Monday, April 22, 2019

Cal Tjader, Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria - Latino!

Styles: Latin Jazz, World Fusion
Year: 1994
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:31
Size: 171,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:49)  1. Manila
(3:30)  2. Key Largo
(6:43)  3. Tumbao
(3:04)  4. Bludan
(3:24)  5. Chispita
(3:42)  6. September Song
(3:32)  7. Cal's Pals
(3:26)  8. Para Ti
(4:37)  9. Mamblues
(6:32) 10. Afro Blue
(6:29) 11. Cuban Fantasy
(5:56) 12. Rezo
(4:20) 13. Mambo Terrifico
(8:34) 14. A Night In Tunisia
(4:45) 15. The Continental

Vibraphonist Cal Tjader is heard leading five different groups throughout this set, but the identities of the flutists, bassists, and pianists are less important than knowing that Tjader, Willie Bobo (on drums and timbales), and the great conga player Mongo Santamaria are on every selection. The music really cooks, with torrid percussion, inspired ensembles, and occasional solos from the sidemen (which sometimes include pianists Lonnie Hewitt or Vince Guaraldi, bassist Al McKibbon, and flutist Paul Horn). Highlights include Latinized versions of "Key Largo" and "September Song," "Night in Tunisia," "The Continental," and a definitive version of Santamaria's "Afro Blue." This is Latin jazz at its finest. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/latino-con-cal-tjader-mw0000626426

Personnel:  Vibraphone – Cal Tjader; Backing Band – The Eddie Cano Big Band; Bass – Al McKibbon, Eddie Coleman , Victor Venegas; Congas – Mongo Santamaria; Drums, Timbales – Willie Bobo; Featuring – Al McKibbon, Eddie Cano, José "Chombo" Silva , Lonnie Hewitt, Mongo Santamaria, Paul Horn, Vince Guaraldi, Willie Bobo; Flute – José Lozano, Paul Horn, Rolando Lozano; Flute, Alto Saxophone – Modesto Briseno ; Piano – Eddie Cano, Lonnie Hewitt, Vince Guaraldi Remastered By – Phil De Lancie; Tenor Saxophone – José "Chombo" Silva; Trumpet – Tony Terran 

Latino!

Cleo Laine And The Tubby Hayes Quartet - Round Midnight

Styles: Vocal 
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:13
Size: 97,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:16)  1. Round Midnight
(2:36)  2. Hand Me Down Love
(2:45)  3. Mean to Me
(3:51)  4. Old Devil Moon
(3:25)  5. Just A'Sittin' and A'Rockin
(6:42)  6. All Members
(7:44)  7. Ah-Leu-Cha
(7:51)  8. Young and Foolish
(2:59)  9. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter

With a multi-octave voice similar to Betty Carter's, incredible scatting ability, and ease of transition from a throaty whisper to high-pitched trills, Cleo Laine was born in 1927 in the Southall section of London, the daughter of a Jamaican father and English mother. Her parents sent her to vocal and dance lessons as a teenager, but she was 25 when she first sang professionally, after a successful audition with the big band led by Johnny Dankworth. Both Laine and the band recorded for Esquire, MGM and Pye during the late '50s, and by 1958, she was married to Dankworth. With Dankworth by her side, Laine began her solo career in earnest with a 1964 album of Shakespeare lyrics set to Dankworth's arrangements, Shakespeare: And All That Jazz. Laine also gained renown for the first of three concert albums recorded at New York's Carnegie Hall, 1973's Cleo Laine Live! At Carnegie Hall. She also recorded two follow-ups (Return to Carnegie and The 10th Anniversary Concert) the latter of which in 1983 won her the first Grammy award by a Briton. She has proved a rugged stage actress as well, winning a Theater World award for her role in the Broadway musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, (in addition to Tony and Drama Desk nominations as well). In 1976 she recorded a jazz version of Porgy and Bess with Ray Charles, and also recorded duets with James Galway and guitarist John Williams. Laine and Dankworth continued to tour into the 1990s, and she received perhaps her greatest honor when she became the first jazz artist to receive the highest title available in the performing arts: Dame Commander. ~ John Bush https://www.allmusic.com/artist/cleo-laine-mn0000120273/biography

