrast this track with the big-band version from a 1959 TV clip from the Robert Herridge Theater, currently running on YouTube), along with "Seleritus," a plaintive, walking ballad dedicated to a young boy Jamal knew that was released as a single; a rousing rendition of the swing-era classic 'Stompin' at the Savoy" (with a Jamalian quote of the "
Disc four's selections range from 1959 to 1961, and it includes more tracks from the Spotlite gig, including the Caribbean-cadenced "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes," which later become associated with saxophonist John Coltrane, and the bop-era chestnut "Our Delight," based on Tadd Dameron's 1946 arrangement for Dizzy Gillespie's big band, and Jamal's second studio session, Happy Moods, which featured a number of tracks in the key of C, of all things. Jamal's inventive take at the classical composer Morton Gould's "Pavanne," a movement taken from his larger work, American Symphonette, No. 2, is the album's most interesting track. It's a bouncy, upbeat number, and the fun begins on the bridge, where the riff-like melody sounds very similar to Coltrane's "Impressions,"
Disc five contains Listen to the Ahmad Jamal Quintet, a studio date with former sidemen guitarist Ray Crawford and violinist/arranger and Pittsburgh partner Joe Kennedy. Jamal and company deliver a Chicago-meets-Rio take of Ary Barroso's sambafied, Brazilian standard "Baia," which is still in Jamal's book. Jamal at the Penthouse—a trio-plus-strings project arranged by Kennedy—shows what Jamal's orchestral/trio approach sounds like backed by a real pizzicato-pulsed, string orchestra that featured the legendary jazz/classical violinist Harry Lookofsky, especially on the bouncy take on 'Ivy,' Bennett's harmonically advanced, Billy Strayhorn-like ballad "Sophisticated Gentleman."
Discs six and seven contains tracks from Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra, another live Chicago date, recorded at Jamal's elegant, elaborate and short-lived restaurant/nightclub in 1961. With better recording fidelity, the inventions and dimensions of Jamal's triad dance and trance with greater clarity , especially on the Crescent City-cadenced "Love For Sale," fueled by Fournier's Negroidally-nuanced, Louisiana drumming, the after-hours embered "Willow Weep for Me," an anthemic rendition of "Broadway" and a svelte, spare version of "Poinciana." Three previously unreleased studio selections that Jamal refused to release have finally seen the light of day. The medium-tempo swinger "Chi-Town" (AKA "Gem") was written by bassist Bill Lee (Spike's father),
On the last two discs you can hear where Jamal left his trio heart in San Francisco's famous Blackhawk club, in 1962; his last live date with Fournier and Crosby. And what a way to go out: By this time, the trio's rapport is as good as telepathic, as evidenced by the haunting version of Claude Thornhill's pre-Birth of the Cool classic "Snowfall," and a funkier version of "Poinciana," that ironically would not have seen recorded because the engineer forgot to turn off the tape recorder when Jamal played old material at live gigs (a technique then often used for saving tape). That year, Crosby and Fournier would leave Jamal to play with pianist George Shearing (though Fournier would occasionally play with Jamal in subsequent years). Crosby would die unexpectedly that same year and Jamal would move to New York,
In perfect complement to the music, kudos must also be given for the extremely rare photos, mostly from Jamal's private collection, that show him as a precocious little lad who seemed to know that he would take the world by storm. Kenny Washington's extensive interview with Jamal offers the most comprehensive and detailed biographical information on the pianist ever assembled for a record release. Jamal talks in detail to Washington about how the industrial inner city of Pittsburgh—which gave birth musical to a whole host of stars—from Billy Strayhorn, drummers Art Blakey and Kenny Clarke and saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, to guitarist George Benson and pianist Mary Lou Williams —and about the incredible music education he received from teachers like Mary Cardwell Dawson, who created the first African-American company,
This project—years in the making, as producer Michael Cuscuna reckons in the liner notes—was a labor love that lays out in linear detail the early ascent of the magnificent arc of the eternal artistry of Ahmad Jamal, now into his astonishing eighth decade. And this set should—once and for all—reveal what many musicians have known for years: that Vernel Fournier and Israel Crosby are two of the finest drummers and bassists of all time.
