Eddie Henderson - Shuffle and Deal

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Size: 135,2 MB
Time: 59:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2020
Art: Front

1. Shuffle and Deal (5:30)
2. Flight Path (5:15)
3. Over the Rainbow (8:11)
4. By Any Means (3:15)
5. Cook's Bay (7:19)
6. It Might as Well Be Spring (9:22)
7. Boom (4:04)
8. God Bless the Child (6:53)
9. Burnin' (4:56)
10. Smile (4:13)

Heading into his 80th birthday, Eddie Henderson issues Shuffle And Deal a material addition to his vast oeuvre of leader dates. The album builds on several long-term creative relationships fostered during the trumpeter’s prolific career. He returns to the studio with practically the same winning lineup from his 2018 release, Be Cool, and daughter Cava Menzies and wife Natsuko Henderson again contribute compositions. Most notably, though, the aesthetic pull of the album derives from Henderson’s deep affinity with freakishly empathic pianist Kenny Barron.

The word “shuffle” is a play on the groove of the title cut a sophisticated, Miles Davis-inspired composition Henderson penned for the album but also describes the recurrence of tunes from his and his players’ established repertoire. Henderson includes two Barron compositions: “Flight Path,” a fervent, melodic imperative, and the charming Latin medium-tempo “Cook’s Bay.” There’s also altoist Donald Harrison’s “Burnin’” and four lovingly polished standards recognizable ballads rendered all the more touching alongside the rambunctious originals.

Besides Henderson’s own pieces, two other tunes are all-new with this release. Menzies’ clever, mixed-meter “By Any Means” delights with its clean horn lines and irresistible harmonic undertow, and Natsuko Henderson’s neo-soul “Boom” featuring Mike Clark’s high-velocity drumming sparkles with intensity.

But it is Henderson’s clarion trumpeting that guides the crush of talent on this album. His musical wisdom, gleaned during decades spent on the best jazz bandstands, informs every unerring note.By Suzanne Lorge
https://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/shuffle-and-deal

Personnel: Eddie Henderson, trumpet; Donald Harrison, alto saxophone; Kenny Barron, piano; Gerald Cannon, bass; Mike Clark, drums.

Shuffle and Deal

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Mike Clark - Mike Clark Plays Herbie Hancock

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:14
Size: 106,4 MB
Art: Front

(7:18) 1. Toys
(7:10) 2. Speak Like A Child
(4:01) 3. Dual Force
(7:17) 4. Dolphin Dance
(5:24) 5. Sorcerer
(5:31) 6. Chan's Song Never Said
(5:55) 7. Empty Pockets
(3:34) 8. Actual Proof

The music of Herbie Hancock has affected the lives of generations of jazz performers. Like many of these musicians, it was the opportunity to play with the great pianist/composer that introduced the great drummer Mike Clark to the jazz world at large. To show his appreciation, Clark presents a selection of his favorite Hancock pieces performed with a trio on his new recording, Mike Clark Plays Herbie Hancock.

Mike Clark was a burgeoning professional drummer in the Bay Area during the late 1960s. He regularly played post-bop gigs with Woody Shaw and Bobby Hutcherson, but it was in organ trios and funky gigs with his friend, bassist Paul Jackson, that really cemented Clark’s standing on the scene.

At the time, Hancock’s ground-breaking, electric Mwandishi ensemble broke up due to financial constraints. Hancock began to regroup a smaller, funkier ensemble and hired Jackson. Hancock initially had Harvey Mason for the drum chair, but his work constraints wouldn’t allow him to join. Jackson recommended Clark for the group and the Headhunters were born.

Clark’s tenure with Hancock and the Headhunters broke the drummer into the jazz consciousness and allowed him to do some revolutionary things on his instrument. Eventually, the pull of acoustic jazz playing was too much for Clark to deny and he settled in New York City and joined its incredible jazz scene. Clark remains indebted to Hancock for opening the door to a wider audience. Hancock also introduced Clark to the study of Buddhism.

