Count Basie & His Orchestra - Basie's Beatle Bag

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:24
Size: 86,2 MB
Art: Front

(2:14)  1. Help
(3:20)  2. Can't Buy Me Love
(2:42)  3. Michelle
(3:19)  4. I Wanna Be Your Man
(2:58)  5. Do You Want To Know A Secret
(4:21)  6. A Hard Day's Night
(2:58)  7. All My Loving
(3:03)  8. Yesterday
(2:49)  9. And I Love Her
(2:43) 10. Hold Me Tight
(2:53) 11. She Loves You
(3:59) 12. Kansas City

Many recording artists covered The Beatles in the '60s; even their own producer, George Martin, released George Martin Instrumentally Salutes The Beatle Girls (One Way, 1966). Pianist/bandleader Count Basie recorded two albums of Beatles tunes in that decade: Basie's Beatles Bag (Verve, 1966) and Basie On The Beatles (Happy Tiger, 1969). Both discs contain vital versions of John Lennon/Paul McCartney classics, but Basie's Beatles Bag is rawer and more cohesive. Arranged by Chico O'Farrill, it selects some of the more rough and ready Beatles songs, back to "Hold Me Tight" and "I Wanna Be Your Man," from With The Beatles (EMI, 1963). Revealing much about the tunes themselves, the album is also a fun party album. The faster hits are there, such as "Help," "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love," but the arrangement of "Do You Want To Know A Secret" shows the pure swing era influence in its writing. With its beautiful Johnny Hodges-style saxophone solo, it is far superior to The Beatles' version. "Michelle," also, has the authentic Basie touch, his piano evoking his '30s-era band.

The strong R&B origins of "Hold Me Tight" are clear here, its great back beat making it one of the album's most fruitful recreations. O'Farrill throws elements of Nelson Riddle into "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "All My Loving," his gifted understanding of the music also giving saxophonist Charlie Fowlkes a baritone part on "And I Love Her" (a very imaginative touch). "All My Loving" shows, however, that guitarist Freddie Green was no match for George Harrison's soloing capabilities. Instrumentally daring, the grooving Basie's Beatles Bag casts new light on some classic songs, reveling in the rawer bluesy, swing and R&B roots of The Beatles' music. ~ AAJ Staff  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/basies-beatles-bag-count-basie-verve-music-group-review-by-aaj-staff.php

Personnel: Al Aarons: trumpet; Sonny Cohn: trumpet; Wallace Davenport: trumpet; Phil Guilbeau: trumpet; Henderson Chambers: trombone; Al Grey: trombone; Grover Mitchell: trombone; Bill Hughes: bass trombone; Marshall Royal: alto saxophone, clarinet; Bobby Plater alto saxophone, flute; Eddy Davis: tenor saxophone; Charlie Fowlkes: flute, baritone saxophone; Freddie Greene: guitar; Norman Keenan: bass; Sonny Payne: drums; Chico O'Farrill: arranger; Bill Henderson: vocal (8).

Basie's Beatle Bag

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Chico O'Farrill - Perlas Cubanas

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 27:28
Size: 62.9 MB
Styles: Latin rhythms
Year: 2015
Art: Front

[2:54] 1. La Malagueña
[2:54] 2. Siboney
[2:55] 3. La Bella Cubana
[2:15] 4. Madrid
[2:39] 5. Bahia
[2:47] 6. Almendra
[2:44] 7. La Camparsa
[2:41] 8. La Cucaracha
[3:02] 9. La Margarita
[2:33] 10. El Manisero

Chico O'Farrill was right in the thick of the Afro-Cuban and Latin waves that hit jazz in the late '40s and '50s. His sophisticated writing for Latin big bands of the early '50s was often bold, brassy, and tense, yet he could also achieve a delicate, almost classical ambience in such pieces as "Angels' Flight" and work capably in larger forms (the groundbreaking "Afro-Cuban Jazz Suites").

O'Farrill took up the trumpet while in military school in Georgia, returning to Cuba as a full-fledged jazz fan after hearing the top American big bands. He studied composition in his native Havana and led his own band there before moving to New York City in 1948, where he soon made a name for himself writing music for Benny Goodman ("Undercurrent Blues"), Stan Kenton ("Cuban Episode"), and Machito ("Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite"). From 1950 to 1954, O'Farrill made six fiery 10" albums of Latin and American big band jazz for Clef and Norgran, all of which have been reissued on a Verve two-CD set, Cuban Blues. He also appeared with his own band at Birdland and toured the U.S. Toward the end of the decade, he moved to Mexico City, returning to New York in 1965 to work as arranger and music director of the TV series Festival of the Lively Arts and to write arrangements for Count Basie. O'Farrill also put his classical training to use by writing pieces for symphony orchestra such as "Three Cuban Dances" and "Symphony No. 1." Though he continued to write pieces for Machito, Kenton, Gato Barbieri, and Dizzy Gillespie into the '70s, there were no recording sessions under O'Farrill's name from 1966 until 1995, when he came roaring back on the scene, his imagination and vigor miraculously intact, with the outstanding Pure Emotion CD (Milestone). He recorded two more strong albums for Milestone, the last being Carambola, released in October 2000. Eight months later, on June 27, 2001, Arturo "Chico" O'Farrill died while hospitalized in New York. ~bio by Richard S. Ginnell