There’s nothing in jazz quite as beautiful or enchanting as the crystalline sound of Ahmad Jamal’s piano. Characterised by delicate, glistening filigrees of melody underpinned by subtly nuanced chords, Jamal brought a new sensibility and approach to jazz piano playing when he started recording in the 1950s. Back then, Jamal – who was originally born Fritz Jones but changed his name when he adopted the Islamic faith in 1952 – cast a spell on many musicians, including Miles Davis, who claimed that the Pittsburgh-born pianist exerted a powerful influence on his own musical style, especially in regard to his use of space. Indeed, Miles frequently borrowed tunes and ideas from Jamal’s’ repertoire and even famously covered the pianist’s ‘New Rhumba’ on his classic 1957 Gil Evans-arranged LP, ‘Miles Ahead.’ Jamal’s original version appeared on the Argo LP, ‘Chamber Music Of The Jazz’ in 1955, when the pianist led a drum-less trio that included Ray Crawford on guitar. In 1956, though, Jamal, brought in a drummer (Walter Perkins, who was replaced after one LP by the distinctive Vernel Fournier), dropped the guitar and helped establish the piano/bass/drums line up as the standard configuration for the jazz trio.
Truly fabulous box set that focuses on the Jamal trio’s oeuvre for Argo, the jazz imprint of Chicago’s legendary Chess label. Comprising 129 tracks distributed over 9 CDs, it’s a colossal package (it’s also been five years in the making) and as well as including all twelve of Jamal’s Argo albums recorded during the period 1956-1962, it includes a raft of previously unreleased tracks (23 in all). The set reaffirms what an extraordinarily gifted pianist Jamal is (he’s still alive – he was 70 earlier this year). His touch here is sublime and he manages to marry delicacy and elegance with precision and still communicate a sense of emotional depth. There are countless highlights here, among them ‘Volga Boatman’ – Jamal’s imaginative arrangement of a Russian folk song -‘Poinciana’ (a live version of the tune taken from the best selling album ‘But For Me’ recorded at Chicago’s Pershing Lounge), and ‘Surrey With The Fringe On Top.’ Even though there are a few original tunes scattered throughout the album (like the classic ‘Ahmad’s Blues’) what’s most striking is Jamal’s facility to take a piece written by someone else and transform it completely by filtering it though his own musical personality.
In terms of newly-discovered material, many are live cuts but there are also a clutch of rare studio cuts – including Cole Porter’s ‘Love For Sale’ and a nicely grooving rendition of Irving Berlin’s ‘Cheek To Cheek,’ the latter illustrating Jamal’s penchant for extreme dynamics, with the music switching from fortissimo to pianissimo at the drop of a hat. As with all Mosaic box sets, the Jamal set is a strictly limited edition item (only 5,000 will be manufactured) and is packaged in an LP-sized box complete with a large booklet packed with the kind of esoteric discographical minutiae that will please jazz anoraks. The best thing about the booklet, though, is Kenny Washington’s lengthy interview with Ahmad Jamal, who got involved in the project by providing some rare photos and giving his approval to the unreleased material.
Recorded in East Berlin, 22 April, 1979, released in 1980 with the disclaimer, "musicians do not bear any responsibility for publishing this tape".
The first самиздат / samizdat LP in the West from tapes smuggled out of the USSR. Legendary recording that gave birth to Leo Records.
"This is one of the very important jazz records of recent times... "
(The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP & Cassette by R. Cook & B. Morton).
It's quite paradoxical that Ganelin Trio, most probably the only European band which played free jazz by the same way and on the same level of creativity and virtuosity as genre's American leaders, have deep Eurasian roots. Founded in early 70s in Vilnius, capital city of then Russians occupied Lithuania, it included three emigrants from Russia motherland.
Leader pianist and composer Vyacheslav (Slava) Ganelin was born in a family of Russian Jews not far from Moscow in the end of WWII and moved to occupied Vilnius with his parents at age 4. Sax player Vladimir Chekasin born in Sverdlovsk (now - Yekaterinburg), Ural's industrial town right on the border between Europe and Asia. He graduated as classic clarinet artist in his hometown conservatory and moved to Vilnius at 24. Drummer Vladimir Tarasov comes from Russian sub-Arctic city of Archangelsk, an important Russian Navy port in the Far North, where he played jazz in local clubs still being teenager. At 19 he started music studies in St. Petersburg Conservatory but was dismissed the same year because he played Jazz and it was considered "Enemy Propaganda. He didn't return to Archangelsk but moved to Vilnius, where he started playing jazz with pianist Ganelin in the legendary Vilnius' "Neringa" restaurant.