Round Midnight

Charles Mingus Quintet - Chazz

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:26
Size: 97,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:56)  1. Jump Monk
(6:04)  2. Serenade In Blue
(8:44)  3. Percussion Discussion
(6:34)  4. Work Song
(7:06)  5. Septemberley
(7:00)  6. All the Things You Are In C Sharp

The Jazz Workshop of 1955 is in superb form, caught in performance at the Caf Bohemia in New York. Max Roach only appears for a "Percussion Discussion" with Mingus, but the forgotten Willie Jones is no slouch either. A typically adventurous set of tunes includes two montages. ("Septemberly" combines "September in the Rain" and "Tenderly", while "All the Things You Can C-Sharp" is a blend of "All the Things You Are," Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C-Sharp" and "Clair de Lune.") It's a very spirited date, ranking with his best work in the period. 

A further disc, Charles Mingus Quintet Plus Max Roach (Fantasy 86009), derives from the same date; these were combined as Prestige P-24010. And the boxed set of the Complete Debut Recordings (Debut 12-CDC-4402-2) includes an additional hour of previously unissued material. ~ Stuart Kremsky https://www.allmusic.com/album/chazz-mw0000901355

Personnel:  Bass – Charlie Mingus; Drums – Max Roach, Willie Jones; Piano – Mal Waldron; Tenor Saxophone – George Barrow; Trombone – Eddie Bert

Chazz

Horace Silver - Total Response

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop 
Year: 1971
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:39
Size: 94,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:24)  1. Acid, Pot Or Pills
(3:37)  2. What Kind Of Animal Am I?
(3:55)  3. Won't You Open Up Your Senses
(3:46)  4. I've Had A Little Talk
(4:15)  5. Soul Searchin'
(5:19)  6. Big Business
(3:46)  7. I'm Aware Of The Animal Within Me
(6:15)  8. Old Mother Nature Calls
(5:18)  9. Total Response

When jazz critics complain about the decline of Blue Note in the late '60s and early '70s, Total Response is the kind of album they have in mind. A sprawling, incoherent, and just plain weird mess of funk, fusion, soul-jazz, African spirituality, and hippie mysticism, Total Response aims at the transcendent and stumbles upon its own ludicrous ambitions. Building from familiar, funky soul-jazz vamps, Silver wrote a set of nine songs that were designed to "bring a little more Health, Happiness, Love and Peace into your life." Appropriately, the album is filled with songs about the evils of the modern world ("Acid, Pot or Pills," "Big Business") and how self-awareness ("What Kind of Animal Am I?," "I'm Aware of the Animal Within Me") and open minds ("Won't You Open Up Your Senses," "Soul Searchin'," "I've Had Little Talk") can lead to spiritual peace and fulfillment ("Total Response"). All this may be true, but the way that it's said -- laid-back, featureless fusion vamps with awkward lyrics by Silver ("Our water isn't pure/When fluoride we endure") that are wailed tunelessly by Salome and Andy Bey -- is terribly clumsy and ridiculous. It wouldn't matter that there is "little jazz content" to the music if these fusions of soul, funk, jazz, and poetry worked, but since they fail so miserably, the lack of improvisation and inspiration from Silver, saxophonist Harold Vick, trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, guitarist Richie Resnicoff, bassist Rob Cranshaw, and drummer Mickey Roker only emphasizes what a mess Total Response is. ~ Stephen Tomas Erlewine https://www.allmusic.com/album/total-response-phase-i-mw0000876702

Personnel: Horace Silver - electric piano; Cecil Bridgewater - trumpet, flugelhorn; Harold Vick - tenor saxophone; Richie Resnicoff - guitar; Bob Cranshaw - electric bass; Mickey Roker - drums; Salome Bey, Andy Bey - vocals

Total Response