Though he was known for his association with some of Hancock’s funkiest music, it was the sophisticated contemporary sounds of Hancock’s 1960s Blue Note recordings that Clark appreciated most. Clark knew that if he recorded any of his former boss’s music, it would be these pieces that he would love to take on.

Once Clark decided he wanted to go for the project, he knew just the musicians he would incorporate in a trio. Bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and pianist Jon Davis have been longtime collaborators, open to any stylistic challenge and, mostly importantly, they always swing. It just so happened that Dorsey had studio time available at Manhattan Sky Studio in New York City at the beginning of June 2022, where the trio convened and recorded a program of Hancock tunes in one or two takes, apiece.

The pieces the trio selected for the recording were pared down from a longer list of pieces they considered. Interestingly, the majority of the pieces come from Hancock’s mid to late 1960s releases on Blue Note, the outliers being “Empty Pockets” from 1962 and Buster Williams’s “Dual Force (Firewater)” from Hancock’s The Prisoner.

The recording begins with a stately version of “Toys,” Davis taking a sweeping approach on the classic from Hancock’s 1968 album, Speak Like a Child, that Clark has been playing since he was a teenager. From the same album, “Speak Like a Child,” is a gorgeously insistent piece that seems to play itself. Buster Williams’s grooving “Dual Force” provides a fantastic harmonic bed for the trio to explore. Davis’s brave suggestion to perform the highly played chestnut “Dolphin Dance” as a ballad stimulated the trio into a unique and wonderful performance.

Hancock’s “The Sorcerer” was another piece that Clark just had to play on the recording because of its sophisticated, harmonic approach. Composed for the 1980 movie Round Midnight, Stevie Wonder and Hancock’s “Chan Song” is reborn with a shuffle arrangement at the suggestion of Davis, harking back to Clark’s days of playing with blues legends during a period in Texas. The original Takin’ Off version of “Empty Pockets” remains a Clark favorite and he finds himself swinging like his hero, Billy Higgins, on the trio’s updated take. The recording concludes with “Actual Proof,” a piece that Clark provided the original drum beat on for Thrust. Here the trio takes another approach, stripping the piece down, making it more conceptual and angular.

The singular experience that Mike Clark received playing with Herbie Hancock does not outweigh the influence of the legendary pianist’s compositional gifts to Clark’s musical world. The great drummer chose to honor Hancock by playing pieces that continue to inspire him on his new Mike Clark Plays Herbie Hancock.

Personnel: Mike Clark - drums; Jon Davis - piano; Leon Lee Dorsey - bass

Mike Clark Plays Herbie Hancock

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Michael Wolff - Love and Destruction

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:58
Size: 130,0 MB
Art: Front

(5:06)  1. Tell Me
(2:51)  2. Falling In Love
(1:27)  3. Almost Everything
(5:34)  4. Everything In It's Right Place
(5:08)  5. Underwater
(5:20)  6. Hallelujah
(3:47)  7. Ya Ya
(4:27)  8. Stop In The Name Of Love
(4:12)  9. Miss You
(4:03) 10. Mellow Yellow
(5:28) 11. Tango
(3:03) 12. Hostage O
(5:27) 13. Everytody's Got To Learn Sometime

Michael Wolff has a strong reputation as a versatile and swinging jazz pianist. Love and Destruction is a major change for him; on this set he is cast as a singer/songwriter, performing modern folk music and sounding a bit (tone-wise) like Michael Franks but with a weaker voice. His website claims that this set of music is a mixture of rock, pop and world music and it is true that his jazz piano and improvising are greatly de-emphasized. But the messages Wolff sings about (including on five of his originals) are not that compelling, the covers are not particularly memorable, the musicians have little to do, and Wolff's voice will not impress many listeners. Hopefully Love and Destruction is only a temporary departure from Michael Wolff's musical strengths. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/love-and-destruction-mw0000563341

Personnel:  Michael Wolff - Piano, Hammond B3, Rhodes, Vocals; John B. Williams -  Electric Upright Bass; Richie Goods - Electric Bass; Mike Clark -  Drums; Chuck Morris - Drums; Badal Roy - Tablas; Brad Dutz -  Percussion; John Guth - Guitar; The African Children's Choir - Vocals, Sloan Wainwright;- John Guth -  Background Vocals