So, in 1971 in Vilnius, three future avant-garde jazz giants founded the trio which influenced all Lithuanian jazz scene for decades ahead. For outsiders, it's almost impossible to imagine in what kind of world this trio's music was born. A century earlier the Russian Empire had banned the use of Lithuanian language in any form other than spoken word (i.i. books,newspapers,schools and University education on Lithuanian all were under the ban), their successors Soviet Empire banned on all controlled territories any forms of Western culture, with the exception of classical music. Rock and Jazz were classified as "Rotten Capitalism" propaganda and the one was forbidden and the other under pressure and strict control as well. Vilnius (besides of Tallinn in Estonia, another Russian occupied Baltic state) was a true mecca for semi-underground jazz since during the Soviet rule it became a quite isolated place, kind of sleepy province far from Moscow and Leningrad where everything was under strict control of KGB eyes. In Lithuania there even existed a jazz studies in State Conservatory (established not in capital Vilnius, but in Klaipeda - smaller town 300 km west on Baltic coast, even more far from Big Brother's eyes).
So, there was some fresh air for jazz musicians to breath in Vilnius with possibility to play in restaurants, University halls and even on local radio / TV in rare cases. On the other hand, Vilnius was in such isolation from the world as any other place in the Evil Empire. There was no possibility to buy jazz records or to hear modern jazz played on radio (rare exception was a Polish radio often plying pop jazz, it was possible to hear it in Vilnius). The only source of musical news was contraband LP's coming from West which were extremely rare, banned and as a result unbelievable expensive (the price of them often being the worth of several weeks' salary).
There was an active exchange of second hand vinyl and home-made tapes between musicians and jazz fans as well which often was the main source of any new information. In that atmosphere three young musicians with classical music education and underground street-wise new jazz information started playing music never heard there before. As a result, Ganelin Trio, especially on early stage, sounded as fresh and unexpected European version of Art Ensemble of Chicago: they played lot of instruments (often sounding as much bigger combo than real trio) mixing American free jazz with their classic music formal roots and Russian folklore.
There are lot of recordings from late 70s - early 80s by the trio, but almost all of them are bootleg level live tapes, smuggled through the border and released in UK by another Russian Jew emigre in UK Leo Feigin on his Leo records. "Live In East Germany" is a good example of such release - rare foreign gig (recorded in Eastern Germany), as usually - one long composition divided on two vinyl sides. The Ganelin Trio sounds as much bigger band (Ganelin even plays some distorted guitars closer to the end of the gig, Chekasin plays multiple saxophones simultaneously), there is lot of freedom, lot of melodies, hyper-energy of their live shows and lot of humor and circus as well.
The music sounds fresh and surprisingly well organized, which makes evident the musicians classical education. Don't be fooled by the year of the concert - because of the Iron Curtain free jazz came to this part of Europe much laterthan in the rest of the world. Taking in account the time correction because of political reasons, they are as fresh as US free jazz of mid 60s.
One great (and for many jazz fans unexpectable) music, it is easier acceptable now because of some re-issues around. Ganelin left for Israel in 1987 disbanding the trio, he teaches music in Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy and plays regular concerts in Vilnius. Chekasin teaches in same Academy and runs the students big band, Tarasov switched towards avant-garde audio-visual arts, one can hear/see his new installations regularly.
