Terumasa Hino - 1981 - Double Rainbow

Terumasa Hino

1981

Double Rainbow

01. Merry-Go-Round 14:58

02. Cherry Hill Angel 8:03

03. Yellow Jacket 4:40

04. Miwa Yama 6:18

05. Aboriginal 12:22

Bass – Anthony Jackson, Hassan Jenkins,Herb Bushler

Congas – Don Alias

Cornet – Terumasa Hino

Drums – Harvey Mason, Lenny White, Billy Hart

Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Herbie Hancock, Kenny Kirkland, Mark Gray

Guitar – Butch Campbell, Lou Volpe,James Mason,Barry Finnerty, David Spinozza

Keyboards,Piano – Masabumi Kikuchi

Percussion – Airto Moreira, Don Alias, Manolo Badrena,Terumasa Hino

Soprano Saxophone – Steve Grossman

Lyricon – Sam Morrison

Harp – Emily Mitchell

Didgeridoo, Conch [Shell Horn] – Steve Turre

Double Bass – Eddie Gomez, George Mraz, Reggie Workman

Synthesizer – Kenny Kirkland

1st thing. Don't let your son design your record sleeve. Especially if he can't focus a camera. The music is excellent if you're in the mood, but that cover comes back to haunt. I covered mine with creosote. Now I can enjoy the music. This is not Jazz Fusion, don't be scared. It's almost slowcore .... find the right time.

An early 1980s recording with an assortment of former Miles Davis sidemen playing music in the style of early-1970s Miles, but with Terumasa Hino in the role of Miles, and without most of the tension that Miles was able to generate. It's not really bad, but remarkably uninvolving, and the music feels a bit like an anachronism (although I guess one has to be thankful that they didn't do a 1980s-style record à la Decoy or Tutu). Still, while this can serve as a nice reminder of things past, everyone involved here, including Hino, is capable of doing better.

Altogether interesting set. arranged by gil evans, players include miles-alumini airto, steve grossmann, don ailias and herbie hancock. sounds a lot like a straighter, more dancefloor-oriented take on miles mid-seventies works. not quite the masterpiece it might have been with this kind of cast, but a rewarding listen nevertheless.

Beautiful work from trumpeter Terumasa Hino -- an early 80s date that was issued in the US, but one that's got as much bold power and freewheeling soul as his Japanese releases from a decade before! The album's surprisingly open for the time -- not in the slicker mode that Columbia was hitting as they crossed over some of their 70s fusion players, but in spacious territory that has Hino blowing cornet, in larger arrangements from keyboardist Masabumi Kikuchi and Gil Evans -- the latter of whom seems to contribute a strong sense of color and tone to the album!

Wayne Shorter - 1966 - Adam's Apple

Wayne Shorter

1966

Adam's Apple

01. Adam's Apple 6:40
02. 502 Blues (Drinkin' And Drivin') 6:30
03. El Gaucho 6:25
04. Footprints 7:25
05. Teru 6:10
06. Chief Crazy Horse 7:30

Bass – Reginald Workman
Drums – Joe Chambers
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Tenor Saxophone – Wayne Shorter

Recorded on February 3, 1966 (track A1) and on February 24, 1966 (tracks A2 to B3).

If you just want to know whether or not you should buy this album, you get a yes from me. It's a nice piece of work from some truly great musicians, and while it doesn't get into any really deep explorations of musical ideas, it will give you hours of listening pleasure.

The songs on this album tend to be bluesier and more lyrical than most Shorter offerings. On the title track, I get the sense that Shorter is taking his cues from the R&B tunes that were filling the radio waves and climbing the pop charts in the mid-60s. It's upbeat, fun and, as noted by other reviewers here, not particularly adventurous. 502 Blues also seems to be strongly influenced by popular music. I can almost hear some Sinatra or Tony Bennet-like stylist crooning some lines about lost love and late nights at the bar in place of Shorter's sax work.

El Gaucho reminds me of typical Shorter fare from the years just prior to this album's release, the sort of work you'll find on albums like Speak No Evil. Still, I get the sense that I'm listening to supremely accomplished musicians playing with ideas they have long ago mastered. It's a good composition, well played, but it isn't attempting to explore any new territory.

