Air - 1971 - Air

Air

1971

Air

01. Realize – 3:47

02. Mr. Man – 3:12

03. Baby, I Don’t Know Where Love – 4:34

04. Martin – 2:37

05. In Our Time – 5:08

06. Man Is Free – 4:25

07. Sister Bessie – 2:32

08. Lipstick – 4:37

09. Man’s Got Style – 2:52

10. Jail Cell – 5:10

11. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free – 3:36

John Siegler — Bass

Mark Rosengarden — Drums

Tom Coppola — Organ, Piano

Googie Coppola — Vocals, Piano, Organ, Harpsichord

Herbie Mann — percussion

Randy Brecker — trumpet

Mike Brecker — tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Barry Rogers — trombone

Dave Johnson — congas, timbales

Robert Kogel — guitar

Bob Rosengarden — vibraphone

Jann Hammer — percussion

Herbie Mann — percussion

Long Island’s Air only album is a soulful jazz-rock masterpiece that deserves to shine after being held, by those lucky enough to find original copies on Embryo, as one of the great long lost record of the early 1970s.

Selectors such as Jeremy Underground, Hunee and Floating Points, all have praised this Herbie Mann produced pop-goes-jazz-fusion statement as a highlight in their collection. Not to be confused with French duo Air, this group featured the amazing talent of Googie Coppola on vocals and an impressive cast of musicians who collaborated with Flora Purim and Ray Barretto. Whether it’s the funky groove of Mr. Man or the lighter touches of Jail Cell, the expressive voice of Googie blends itself in a unique way with great songwriting and a strong musical knowledge at work here. The beauty of a song like Sister Bessie is simply unbelievable and brings to mind some of Roberta Flack’s most memorable moments.

There’s a sense of abandon that absolutely recalls it’s era. Nonetheless, Air is a jazz band that comes across with a wide range of styles (blending folk, soul, funk and progressive rock) in a very unique way that makes this album standout on it’s own. You tend to hear influences from Billie Holliday to Marvin Gaye, Carole King, or even Herbie Hancock, yet this music sounds like nothing else. Frequently quite impressive, this is the compelling listen that needs to be heard by a larger audience. Once again, Be With prove that they are among the top reissue labels at the moment with a genuine sense of detail in every aspect of their work.

Not to be confused with the French techno band or the R&B band from the late '80s. Air was one of the groups featured on Herbie Mann's Embryo label, a jazz/rock imprint of Atlantic from the early 1970s. It featured Googie Coppola on vocals.

Air's sound was extremely jazz based with a slight pop influence. The main selling point was Googie Coppolla's vocals. Whether telling off an ex-lover in "Mr. Man" or telling a Lolita tale in "Man Is Free", her voice is strong and lovely at the same time. Unfortunately, not all the songs are up to the same level, and the album starts to fall apart toward the end.

Still, if you can find it, it is definitely worth picking up, as it is one of the lost gems of the early 1970s and probably the Embryo label's best release.

Machito And His Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble - 1959 - With Flute To Boot

Machito And His Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble

1959

With Flute To Boot

01. Brazilian Soft Shoe 2:17
02. Love Chant 3:10
03. Afro-Jazziac 4:18
04. Ring A Levio 2:52
05. Afternoon Death 3:29
06. To Birdland And Hurry 3:10
07. Calypso John 2:02
08. The African Flute 2:56
09. Bacao 4:28
10. Carabunta 3:38
11. The Davis Cup 3:13
12. sAnswer Me 3:34

Flute, Written-By – Herbie Mann
Music Director – Frank "Machito" Grillo
Orchestra – Machito & His Afro-Cubans
Producer – Teddy Reig
Tenor Saxophone – Johnny Griffin
Trombone – Curtis Fuller