Vyacheslav Ganelin (piano, guitar, percussion), Vladimir Tarasov (drums, percussion) and Vladimir Chekasin (reeds), aka the Ganelin Trio, were a legend in the Soviet Union. The tape of this performance from East Berlin in 1979 was smuggled out of the USSR by a German tourist and released on LP by Leo Records in 1981 with the following disclaimer: "The musicians do not bear any responsibility for publishing this tape." CATALOGUE made an instant impact among Western critics unaware of the maturity of the jazz and new music scene developing in the Soviet Union despite political repression. By the time CATALOGUE was recorded the Ganelin Trio had been together for eight years, and their mutual understanding is strikingly apparent in this structured suite lasting 46 minutes. Bop, free and folk inform the music which is always more than a miscellany of styles. The transitions from one section to the next are seamless, though audience enthusiasm tends to mask some of the subtlety with which they are executed. The variety and progression of ideas is remarkable and reveals three multi-instrumentalist virtuosi redefining the possibilities of the jazz trio.
Vyacheslav Ganelin: piano, bells, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, trombone, tambourine Vladimir Tarasov: percussion, drums, trumpet, rabob Vladimir Chekasin: saxophones: alto, tenor, baritone; ocarina, tenor and soprano flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet, violin
Recorded 1980, Vilnius The second LP by the famous Lithuanian trio. Highly recommended!
Concerto Grosso, the Ganelin trio second record on Melodia, was originally released in 1980. Classically precise and stylistically perfectly balanced, Concerto Grosso is a 'studio' work more than any other Ganelin album. Like nowhere before or after, musicians experimented with the recording studio.
01. Džiazo Kontrastai, Con Anima (Part 1) 02. Džiazo Kontrastai (Pabaiga), Con Anima (Part 2)
Vyacheslav Ganelin – piano, keyboards [basset] Vladimir Chekasin – alto sax, tenor sax, clarinet, chalumeau Vladimir Tarasov – drums, percussion
In 1968, Ganelin formed a trio with percussionist Vladimir Tarasov and saxophonist Vladimir Rezitsky. Rezitsky left the trio in 1971, and was replaced with Vladimir Chekasin. The trio, called Ganelin Trio or GTCh, combined free jazz with elements of folk and classic music. It achieved critical acclaim in Soviet Union and abroad.
This line-up was solidified in 1971 and blew minds for a couple of decades. They started releasing albums - pretty much all of them live - in the late '70s for Russian emigre Leo Feigin's Leo Records imprint, and began to play jazz festivals in western Europe. Jazz critics worth a bean hailed them as the best free jazz group in the world. They might a been right.
In 1976 the trio performed at the Warsaw Jazz Jamboree. The same year, its first album, Con anima, was released...
The 1980 performance at the Berlin Jazz Festival was described by Joachim-Ernst Berendt "the wildest and yet the best organized and most professional free jazz I've heard in years".
The Ganelin Trio sounding like a basement-dwelling eastern European version of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. There's some truth in that - the use of "small" and unconventional instrumenets in the mix, for one - but whereas the AEOC looked towards Africa for inspiration, Ganelin Trio are pure Euro avant-garde, mixing up folk melodies, Russophilian classical motifs (I doubt that's even a word...), hard-arsed improv of the FMP/Incus school and a real swing, the kind of momentum you only get from players who really understand jazz and that it's supposed to move.
Ganelin even plays synth and electric keys on occasion, and it absolutely works within the music. Chekasin's sax work closely resembles Ornette's late '60s/early '70s playing - high-energy blasts which rarely delve into Ayleresque screech territory - and Tarasov's percussive experiments are totally engaging in their use of all manner of kitchen-sink materials. Engaging is exactly what this music is. It never stays in the same place for too long, and the manner in which it combines what sound like familiar melodies w/ hot-wired improv is the stuff of the gods.
The music of the Ganelin Trio is something which should be known far and wide, certainly outside of its contemporary listenership of Wire readers and hopeless jazz nerds (both spectrums of which cover me adequately, thanks). You don't wanna miss this boat: they're totally worth it. Vyacheslav is still musically active today, making vital sounds 30-40 years later.