Footprints is the gem of this collection. I even think it might be the conceptual center of the album. This is one of Shorter's greatest and most enduring compositions. You'll also find it on the album Miles Smiles, by Miles Davis' second great quintet, and numerous live recordings by that group, and in quite a few more live clips from Shorter, dating into the early 2000's. Here, in its debut recording, the song has a certain swing that you won't hear in many (if any) other versions (and certainly not in any of the recordings by the Davis Quintet). As with most of the songs on this album, Shorter's style is lyrical. That, in combination with the swing-like rhythm, makes this rich composition exceptionally approachable. If I were to choose one song to introduce someone to the mid-60s hard bop / post bop sub genre, it might have to be this recording of Footprints. Oh, and as an added bonus, since this recording is by a quartet, Hancock gets a good portion of space for his solo, and he makes marvelous use of it.

Teru is a lovely ballad. Shorter's playing here is soulful and sweet. The final cut of the original album, Chief Crazy Horse, strikes me as a variation of Footprints, almost like a reminiscence to close out the set.

The bonus cut, The Collector, is a real outlier. Composed by Herbie Hancock, it is more stylistically adventurous than the rest of the set and it does seem to presage Shorter's next album, Schizophrenia, but it also just doesn't seem to fit with the rest of this album. I'd recommend making a playlist of Adam's Apple's original six songs and adding this to another playlist of various and sundry Shorter songs from the same period.

With the possible exception of its song, "Footprints," which would become a jazz standard, Adam's Apple received quite a bit less attention upon its release than some of the preceding albums in Wayne Shorter's catalog. That is a shame because it really does rank with the best of his output from this incredibly fertile period. From the first moments when Shorter's sax soars out in the eponymous opening track, with its warmth and roundness and power, it is hard not to like this album. It might not be turning as sharp of a corner stylistically as some of his earlier works, like Speak No Evil, but its impact is only dulled by the fact that Shorter has already arrived at the peak of his powers. Taken in isolation, this is one of the great works of mid-'60s jazz, but when Shorter has already achieved a unique performance style, compositional excellence, and a perfectly balanced relationship with his sidemen, it is hard to be impressed by the fact that he manages to continue to do these things album after album. But Shorter does shine here, while allowing strong players like Herbie Hancock to also have their place in the sun. Especially hypnotic are two very different songs, the ballad "Teru" and Shorter's tribute to John Coltrane, "Chief Crazy Horse," both of which also allow Hancock a chance to show what he could do.

Wayne Shorter - 1964 - Night Dreamer

Wayne Shorter 

1964

Night Dreamer

01. Night Dreamer
02. Oriental Folk Song
03. Virgo
04. Black Nile
05. Charcoal Blues
06. Armageddon

Bass – Reginald Workman
Drums – Elvin Jones
Piano – McCoy Tyner
Tenor Saxophone – Wayne Shorter
Trumpet – Lee Morgan

While this was Wayne Shorter's first solo album for Blue Note, he had been playing with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers for 5 years and was already a mature saxophonist and composer. But with this 1964 album, he was free to write music to suite his own taste rather than Blakey's. He was free to dream his own dream. Shorter did this very successfully, emerging as a major jazz composer, a painter of vivid soundscapes.

He was backed up by outstanding musicians. I happen to be a big fan of Lee Morgan and already owned some Morgan CDs that featured Shorter --"Search for the New Land" and "The Gigolo"; I would have been glad to have any additional album featuring them together, but that is especially true when the compositions are so distinctive. Actually, Morgan only plays on "Night Dreamer", "Oriental Folk Song", "Black Nile", and "Armegeddon". Maybe Shorter wanted to prove to Blue Note that he could sustain listeners' interest in a quartet; his next album "JuJu" did in fact feature the same quartet heard here on "Virgo" and "Charcoal Blues" for that entire album.

The album and title track open with a wonderful series of runs on the piano played by McCoy Tyner before launching into the theme. Shorter, Morgan, and Tyner all deliver solos which maintain the dream-like mood which Shorter extends with a second solo before the return of the closing theme statement. Even then, Shorter is not done and spins out one more solo. This tune really sets a high bar for the album, but the remaining tunes meet this challenge.

