Donald Byrd - Live: Cookin' with Blue Note at Montreux

Styles: Trumpet Jazz
Year: 2022
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:25
Size: 104,6 MB
Art: Front

( 8:11) 1. Black Byrd
( 7:42) 2. You've Got It Bad Girl
( 9:19) 3. The East
( 2:58) 4. Introductions
(11:50) 5. Kwame
( 5:22) 6. Poco-mania

With the release of his chart-topping, funk-fueled Black Byrd in 1973, Donald Byrd found himself in a volatile place in jazz circles. He was being hailed as having finally stepped out of Miles Davis' considerable shadow, while simultaneously many found the album to be Byrd's selling out his bop legacy for chart success. As most defining artistic moments reveal, a little of both were true.

Produced and arranged by the brothers Fonce Mizelland Larry Mizell, Black Byrd incorporated Motown's universal sense of rhythm and groove with the upfront horns and the then-nascent cosmic sounds of synthesizers and electric pianos. Perhaps it was just a little too much too soon. And perhaps none of this bothered Byrd at all. He just went on about his creative business like true creatives do, determined and undaunted.

So putting a band together and getting the grit before the people was the mission of that summer, and at Montreux Byrd and his small army took the beachhead. With "Shaft" like grooves and urgent funk methodology of equal parts rock insurgency (Sly and the Family Stone), electric Miles Davis, and genre-bending Herbie Hancock, to say the heat starts high and cookin' just about says it all.

Set for first time release on what would have been the trumpeter's 90th birthday (December 9, 2022), Donald Byrd Live: Cookin' with Blue Note at Montreux is a previously unheard, electric, fire breathing set from the Montreux Jazz Festival, July 5, 1973, that blazes in early fusion glory. A fierce and relentless percolation spikes the opening "Black Byrd" and the set simmers close to a boil thereafter. With the Mizell brothers beside him on their respective synths and horns, Byrd leads a ten-piece invasion proving exactly who's who, despite the chit and chatter from the naysaying scholars and pundits. Keeping the groove hot and in place, tenor sax/flutist Allan Barnes and fellow saxophonist Nathan Davis, electric pianist Kevin Toney, guitarist Barney Perry, bassist Henry Franklin, drummer Keith Killgo, and percussionist Ray Armando build on the serpentine, chunka-chunka/chicka-chicka rhythm of "The East" to climax on the high bop centered "Kwami" and frantic "Poco-Mania." Cookin' just about says it all. By Mike Jurkovic Mike Jurkovic
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/donald-byrd-live-cookin-with-blue-note-at-montreux-blue-note-records

Personnel: Donald Byrd: trumpet; Fonce Mizell: trumpet; Allan Barnes: saxophone, tenor; Keith Killgo: drums; Nathan Davis: saxophone; Kevin Toney: piano; Larry Mizell: synthesizer; Barney Perry: guitar; Henry Franklin: bass; Ray Armando: percussion.

Additional Instrumentation: Donald Byrd: flugelhorn, vocals; Fonce Mizell: vocals; Keith Killgo: vocals.

Live: Cookin' with Blue Note at Montreux

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Nathan Davis - London by Night

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:12
Size: 139,2 MB
Art: Front

(6:56)  1. Noite Em Leblon
(5:18)  2. I Thought About You
(6:20)  3. Rio De Janeiro
(4:23)  4. London by Night
(2:48)  5. Dr. Bu
(9:06)  6. But Beautiful
(6:33)  7. You've Changed
(5:37)  8. Shades
(5:53)  9. Lament
(7:14) 10. If I Fell

Nathan Davis split his career between being a fine tenor saxophonist and a jazz educator. He played briefly with Jay McShann in 1955, attended the University of Kansas, spent time in the Army in Berlin (1960-1963), and stayed in Paris where he worked with Kenny Clarke (1963-1969), Eric Dolphy (1964), and Art Taylor. He also toured Europe with Art Blakey (1965) and Ray Charles. Starting in 1969, Davis was a professor of jazz at the University of Pittsburgh and Moorhead State University. His two most important musical associations involved leadership of the Paris Reunion Band (1985-1989) and Roots (which he formed in 1991). After 44 years, Davis retired from the University of Pittsburgh in June 2013. He died of congestive heart failure in Florida in April 2018 at the age of 81. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nathan-davis-mn0000377691/biography

Personnel: Tenor Saxophone – Nathan Davis; Trumpet – Dusko Goykovich;  Bass – Jimmy Woode; Drums – Al Levitt; Flugelhorn – Dusko Goykovich; Flute – Nathan Davis; Piano – Kenny Drew

London by Night

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Nathan Davis - Two Originals (Happy Girl & The Hip Walk)