01. Collage 5:11 02. The Way I Feel Sometimes 5:17 03. Patrice 4:40 04. Kathy 4:08 05. Sara 4:29 06. Night People 6:29 07. Invitation To Love 5:02 08. Visions 3:56
Flute, English Horn, Bass Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Don Menza Flute, Tenor Saxophone – Hadley Caliman, Frederick Seykora Congas, Bongos, Percussion – Victor Pantoja Drums – Harvey Mason Electric Bass – Darrell Clayborn Electric Piano – Joachim Young, Patrice Rushen Guitar – Ralph Walsh
Piano – Joe Gallardo Synthesizer, Piano – Richard Kermode Trombone, Horns [Baritone] – Frank Rosolino Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Luis Gasca Tuba – Ray Draper Vibraphone – Bobby Hutcherson Viola – Allan Harshman, David Schwartz
Violin – Gerald Vinci, Marvin Limonick, Robert Sushel, Stanley Plummer
This is the first time this 1976 release has entered the market as a digital product, and BGP (Ace Records/EU) has done an admirable job presenting it.
The packaging reproduces the cover art and adds an insightful essay that places the album in its context within the San Francisco music scene of the 1970s. My only gripe with the graphics is that I need a magnifying glass to read the musician credits that appear on the panel that originally was the back cover of the LP jacket. A necessary but painful concession to the CD format.
But what a lineup! Fellow latin funk-soulsters Joachim Young, Victor Pantoja & Richard Kermode alongside jazz stalwarts Harvey Mason, Bobby Hutcherson, Frank Rosolino & Patrice Rushen. The chance to hear Don Menza doing charts outside of his standard big band bag is, on its own, worth the price of the disc. Bonus - a "Pat O'Hearn" appears as well!
I remember thinking back in the day that the LP sounded a bit too dry for my ears. Well, my more "mature" ear no longer considers this a fault, and the remastering does a nice job of preserving the LP sound. Dry, yes, but immediate, nicely detailed and well-balanced.
Gasca's playing is fluent and lucid throughout. No vocals to get in the way of the music.
I can't compare this album to others in his career, but this one has always been a favorite of mine. It should appeal to fans of Azteca, Malo, Santana, and the city of San Francisco in the 1970s. Get it before its gone!
01. A Love Supreme 02. Dr. Gasca 03. Search For Peace 04. I Was Born To Love You (Yo Naci Para Quererte) 05. New Orleans Strut 06. Samba Para San Francisco 07. Just Say Goodbye 08. Ayeres
Luis Gasca: flugelhorn, trumpet, composer, arranger Oscar Brashear: trumpet Ray Pizzi: soprano saxophone, alto flute, tenor saxophone, bassoon Joe Henderson: tenor saxophone, alto flute Hadley Caliman: tenor saxophone, flute Jack DeJohnette: electric piano, drums, composer, arranger Mark Levine: piano, electric piano, valve trombone John Heard: acoustic bass, electric bass Carmelo Garcia: timbales, congas Victor Pantoja: congas, maracas George Duke: piano, keyboards, electric piano Julian Priester: trombone Joe Gallardo: trombone, electric piano, piano, arranger, composer Eddie Henderson: trumpet, flugelhorn Terry Bozzio: drums
Luis Gasca surely is one of the greatest forgotten or underrated trumpet players. He worked with Maynard Ferguson, Lionel Hampton, Janis Joplin, Santana, Malo and Mongo Santamaria, to name a few. This album in latin fusion and soul-jazz style is varied between easy going, lively and highly emotional with allways remarkable solo parts
01. Street Dude 11:40 02. La Raza 8:03 03. Spanish Gypsy 15:07 04. Little Mama
Bass – Stanley Clarke Congas – Mike Carabello, Victor Pantoja Drums – Lenny White, Mike Shrieve Flute – Hadley Caliman Guitar – Carlos Santana, Neal Schon Percussion – Garnette Mims, Joan MacGregor, Rico Reyes, Snooky Flowers Piano, Electric Piano – George Cables, Greg Rolie, Mark Levine Tenor Saxophone – Joe Henderson Timbales – Carmelo Garcia, Coke Escovedo Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Luis Gasca Vibraphone [Vibes] – José "Chepito" Areas
Born 1940 in Texas, Mexican trumpeter Luis Gasca cut his teeth playing with jazz giants such as Count Basie and Stan Kenton, and Afro-Cuban doyens including Mongo Santamaria and Tito Puente but, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was a long-haired, in-demand sideman on San Francisco’s Bay Area psychedelic scene, playing with Janis Joplin at Woodstock and on albums by the Grateful Dead and Santana. In fact, the whole of Santana’s classic line-up plays on this, his second disc as a leader. With just four long, leisurely, percussion-drenched tracks, it’s a latin-jazz jam-band dream, with none other than Joe Henderson adding smoky tenor that ratchets up the intensity and mystery, and fusion avatars Stanley Clark and Lenny White super-charging the grooves. Think of it as a direct descendant of In A Silent Way, but with a lysergic twist and Miles’s tentative phrases replaced by Gasca’s brash, sassy blasts.