"Oriental Folk Song" doesn't really sound that oriental to me, but it is a charming, mellow tune featuring more fine solos and some drum breaks. "Virgo" is a lovely ballad full of mystery; one of the most beautiful original jazz melodies I know of. "Black Nile" is a fast, hard bop number. It is followed by "Charcoal Blues" which needs no explanation (except for Morgan's absence). The entire quintet caps off the session with the vibrant "Armegeddon" which Shorter described as the "focal point of the whole album"; despite the title, it is not at all gloomy since Shorter does not view "Armegeddon" as being the final battle of good and evil, but "a period of total enlightenment in which we will discover what we are and why we are here".

Tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter's Blue Note debut found him well prepared to enter the big time. With an impressive quintet that includes trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Elvin Jones, Shorter performed a well-rounded program consisting of five of his originals, plus an adaptation of "Oriental Folk Song." Whether it be the brooding title cut, the Coltrane-ish ballad "Virgo," or the jams on "Black Nile" and "Charcoal Blues," this is a memorable set of high-quality and still fresh music. [Some reissues add an alternate take of "Virgo."]

Evolution is the operative word when looking back at Wayne’s Blue Note debut, Night Dreamer, recorded in the Rudy Van Gelder Studio on April 29, 1964 and released later that year. While Wayne had already recorded three albums for Vee-Jay Records as a solo artist (1959’s Introducing Wayne Shorter, 1960’s Second Genesis and 1962’s Wayning Moments), the tenor saxophonist and composer ascended to a new level of artistic maturity when he was signed by Blue Note, telling original liner note writer Nat Hentoff that for his first album he wanted “to say something substantial!”

Substantial indeed as Wayne begins his exceptional enlightenment journey to substitute compositional complexity and a flurry of chords for the essence of song simplicity, heartfelt saxophone expression and a sanguine outlook that the title, Night Dreamer, points to with its suggestion of earthly darkness and otherworldly luminosity. Along for the ride is trumpeter Lee Morgan, another Jazz Messengers alum and future Blue Note hit maker; pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones moonlighting from their John Coltrane classic quartet; and bassist Reggie Workman, another Coltrane alum pre-Jimmy Garrison.

Night Dreamer comprises a six-pack of Shorter compositions beginning with the title track, where the tenor blows with urgent brio over Elvin’s ¾ time drum drive. Arranged from an old Chinese tune, “Oriental Folk Song” features Shorter and Morgan sketching the theme before the improvisations swing into action, and Shorter offers lyrical melancholy on “Virgo” (his astrological sign). The buoyant “Black Nile” has a flow akin to a river with plenty of splashes from Elvin’s drums bash, “Charcoal Blues” grooves as a smooth, bluesy swinger, and the pensive end piece “Armageddon” catches a groove that the rhythm team pushes ahead with McCoy’s sparkling runs, Elvin’s muscular and tumbling drums, and Reggie’s solid pulse. It makes for a dramatic close to an arresting album.

Returning to that chat in Melbourne, when asked what he saw as the role of the artist, Wayne sagely replied, “Being the lone voice in the wind. To be on a mission and not be afraid.” On Night Dreamer, with its optimistic outlook despite the minor keys that pervade the compositions, the intrepid tenor was just beginning to lift off. A few months later he joined the magical express ride of the Miles Davis Quintet within which he was compositionally instrumental in its quicksilver evolution. At the same time, he was continuing his own assured journey with Blue Note (eleven albums in his six-year run with the label), a rich period of fearless exploration that nearly a half century later in his return to the label continues to abound with soaring beauty.