Love and Destruction

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Eddie Henderson - Be Cool

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:01
Size: 179,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:37)  1. Smoke Screen
(5:01)  2. Be Cool
(7:04)  3. After Youve Gone
(7:00)  4. Loft Funk
(6:25)  5. Fran Dance
(5:26)  6. The Moontrane
(7:07)  7. Naima
(6:44)  8. The Sand Castle Head Hunter
(8:17)  9. Nightride
(6:37) 10. Toys
(5:44) 11. Easy Living
(6:55) 12. Dla Juzi

Though he's run the challenging career gamut from Miles Davis to Herbie Hancock's lauded explorations with Mwandishi he was an integral part of 1973's watermark Sextant (Columbia Records) to a doctorate in psychiatry and acclaimed records of his own, ie: '93's Inspirations (Milestone Records), '73's electronic spaciness Realization (Capricorn Records) among others, trumpeter Eddie Henderson has managed to swing low under the horizon, a highly regarded, highly respected player in the circle of players and all knowing jazz heads.  As solid and sturdy as any band of vets, the cool unwinds with the soulful, bubbling syncopation of Kenny Barron's "Smoke Screen," heralding in Henderson's Be Cool, and we're off to the races real quick. In the service of cool, Henderson has enlisted hip help from pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Essiet Essiet, saxophonist Donald Harrison and drummer Mike Clark. All are on their A Game, especially Henderson, whose brassy, bluesy tone sets the pace, knowing this could be a record to be remembered for. 

The usually kicking "After You're Gone" is daringly taken here as a still, reflective conversation of souls and hearts between trumpeter, pianist, and bassist. "Loft Funk" written by drummer Mike Clark and Jerd Levy, brings back the sparkling bounce as Essiet holds forth, his cohorts jumping and funking around him, having a particularly playful time. A spirited "Fran Dance," a percolating reverie on Woody Shaw's "The Moontrane," Harrison's lavish "The Sand Castle Head Hunter" and a punchy nod to Herbie Hancock with "Toys" makes Be Cool a high point for veteran camaraderie and ensemble playing, with one standout tracking following on the heels of another, leaping from one bedrock to the the next. Before he walks out the door to his next gig, Henderson says that his wife always advises him to be cool. And you know what the philosopher's have passed down through the ages: "Happy wife, happy life." With it's sweet mix ballads and bop, Be Cool proves to be, for the moment, Henderson's best. It has taken the words of his missus to heart. ~ Mike Jurkovic https://www.allaboutjazz.com/be-cool-eddfie-henderson-smoke-sessions-records-review-by-mike-jurkovic.php

Personnel: Eddie Henderson: trumpet; Donald Harrison: saxophone; Kenny Barron: piano; Essiet Essiet: bass; Mike Clark: drums.

Be Cool

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Eddie Henderson - Heritage

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 1976
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:44
Size: 90,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:52)  1. Inside You
(3:44)  2. Acuphuncture
(5:19)  3. Time and Space
(4:12)  4. Nostalgia
(6:08)  5. Kudu
(7:33)  6. Dr. Mganga
(6:55)  7. Dark Shadows