Luis Gasca was one of the hottest trumpet players in California during the 1970s, recording a handful of albums fueled by the drugs, the culture, and the excitement of that time and place. Though they all featured large ensembles, only one of them allowed some of the era's most legendary musicians to blur the lines separating jazz, latin, and rock and roll.
"Everyone should have two favorite cities; their own and San Francisco," claimed Gasca. It was there, at the now-defunct Columbia Studios, that For Those Who Chant was recorded. Which makes sense, given the history of its contributors. Along with Gasca himself was a young George Cables, who spent most of the seventies on the west coast, building a reputation as a reliable, inventive pianist for numerous frontmen. This included saxophonist Joe Henderson, who had a large footprint on this album. Carlos Santana was joined by Neal Schon and Gregg Rolie; both would leave his band a year later to form Journey, eventually dedicating their first hit song "Lights" to the city by the bay.
Just in case that didn't ramp expectations into the stratosphere, the menagerie of talent on flute, percussion, timbales, congas, and drums were rounded out by Grammy-winning bassist Stanley Clarke.
For Those Who Chant wears its excesses well, pitting the 'cool' sounds of the west coast against the technical prowess of its lineup. Even at an immodest eleven minutes in length, "Street Dude" is served up as an appetizer for the album. It's there to ease listeners into the experience. Not that Gasca wastes any time setting the mood—the trumpeter charges out unrestrained over what could easily pass for vintage Santana. He closes the song by making good on the title's premise, with tribal chanting and chattering sweeping it into a fade out.
Tense percussion and piano drive the tension of "La Raza" as Henderson and Gasca blow wild lines over an increasingly chaotic setting. As that tension stretches to a breaking point, the band flips a switch and eases the rhythm back to something manageable. "Spanish Gypsy" opens with chimes and a heavy bass line from Clark. A pattering of congas fades away as the band feints into a second start, and it's most evident here how thoroughly they've managed to meld the multi-genre influences. Cables is finally given something more to do that act as an accompanist, but unfortunately doesn't have adequate time to take advantage of it. The biggest disappointment this recording delivers is that he and both guitarists serve more as ambience than soloists, but "Spanish Gypsy" is an extended enough piece to highlight their input to some degree.
The album ends with "Little Mama," a sub-six minute composition which feels a little tacked on after the bombast of its predecessor. While the tune doesn't quite have the chops one might anticipate, it serves well as a nightcap to a wild studio party; one with enough intricacy behind it to reward those who pay close enough attention to pick out the contributions of each musician.
Luis Gasca would release two more recordings after this one before disappearing completely. The excesses of the time and trade were taking their toll on both himself and his contemporaries. "I stopped (playing) because I was self destructive. I was burned out," he admitted. "That's when I knew it was time for me to go." He came to realize that in order to save the musician, he had to sacrifice the music. That which he made, both as leader and with such luminaries as Janis Joplin, Van Morrison, and Stan Kenton, are the bright remains of a very specific period. For Those Who Chant has one hell of a pedigree. The results mostly live up to the expectations that creates, offering up an effort ripe with unbridled enthusiasm.
01. Just A Little Bit 3:45 02. Motherless Child 6:49 03. Nancy 4:13 04. Cosia No. 2 7:52 05. Afro-Blue 8:32 06. Joy Ride 7:03 07. Sweet Pea 2:45
Bass – Charles Rainey, Dave Herscher, Richard Davis Bata – Jullito Collazo Congas – Mongo Santamaria Cowbell – Marty Sheller Drums – Bernard Purdie, Mickey Roker Flute – Hubert Laws, Lew Tabackin Piano – Herbie Hancock, Mark Levine, Paul Griffin Tenor Saxophone – Joe Henderson Timbales – Steve Berrios Trombone – Joe Gallardo
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Luis Gasca
Not phenomenal, but not bad at all. And there are some NAMES on this thing, from Herbie Hancock and Joe Henderson to Hubert Laws, Richard Davis, and even Mongo Santamaria. It is fairly herky-jerky, though.