Wayne Shorter - 1964 - Juju

Wayne Shorter 

1964 

Juju

01. Juju
02. Deluge
03. House Of Jade
04. Mahjong
05. Yes Or No
06. Twelve More Bars To Go

Bass – Reginald Workman
Drums – Elvin Jones
Piano – McCoy Tyner
Tenor Saxophone – Wayne Shorter

When Wayne Shorter recorded this date in 1964, he was asserting his own voice as both a saxophonist and a composer after his years with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He's joined here by pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, essential parts of the then dominant John Coltrane Quartet, but Juju serves to emphasize what was distinctive in Shorter's approach as well as the similarities. Though he shared something of Coltrane's twisting line and hard sound, Shorter was far more interested in crafting conventional compositions, and there's a range of everyday emotions to be felt in this music that went untouched in Coltrane's more intense work. Shorter's a master of tension and release, using contrasting elements in a piece, mixing major and minor, consonance and dissonance, and different rhythms to evoke complex moods of doubt and playfulness or constraint and joyous swing. Those structures are a happy fit with Tyner and Jones as well, who can bring their characteristic welling intensity to "Juju," a relaxed bounce to "Yes or No," or a subtle oriental emphasis to "House of Jade." --Stuart Broomer

Fulfilling the potential promised on his Blue Note debut, Night Dreamer, Wayne Shorter's JuJu was the first great showcase for both his performance and compositional gifts. Early in his career as a leader, Shorter was criticized as a mere acolyte of John Coltrane, and his use of Coltrane's rhythm section on his first two Blue Note albums only bolstered that criticism. The truth is, though, that Elvin Jones, Reggie Workman, and McCoy Tyner were the perfect musicians to back Shorter. Jones' playing at the time was almost otherworldly. He seemed to channel the music through him when improvising and emit the perfect structure to hold it together. Workman too seemed to almost instinctively understand how to embellish Shorter's compositions. McCoy Tyner's role as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time was played here as well, and his light touch and beautiful, joyful improvisations would make him a much better match for Shorter than Herbie Hancock would later prove to be. What really shines on JuJu is the songwriting. From the African-influenced title track (with its short, hypnotic, repetitive phrases) to the mesmerizing interplay between Tyner and Shorter on "Mahjong," the album (which is all originals) blooms with ideas, pulling in a world of influences and releasing them again as a series of stunning, complete visions.

Heiner Stadler - 1973 - Brains On Fire

Heiner Stadler

1973

Brains On Fire

101. No Exercise 12:17
102. Three Problems 12:00
103. Heidi 10:40
104. Bea´s Flat 24:37

201. Love In The Middle Of The Air (alternate master) 20:30
202. U.C.S. 14:30
203. All Tones 22:41
204. The Fugue #2 (Take 1/original master) 13:44

Bass – Barre Phillips (tracks: 2-4)

Bass – Lucas Lindholm (tracks: 1-4)

Bass – Reggie Workman (tracks: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3)
Drums – Brian Brake (tracks: 1-1)

Drums – Joe Chambers (tracks: 2-4)

Drums – Lenny White (tracks: 1-2, 1-3, 2-2, 2-3)

Drums – Tony Inzalaco (tracks: 1-4)
Piano – Don Friedman (tracks: 2-4)

Piano – Heiner Stadler (tracks: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-2, 2-3)

Piano – Wolfgang Dauner (tracks: 1-4)
Tenor Saxophone – Gerd Dudek (tracks: 1-4)

Tenor Saxophone – Joe Farrell (tracks: 2-4)
Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Tyrone Washington (tracks: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 2-3, 2-4)
Trombone – Albert Mangelsdorff (tracks: 1-4)

Trombone – Garnett Brown (tracks: 1-1, 2-4)
Trumpet – Jimmy Owens (tracks: 1-1, 2-4)

Trumpet – Manfred Schoof (tracks: 1-4)
Vocals – Dee Dee Bridgewater (tracks: 2-1)

Recorded: Track 2-4 at Nola Penthouse Sound Studio in December 1966, NYC; Track 1-4 in 1974, Germany; July & October 1973; September 1973 at O' Brien's Studio in Teaneck, NJ.

Some recordings should come with a sticker which states: for those willing to be challenged. German-American composer, producer, pianist, arranger and bandleader Heiner Stadler’s reissued, remastered, restructured and expanded release, Brains on Fire (which initially came out as two separate vinyl volumes in 1967, which are often rare to find), certainly qualifies for such a caveat emptor. For some, Stadler is known as an interpreter of other musicians’ material, due in part to last year’s remixed reissue of his 1978 outing, A Tribute to Monk and Bird, which was also put out on Stadler’s Labor label. Stadler has also reissued other titles from his back catalog, including 1976’s Jazz Alchemy (which came out in 2000) and the 1996 compilation Retrospection (reissued in 2010). This year it is time to reevaluate one Stadler’s most original efforts, Brains on Fire. This CD version contains three tunes never before heard and marks the first CD presentation of five other works.