For 1973's dynamite Realization and Inside Out, trumpeter Eddie Henderson reassembled most of the legendary Herbie Hancock sextet he'd been part of. In 1975 after leaving Capricorn for Blue Note, he kept elements of that group together for Sunburst, his label debut, with some major changes: George Duke played keyboards in place of Hancock; bassist Paul Jackson was replaced by Alphonso Johnson, and drummer Mike Clarke with Billy Hart. It resulted in a funkier experimental outing that tightened up the tunes a bit, but left plenty of blowing room for himself, reedman Bennie Maupin, and trombonist Julian Priester. The set sold well commercially, but many jazz critics derided it because of its perceived "commercial" overtones. Released in 1976, Heritage was greeted with even more ambivalence, but has since come to be regarded with Sunburst as one of the great recordings of Henderson's career by an entirely new generation who hold funky rhythms and electronics in high esteem. Henderson brought back Priester, and Jackson and Clarke returned to the rhythm section (Hart played on the album's final cut, "Dark Shadow"). Filling out the band were a young Patrice Rushenon keyboards, saxophonist, flutist, and clarinetist Hadley Caliman in place of Maupin, and percussionist James Mtume from the Miles Davis group. Henderson emulates the spacier edges of Davis' electric period in his own playing. Long lines of few notes are accompanied by hypnotic basslines and multi-layered polyrhythmic percussion on "Time and Space." On "Acuphuncture," Rushen's wah-wah keyboards, Jackson's driven bassline, and Clarke's rimshots and breakbeats introduce a lilting pair of lines from Caliman's flute and Henderson's trumpet, but within a minute, the tune cracks open into a driving, hard funk jam with Henderson laying down some short, choppy post-bop lines on his horn. Things become even darker and funkier on "Kudu," where Jackson's bassline is at the top of the mix. 

It's furious as it pops against Mtume's roiling congas in direct assaultive counterpoint to Clarke's kit work. Rushen creates fat, choppy chords and vamps for Henderson, Priester, and Caliman to solo over. It's tighter than Miles' electric material, but less spacy. Priester's trombone feels like a futuristic version of one on the front line in the J.B.'s. "Mganga" has a less pronounced set of lyric imagery, and offers the best explanation for some punters' trouble with the set: the abstraction (and absence) of a true front line sense of lyric in favor of angular, articulate countermelodies played by individual horns that move toward the rhythms almost in opposition, rather than play above them. The beautiful Star Trek futurism of the brass over Rushen's crazy solo also rocks. Caliman's bass clarinet tone is all but indistinguishable from Maupin's on "Dark Shadow" except for its economy. (He plays a continuous seven-note vamp through the entire tune.) The loopy, mournful wah-wah trumpet overdubs are a contrapuntal melody to that, but the drums begin to shake loose during Priester's future blues solo. The cut explodes at about the four-minute mark via Henderson's solo before deconstructing all but the vamps toward its close. Heritage is a wonderful set, and should be revisited by anyone who either missed or was put off by it initially. For the new generation of jazz and funk heads, this one is right up your alley these are some dark, freaky, and delicious grooves that bear further investigation. Heritagewas re-released on CD in 2008 as part of the Blue Note Rare Groove Series.~ Thom Jurek https://www.allmusic.com/album/heritage-mw0000791530

Personnel: Eddie Henderson (trumpet, flugelhorn, horns); Julian Priester (alto, tenor, tamboura, trombone, alto trombone, tenor trombone, bass trombone); Hadley Caliman (flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone); Patrice Rushen (clarinet, electric piano, Clavinet, clavichord, synthesizer); James Mtume (piano, congas, percussion); Paul Jackson (electric bass); Mike Clarke , Woody Theus, Mike Clark , Billy Hart (drums).

Heritage

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Mike Clark & Delbert Bump - Retro Report

Size: 146,8 MB
Time: 62:59
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Jazz, Hammond Organ
Art: Front

01. Topsy (6:49)
02. Chicken (4:25)
03. Deep In The Inner City (6:09)
04. Hi Heel Sneakers (6:13)
05. Alice In Wonderland (6:08)
06. You Don't Know What Love Is (7:03)
07. No Blues (5:25)
08. More Chicken (5:25)
09. Peri's Scope (4:43)
10. Honky Tonk (6:25)
11. Well, You Needn't (4:08)

His father was a railroad man and Mike picked up a great understanding of different musical styles around the country while riding the rails. From Herbie Hancock's Headhunters to a long list of the greats, Mike Clark shows how it's done both on the drums and as a Jazzman. Hip, positive, and adventurous at 70, Mike met up with his longtime friend Delbert Bump and together they tracked an album of Hammond based grooves - Retro Report, bringing in young Elias Lucero to rip it up on guitar with some horn touches from Vince Denham and Rob Dixon. This is your Father's Jazz, your Sister's Jazz, your long lost Uncle Benny's Jazz, and your Grandson's Jazz. That is to say it crosses the span of time with a master's flick of the wrist.