Machito played a huge role in the history of Latin jazz, for his bands of the 1940s were probably the first to achieve a fusion of powerful Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz improvisation. At its roaring best, the band had a hard-charging sound, loaded with jostling, hyperactive bongos and congas and razor-edged riffing brass. Machito was the front man, singing, conducting, shaking maracas, while his brother-in-law Mario Bauza was the innovator behind the scenes, getting Machito to hire jazz-oriented arrangers. The son of a cigar manufacturer, Machito became a professional musician in Cuba in his teens before he emigrated to America in 1937 as a vocalist with La Estrella Habanera. He worked with several Latin artists and orchestras in the late '30s, recording with the then-dominant Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat. After an earlier aborted attempt to launch a band with Bauza, Machito founded the Afro-Cubans in 1940, taking on Bauza the following year as music director where he remained for 35 years. After making some early 78s for Decca, the Afro-Cubans really began to catch on after the end of World War II, appearing with -- and no doubt influencing -- Stan Kenton's orchestra (Machito played maracas on Kenton's recordings of "The Peanut Vendor" and "Cuban Carnival") and recording some exciting sides for Mercury and Clef. Upon Bauza's urging, Machito's band featured a galaxy of American jazz soloists on its recordings from 1948 to 1960, including Charlie Parker (heard memorably on "No Noise"), Dizzy Gillespie, Flip Phillips, Howard McGhee, Buddy Rich, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Mann, Curtis Fuller and Johnny Griffin. Playing regularly at New York's Palladium, Machito's band reached its peak of popularity during the mambo craze of the 1950s, survived the upheavals of the '60s and despite the loss of Bauza in 1976, continued to work frequently in the '60s, '70s, and early '80s when the term "salsa" came into use. The band recorded for Pablo (in tandem with Gillespie) and Timeless in its later years, and was playing Ronnie Scott's club in London in 1984 when Machito suffered a fatal stroke. A documentary film by Carlo Ortiz, Machito: A Latin Jazz Legacy, was released in 1987.

From the back cover: Machito has for years been one of the leading exponents of Afro-Cuban jazz. His experimentations and excursions into this realm have been highly successful and in this collection he once again shows the extent of his understanding and experiences in this complicated but adventurous music.

In a previous Afro-Cuban album, "Kenya," Machete's main interest was in presenting the various percussion instruments such as bongos, timbales, guiros, congas and maracas. In this set, the concentration is more on presenting the featured soloists in relationship to the full sound of the Machito orchestra. It also places heavy emphasis on authenticity of rhythm whereas the Kenya album was keyed to a greater reliance on melody.

All material in this album was written and arranged by the featured flutist, Herbie Mann. It should be noted here that Herbie Mann has written and arranged for countless small ensembles; this however, marks his first effort with a big band. His effort is an excellent one! Not only in his talented performance on flute always prevalent, but throughout, his keen awareness of authenticity marks the album as a unique jazz accomplishment. Along with his regular flute used on such numbers as "Ring A Levio" and "Carabunta," he uses the alto flute on "Bacao," a lovely slow Afro-rhythm melody, the E-flat flute on "Brazilian Soft Shoe," which features Johnny Griffin on tenor and Curtis Fuller on trombone with a quick samba rhythm and a very different African flute which can be heard on "The African Flute" which features a 'Bata' rhythm in 6/8 time, and "Love Chain" which carries a 'baba' rhythm and features the use of a chorus of voices.

We have mentioned the various rhythms used because this too is a pronounced part of this collection. There is the calypso rhythm in "Calypso John," the rumba beat in "To Birdland And Hurry," the mambo drive in "Answer Me" and the cha cha sound in Machito covers such countries as Brazil, Jamaica, Haiti and Africa. There is even a touch of the middle-east countries in "Afro-Jazziac".

Two very out of the way numbers should be noted: "Afternoon Death" is a very morbid, mournful piece which features Johnny Griffin and Curtis Fuller, as well as Herbie Mann. This number represents ancient African sacrificial ceremonies when the sacrifice meant just that – afternoon death." "Carabunta" is another number filled with authentic, legendary meaning. The rhythm called 'santo lukumie' is used in religious ceremonies in Africa.

The extraordinary is the key to the album. It is the type of original, inventive and experimental work that creates and fosters ideas that push the boundaries of jazz beyond the four walls of a dimly lit night club for the cold, impersonal air of a recording studio. This is jazz in action, jazz that creates a setting for the free expression of the soloist, and at the same time reaches down to the roots of the music and offers the primitive rhythms that are its origins. – Bud Katzel