One reason to listen to the two-disc Brains on Fire is to hear then-current and up-and-coming jazz luminaries dig deeply into material which spans the perceived gap between avant-garde, post-bop, tone-row experiments and European serialist composition. The eight long pieces (four per disc) were recorded between 1966 and 1974 and feature 17 artists (as well as an orchestra), including trumpeter Jimmy Owens (who worked with Miles Davis in the '50s and was a founding member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra), bassist Reggie Workman (notable for his work with John Coltrane, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Yusef Lateef), and future stars such as saxophonist/flutist Joe Farrell (who subsequently had crossover success on the CTI roster) and a young Dee Dee Bridgewater (a few years before fame found her, when she was still singing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra).

Stadler uses several ensemble configurations ranging from a bass/vocals duet to a quartet (on four tracks) to a big band. The first CD’s opener, “ No Exercise ” (taken from a 1973 session but making its debut here) features a sextet with a three-horn frontline (Owens on trumpet, Tyrone Washington on tenor sax and Garnett Brown on trombone) with a three-piece rhythm section (Stadler on piano, Brian Brake on drums and Workman). The 12-minute workout starts with Workman’s arco bass, followed by Owens’ warm trumpet and then the rest of the group steps up to help present Stadler’s avant-garde blues which is shaped by a 12-tone row. Workman’s astute bass is a highlight during this spontaneously-surging piece, but so is Washington’s unfettered sax. Since Washington later left music because of a religious conversion, Brains on Fire is one of the few places listeners can hear the obscure sax player display the width of his skills. Washington is also heard to great effect on three other tracks. The post-Coltrane “ Three Problems ” (a 1971 performance never before released) crosses the lines between hard bop and free jazz, and is an often-chaotic construction with Washington’s lacerating sax leading the charge. Workman adds a transcendent bass solo, which temporarily ebbs the high-energy level, but for the most part “ Three Problems ” is almost 13 minutes of roaring density. “ Heidi ” has a slower, spiritual treatment and listeners initially may find this to be the most coherent cut, although “ Heidi ” also eventually edges to a tumultuous portion where written and improvised sections are fused to the point where it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other commences. The other quartet tunes, “ U.C.S ” and “ All Tones ” (both on CD2), are parallel explorative compositions which delve into variations on texture, phrasing and theme akin to Coltrane’s brilliant free recitations such as Interstellar Space or Ornette Coleman’s vitality-fueled Free Jazz, where the music is elaborately extemporized and not easily absorbed in a single listen. Howard Mandel’s liner notes advise listeners to let “ U.C.S ” and “ All Tones ” sweep the listener along and it’s a good recommendation.

Two of the longer compositions employ very different approaches. The 24-minute Russ Freeman-penned “ Bea’s Flat ” (a 1974 recording offered here for the first time) is a striking, customized blues given over entirely to The Big Band of the North German Radio Station, conducted by Dieter Glawischnig. Several band members are spotlighted as soloists (sax and piano in particular) and the full ensemble actually steps away at times, emphasizing single instruments. The result is somewhat like a meeting between Duke Ellington’s and Sun Ra’s groups. Reggie Workman and Dee Dee Bridgewater’s 20-minute bass/voice pairing, “ Love in the Middle of the Air ” (a shorter take can be found on Retrospection) is nearly as remarkable in a wholly dissimilar way. Bridgewater stretches, undulates and heightens beat poet Lenore Kandel’s minimal lines, phrases and words while Workman glides and rolls on his bass with perfect sympathy: his meticulous arco work in particular is an emotional standout.

Despite recordings from four studios and engineers, there is observable and high quality engineering and audio constancy over the course of the two-hour, eight-track project. Even during the most intense moments instruments rise out from the mix rather than getting washed aside, and when the heady musical concoction is confined to just a few instruments (like bass or vocals) the sound is wonderfully expressive. 

By Doug Simpson 

(February 22, 2012, AUDIOPHILE AUDITION)