About Mike Clark & Delbert Bump:
While often referred to as the “Tony Williams of funk,” Mike Clark considers jazz his first love. He gained worldwide recognition as one of America’s foremost jazz and funk drummers while playing with Herbie Hancock in the early seventies. His incisive playing on Hancock’s “Actual Proof” garnered him an international cult following and influenced generations of drummers.

Mike has performed with such well-known jazz greats as Herbie Hancock, Christian McBride, Chet Baker, John Scofield, Nicholas Payton, Tony Bennett, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Eddie Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Vince Guaraldi, Woody Shaw, Donald Harrison, Albert King, Larry Coryell, Mike Wolff, Wallace Roney, Billy Childs, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Chris Potter, Bobby McFerrin, Nat Adderly, Oscar Brown Jr., and Gil Evans and his Orchestra.

Born in Sacramento, CA, Mike traveled around the country with his father, a former drummer himself and a union man for the railroad. His dad had a great appreciation for jazz and blues music, and Mike absorbed the music of America while riding the rails. He credits this exposure as forming the foundation for his ability to synthesize many different regional styles. From age 4, he was a prodigy, sitting in-- and getting “house” -- - with bands in Texas and New Orleans. And by the time he reached his early twenties he was known as one of the founders of the distinctive East Bay Sound coming out of Oakland, California.

During the late sixties, he led his own jazz organ trio, until he met Hancock in 1973. With Hancock, Mike set the rhythms for the acclaimed group, The Headhunters. Afterwards, he did a two-year stint with Brand X, the British jazz/rock fusion band founded by Phil Collins. With them he recorded ”Do They Hurt?” and “Product.”

By 2000 Mike made a foray into the popular jam band scene. His group Prescription Renewal pulled together cross-generational talents, such as Charlie Hunter, Fred Wesley, Skerik, Robert Walter, and DJ Logic, and featured special guests such as Donald Harrison, George Porter Jr. of The Meters, Les Claypool, Larry Goldings and fellow Headhunters alumni Bill Summers. He also toured with The Roots Funk All Stars.

Along with James Brown's drummer Clyde Stubblefield, Mike's beats with The Headhunters (most notably "God Make Me Funky") include some of the most sampled in hip hop. Featured in Downbeat, Musician, International Musician & Recording World, Modern Drummer, Jazz Times, Guitar Player, Jazz Is and numerous jazz history and method books, Mike is a popular and busy clinician. His book Funk Drumming: Innovative Grooves & Advanced Concepts was published in 2012 by Hal Leonard.]

2015 is shaping up to be another musically exciting year. His second Wolff & Clark Expedition CD releases in February, and his hard bop band “Indigo Blue Live at the Iridium” arrives six months later, both on Random Act Records. Both CDs feature Christian McBride on bass, Donald Harrison on alto, Rob Dixon on tenor, Antonio Farao on Piano and Randy Brecker on trumpet.

As a bandleader, his release “Give The Drummer Some” earned a rare four and a half stars in Downbeat. “The Funk Stops Here,” a joint effort with Hancock alumni Paul Jackson got five stars, as did 2011’s “Carnival of Soul.” In 2001, his solo CD “Actual Proof” met with critical acclaim, as did the 2003 acoustic jazz release, “Summertime,” featuring Chris Potter and Billy Childs, which spent weeks in the top ten jazz charts. 2009’s “Blueprints of Jazz” was considered one of the top jazz releases of the last ten years by Downbeat magazine.

Recently Mike has been co-leading The Headhunters,’ with original founding member Bill Summers. 2012 saw a new Headhunters release, “Platinum.” which featured guest turns by Snoop Dogg, George Clinton, and Killah Priest.