Most of that boils down to the fact that the album was recorded at three different sessions by three very, VERY different lineups. Session #1 was the one Mongo Santamaria played on, so I'll call it the "Mongo session." It notably features a four-piece Latin percussion ensemble instead of a dedicated guy-behind-the-drumkit like the other two sessions have. The "Mongo session" tracks are A2, A3, B1, and technically B3, though that last one's just a duet between Gasca and pianist Mark Levine. But the other three are right in Mongo's wheelhouse, with A2 and A3 featuring a nine piece band and B1 trimming it down to an octet. Of the nine guys that played on the Mongo session, only Joe Henderson (and Gasca, obviously) would appear on either of the other two sessions' tracks.
Session #2 was the one Herbie Hancock and Richard Davis played on, and it produced A4 and B2; both tracks feature Hubert Laws, with A4 also featuring a return from Henderson. The drummer on the session was Mickey Roker, whose rap sheet as a sideman is mind-boggling in its own right. At the time of this album Roker had been playing with Duke Pearson for a while, but I think the connection here is that he'd been the drummer on Hancock's Speak Like a Child eight months prior to this session. In turn, Roker probably recommended Lew Tabackin as a second flautist after having played with him on Pearson's Introducing Duke Pearson's Big Band even earlier. A4 features a seven piece band, whereas the sans-Henderson B2 features a six piece.
Session #3 is the odd one out. It produced the opening track and only the opening track, a one-off that sounds nothing like the rest of the album. It's got another appearance from Hubert Laws on flute, but (again, apart from Gasca) he's the only holdout here from the first two sessions. This time around the void is filled by three heavyweight session musicians: Paul Griffin on piano, Chuck Rainey on bass, and Bernard Purdie on drums. Why they were only available for one song, I dunno. But that brings the track's band to a five piece.
So it can't be too shocking that the album has some consistency problems. That opener's got great downhome bumpin' mellow soul grooves, but it's the only track here that does. The "Mongo session" tracks (with the exception of the forgettable-but-brief trumpet/piano duet B3) are obviously a hell of a lot more Cubano than the rest of the album, but while none of them are bad (the four minute A3 has some awfully pretty chord changes), I wish the seven minute A2 and particularly the eight and a half minute B1 did a *lot* more over their runtimes than they actually do. It was the only time Joe Henderson and Mongo ever worked together, and A2 and B1 do feel like the exact meeting point of their respective styles by the end of the 60s. But if you ask me, both of 'em started doing substantially more interesting stuff after 1969.
It's the two Hancock session tracks that inspired me to write this review... well, okay, one of the two tracks. B2's fine. It's not great, but it's fine. But A4 is a moooooonster. It's got much more pronounced post-bop vibes, and Hancock's piano solo... is unfuckingbelievable. It's one of the most incredible solos I've ever heard. Ever. He's conjuring some mean, mean shit.
But yeah, the album itself is a slightly bumpy ride and the B-side doesn't hold a candle to the A-side. That having been said, *none* of the seven tracks are out and out bad and that superior A-side is four minutes longer than the B-side anyway. So it might be a bit bumpy, but it never stops being solid. And there's some good news regarding the album's availability: I'd assumed this one hadn't been reissued on CD, but it turns out it was. Collectables Jazz Classics issued it as the second disc of a two-unrelated-albums-sold-together thingy in 2000, with disc one being Horizons by Ira Sullivan. The link is that they were both jazz albums on Atlantic in the late 60s with seven tracks apiece, but that's the only link. Unfortunately, the problem is that there doesn't appear to be a rip of that twofer set currently floating around anywhere. There's an incomplete rip that's only got five of the set's fourteen tracks, and this album's two best tracks A1 and A4 aren't among those five. Presumably that'd be way too easy or something, I dunno. There's always some weird catch. Luckily, Rhino/Atlantic put the masters up on YouTube only a couple months ago, and as it usually is when licensing companies dump the masters straight onto YouTube, it sounds fantastic.