Perlas Cubanas

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Clark Terry & Chico O'Farrill - Spanish Rice

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 33:12
Size: 76.0 MB
Styles: Trumpet jazz, Mainstream jazz
Year: 1966/2004
Art: Front

[2:14] 1. Peanut Vendor
[2:37] 2. Angelitos Negros
[2:10] 3. El Cumbanchero
[3:34] 4. Joonji
[2:43] 5. Que Sera
[2:40] 6. Mexican Hat Dance
[2:43] 7. Spanish Rice
[2:27] 8. Say Si Si
[2:58] 9. Macarena
[2:44] 10. Tin Tin Deo
[2:58] 11. Contigo En La Distancia
[3:20] 12. Happiness Is

Recording Date: July 18 - 20, 1966

Clark Terry joined forces with Cuban bandleader Chico O'Farrill for these 1966 studio session, which consist almost exclusively of Latin tunes. Although there are a number of all-stars present in addition to Terry, including trumpeters Joe Newman, Ernie Royal, and Snooky Young, along with guitarists Everett Barksdale and Barry Galbraith, the solos are all by Terry, so there is little interaction in these brief charts. Terry is in top form, as always, with his rich flügelhorn in "Angelitos Negros" and his fat-toned trumpet in an original blues called "Joonji." Terry and O'Farrill collaborated on the narrative comic original "Spanish Rice," though it isn't particularly memorable. Terry's modification of the lyrics to "Happiness Is" salutes a number of fellow jazz greats (particularly his impression of Louis Armstrong's singing), though the anonymous vocal group that accompanies him is quite forgettable. This is a fun recording that had the potential to be a memorable one, but it falls a bit short. ~Ken Dryden

Spanish Rice

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Chico O'Farrill & El Arabe - The Rhythmic Spell Of Chico O'Farrill & El Arabe

Styles: Trumpet And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:33
Size: 93,8 MB
Art: Front

(2:30)  1. Granada
(2:18)  2. It's Not for Me to Say
(2:24)  3. Drumme Negrita
(2:09)  4. Canto Karabali
(2:27)  5. Anything Goes
(3:02)  6. Serenade in Blue
(1:58)  7. Somebody Loves Me
(2:49)  8. I Had the Craziest Dream
(2:22)  9. Stella by Starlight
(3:17) 10. Dream
(2:40) 11. Undecided
(3:11) 12. How Long Has This Bean Going On
(2:01) 13. Jungle Moon
(2:07) 14. Around the World
(2:12) 15. They Didn't Believe Me
(2:57) 16. Tuya Soy

Born in Cuba, Chico O'Farrill began his musical career as a trumpeter. However his writing skills were so strong that, by the time he moved to the United States in the late 1940s, he worked primarily as an arranger-composer. His exciting Afro-Cuban charts for his own groups, Machito, Benny Goodman and others were stirring, historic and innovative. In 1957 O'Farrill moved to Mexico where he carved out a career for himself during the next eight years in which he mostly did commercial work. This particular set, recorded in 1958, reissues one of his first Mexican sessions. The results are primarily melodic dance music, using cool-toned players and closer to Count Basie musically than to Dizzy Gillespie. 

The performances are quite concise, leaving very little room for soloing other than from altoist Hector "El Arabe" Hallal and guest trumpeter Cesar Molina. O'Farrill is also heard in brief spots on trumpet but the emphasis is on the ensembles of the mostly unidentified studio orchestra which also occasionally includes strings. The final four selections are from El Arabe's own similar orchestra during the same period. Except for the wavering soprano on "Serenade in Blue," the music overall is pleasant, pleasing and danceable without ever really catching fire. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rhythmic-spell-chico-ofarrill/id462196518

Personnel:  Chico O’Farrill (directeur, trompette);  Héctor Hallal " El Arabe " (saxo alto);  César Molina (trompette)

The Rhythmic Spell Of Chico O'Farrill & El Arabe

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