Mike has produced three releases for the spoken word prophet Tony Adamo, indulging ”Miles of Blu" with Tower of Power Doc Krupka, bass legend Paul Jackson, Michael Wolff. Along with drum legend Lenny White (Return to Forever), Mike is co-leading Nu Brew, a double drummer experience in new music. He also appears on Tower of Power's organist Chester Thompson's new "Mixology."

Retro Report

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Dylan Taylor With Mike Clark & Larry Coryell - One In Mind

Size: 150,7 MB
Time: 64:26
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2016
Styles: Jazz: Jazz Fusion
Art: Front

01. The One Or The Nine (4:24)
02. Loft Funk (6:59)
03. Jumbo Liar (5:15)
04. Song For Dennis (5:04)
05. Excerpt (From War And Peace) (5:23)
06. John's Abbey (9:17)
07. Hittin' And Missin' (7:35)
08. Alabama Rhap Corollary (5:20)
09. Jem'n'eye'n (8:25)
10. The Dragon Gate (6:41)

Personnel:
Larry Coryell - Guitar
Mike Clark - Drums
Dylan Taylor - Bass

Bassist/Cellist/Composer and Arranger Dylan Taylor is a veteran mainstay of the greater Philadelphia area Jazz scene. During his busy career Dylan has provided the bottom anchor for name artists such as Lee Konitz, Freddie Hubbard, Mose Allison and Larry Coryell, and taken part in steady local Jazz engagements in Center City's better hotels with pianist Tom Lawton's trio at the Four Seasons and saxophonist Tony Williams' quartet at the RitzCarlton.

Taylor has recorded extensively for the C.I.M.P. label on respective releases with saxophonist Bobby Zankel, vibraphonist Khan Jamal and Vocalist Kelly Meashey, and was a longtime member of Bobby Zankel's "little big band," The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, with recordings on Dreambox Media.

Dylan studied bass with Al Stauffer, Dennis Sandole, Buster Williams (under an NEA Jazz study Fellowship) and John Pattitucci at City College of New York, where he also studied composition with Mike Holober. In 2013 Taylor's musical score for the feature film Takao Dancer was premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Taylor's first self-produced project as leader, 2013's Sweeter for the Struggle, features his friend Larry Coryell and three of Dylan's original compositions. On both the recording and at the CD release concert, the legendary guitarist joined top Philadelphia Jazz talents including the aforementioned Tom Lawton and Bobby Zankel; one of the tunes, Art the Messenger (inspired by drummer Art Blakey), encapsulates Taylor's spiritual feelings regarding both his musicmaking/ bandleadingapproach and his overall worldview: Specifically, that positive hope combined with the musical diversity displayed in his compositions weaving together AfroCuban,fusion, straight ahead, blues and avantgarde canplay a part in a larger message of connecting us all individually to something bigger than ourselves, a sum truly greater than its parts. As Dylan Taylor states, "I hope that my music can contribute in some way to this process.

One In Mind

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Wolff & Clark Expedition - Wolff & Clark Expedition 2

Size: 151,0 MB
Time: 64:34
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Jazz
Art: Front

01. Clark Bar (7:37)
02. Sunshine Of Your Love (4:38)
03. Israel (4:08)
04. Madiba (8:27)
05. Monk's Dream (5:26)
06. Stray (4:55)
07. Gingerbread Boy (3:13)
08. Mulgrew (6:23)
09. 1999 (4:56)
10. A Night In Tunisia (5:50)
11. Invisible (3:30)
12. In Walked Bud (5:25)

The WOLFF & CLARK EXPEDITION — pianist Michael Wolff and drummer Mike Clark — release their 2nd Expedition, with bassist Christian McBride, saxophonist Hailey Niswanger, trumpeter Wallace Roney and young bass phenom Daryl Johns (sharing duties with McBride). With unique covers of tunes by Prince, Monk, Ornette, and Cream and beguiling originals from the leaders, this is an excursion that should not be missed! Truly a “Band without boundaries,” WOLFF & CLARK combine elements of Jazz, Funk, and Soul in an intelligent, accessible way to create their own brand of burning music.

Wolff & Clark Expedition 2

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