Showing posts with label Gato Barbieri; Randy Brecker; Ron Carter; Grady Tate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gato Barbieri; Randy Brecker; Ron Carter; Grady Tate. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Joe Henderson - Power To The People (Remastered 2024)

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2024
Time: 42:41
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 97,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:51) 1. Black Narcissus
(7:04) 2. Afro-Centric
(4:56) 3. Opus One-Point-Five
(4:55) 4. Isotope
(8:44) 5. Power To The People
(4:36) 6. Lazy Afternoon
(7:32) 7. Foresight And Afterthought

The late sixties were an exciting time for jazz, although not a lucrative one. Faced with a declining market share due to the popularity of rock music, jazz musicians were forced to find an audience by pursuing new avenues in composition and instrumentation.

Joe Henderson, a much beloved player for the Blue Note label was dropped in the late sixties. Orrin Keepnews, who certainly could recognize great talent when he saw it, signed him to his newly formed Milestone label. This 1969 release finds Henderson with a near perfect rhythm section. It features imaginative compositions that easily make it a highlight of the accomplished musician's career.

Power to the People is an appropriate title for a session filled with the sense of urgency and charisma found here. Henderson took a page from the compositional methods of the Miles Davis quintet from a few years back in that many of the compositions feature the same dark corners and ambiguous chord structures of that famous group. Only "Incognito" harkens back to an earlier time in Henderson's career.

Henderson has, for the most part, abandoned the harsh tone of his earlier releases for a more smoothed over sound, giving up nothing in confidence. Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter are session musicians here, featured both on acoustic and electric instruments.

Jack DeJohnette, another master who would contribute heavily to Miles' electric period, provides skilled drumming in the background. As an added bonus, two selections feature Mike Lawrence, a promising trumpeter who died in 1983.

As part of the Keepnews Collection, the sound on this release is superb. Carter is served especially well every note is clearly heard. Hancock's electric piano, at times both burbling in the background and providing an acid sting, is also crisp.

While signed to the Blue Note label, Henderson provided seminal releases in the accepted format. On many levels, Power to the People is more satisfying, a neglected gem that showcases an artist reaching for all that he can accomplish. By David Rickert
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/power-to-the-people-joe-henderson-review-by-david-rickert

Personnel: Joe Henderson — tenor saxophone; Mike Lawrence — trumpet (2, 5); Herbie Hancock — piano (3, 4, 6), Fender Rhodes (1, 2, 5); Ron Carter — double bass (1, 3, 4, 6, 7), electric bass (2, 5)Jack DeJohnette — drums

Power To The People (Remastered 2024)

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Gato Barbieri - The Impulse Story

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:10
Size: 144,6 MB
Art: Front

( 7:35) 1. Nunca Mas
( 8:53) 2. India
(12:14) 3. Encontros, Pt. 1
( 5:26) 4. Latino America
( 3:06) 5. Gato Gato
( 5:27) 6. Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado (What A Difference A Day Makes)
( 6:05) 7. Viva Emiliano Zapata
( 5:51) 8. El Sublime
( 6:03) 9. Milonga Triste
( 2:26) 10. To Be Continued

Gato Barbieri may be one of those saxophonists whose sound is so closely associated with smooth jazz and has been since the late '70s that it's hard to imagine he was once the progenitor of a singular kind of jazz fusion: and that's world fusion, not jazz-rock fusion. Barbieri recorded four albums for Impulse! between 1973 and 1975 that should have changed jazz forever, in that he provided an entirely new direction when it was desperately needed.

That it didn't catch certainly isn't his fault, but spoke more to the dearth of new ideas that followed after the discoveries of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Miles Davis. Barbieri, a Coltrane disciple, hailed from Argentina and sought to bring the music of Latin America, most specifically its folk forms, into the jazz arena. He was wildly successful aesthetically and critically if not commercially though the first album, Chapter One: Latin America, sold well enough (it is currently available as half of a two-disc set called Latino America [IMPD 236-2], which includes Chapter Two: Hasta Siempre, restores all cuts to their original lengths, and adds bonus material). But there's more to it than his adding folk musicians not studio pros to the mix.

Barbieri's volume of The Impulse Story is one of a ten-disc series by individual artists that fleshes out the four CD box called The House That Trane Built, supporting Ashley Kahn's book of the same name the author chose all the selections on these volumes and wrote biographical notes to each package. Barbieri appears here with small and large folk groups which include fellow Argentine bandoneonist Dino Saluzzi to name just one recorded in both Rio and Los Angeles. The disc's first five cuts come from Chapter One and Chapter Two, and the complete versions of both "Nunca Mas" and "Econtros," as well as the stomping "Gato Gato," come from those sessions.

The next phase of the Impulse!/Gato saga took place in 1974 on Chapter Three: Viva Emiliano Zapata which remains out of print and the next three cuts, "Cuando Vuelva a Tu Lado (What a Difference a Day Makes)," the title tune, and Barbieri's own "El Sublime," are included. These tracks feature the saxophonist fronting Cuban bandleader and arranger Chico O'Farrill's big band, and were recorded in New York. Barbieri's amazing jazz tango "Milonga Triste" comes from Chapter Four: Alive in New York. The set turns in on itself by going back to Chapter One in the brief and beautiful cut called "To Be Continued." This is a fine introduction to Gato Barbieri for those who are interested in what he sounded like before he became a star and began playing more middle-of-the-road material much if which is excellent as well. Barbieri is worthy of serious rediscovery by a new generation, and this tight little set goes a long way toward making that case. ~ Thom Jurek

Gato Barbieri (spoken vocals, saxophone); Dino Saluzzi (bandoneon); Howard Johnson (bass clarinet, saxophone, flugelhorn, tuba); Randy Brecker (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ron Carter (bass guitar); Grady Tate (drums).

The Impulse Story