Styles: Flute And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1965
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:42
Size: 176,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:53)  1. The Flute In The Blues
(7:04)  2. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
(7:18)  3. Happy Girl
(7:15)  4. Evolution
(5:08)  5. Theme From Zoltan
(2:18)  6. Along Came Byrd
(3:21)  7. Mister E.
(7:00)  8. The Hip Walk
(7:23)  9. While Children Sleep
(5:26) 10. Train Of Thought
(2:54) 11. Yesterdays
(7:56) 12. That Kaycee Thing
(3:45) 13. Carmell's Black Forest Waltz
(4:57) 14. B's Blues

Nathan Davis spent some time living and working in Europe in the mid-'60s before returning to the United States to serve in jazz education. His recordings as a leader have been hard to find, so this compilation of two 1965 studio sessions, Happy Girl and Hip Walk, (both originally issued by MPS) will be a welcome discovery for collectors who can find it. In the earlier date he is joined by trumpeter Woody Shaw, Larry Young (on piano rather than organ), bassist Jimmy Woode and drummer Billy Brooks. His happy "The Flute in the Blues" showcases his lighthearted flute playing, accompanied only by bass and drums. His big tone on tenor sax in the standard ballad "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" is somewhat suggestive of John Coltrane, but with a stronger vibrato. His original "Evolution" has an exotic sound like the kind of post-bop material that was recorded by various Blue Note artists a year or two later. Shaw contributed the fascinating "Theme From Zoltan," which showcases Brooks' inventive polyrhythms and Woode's adventurous bass, backing strong solos by the trumpeter and the leader (on tenor sax). The jaunty, angular blues "Along Came Byrd" finds Davis holding his own on soprano sax. The later session retains Woode, but substitutes trumpeter Carmell Jones, pianist Francy Boland and drummer Kenny Clarke. Although the arrangements are equally challenging, things seem looser on this session, suggesting that there was more time to rehearse, though that is unlikely, since Jones was flown in especially for this date. 

The Coltrane influence is again apparent in the ballad "While Children Sleep." It would be easy to imagine Art Blakey tackling the furious "Train of Thought." Davis switches to flute for a haunting take of Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays." This valuable music was reissued in Europe by Motor Music in 1998, though it may very well have already lapsed again from print; it is well-worth investigating.~Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/two-originals-happy-girl-hip-walk-mw0000041160

Personnel: Nathan Davis (flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Carmell Jones, Woody Shaw (trumpet); Francy Boland, Larry Young (piano); Kenny Clarke, Billy Brooks (drums).

Two Originals (Happy Girl & The Hip Walk)

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Nathan Davis - If

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1976
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:52
Size: 97,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:53)  1. Stick Buddy
(5:06)  2. If
(4:38)  3. Bahia
(6:30)  4. African Boogie
(5:25)  5. Tragic Magic
(6:22)  6. A Thought for Cannon
(3:26)  7. New Orleans
(5:29)  8. Mr. Jive by Five

The debut release on Nathan Davis' own Tomorrow International label, If remains the funkiest, hardest-driving of the saxophonist's LPs; some distance removed from his previous MPS and Polydor dates, the record boasts a streamlined approach that perfectly serves its relentless grooves: every note and beat means something, and each speaks volumes. Moving deftly from alto to tenor to soprano to flute and back again, Davis' restless energy galvanizes compositions like "Stick Buddy," "New Orleans," and "African Boogie," serving as a fiery counterpoint to Abraham Laboriel's pummeling basslines and Dave Palmer's deeply soulful drum breaks -- his playing possesses a sense of urgency and immediacy often missing from the jazz-funk aesthetic, and it transforms If into one of the finest recordings of its kind. ~ Jason Ankeny http://www.allmusic.com/album/if-mw0001448092

Personnel:  Nathan Davis - Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute [Alto]; Abraham Laboriel – Bass; Dave Palamar – Drums; George Caldwell - Piano, Electric Piano.

If

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Nathan Davis - Happy Girl

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:15
Size: 85.3 MB
Styles: Bop, Saxophone jazz
Year: 1965/2014
Art: Front

[4:51] 1. The Flute In The Blues
[7:02] 2. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
[7:16] 3. Happy Girl
[7:15] 4. Evolution
[5:09] 5. Theme From Zoltan
[2:19] 6. Along Came Byrd
[3:21] 7. Mister E

Bass – Jimmy Woode; Drums – Billy Brooks; Piano – Larry Young; Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute – Nathan Davis; Trumpet – Woody Shaw.

Nathan Davis has split his career between being a fine tenor saxophonist and a jazz educator. He played briefly with Jay McShann in 1955, attended the University of Kansas, spent time in the Army in Berlin (1960-1963), and stayed in Paris where he worked with Kenny Clarke (1963-1969), Eric Dolphy (1964), and Art Taylor. He also toured Europe with Art Blakey (1965) and Ray Charles. Since 1969, Davis has been a professor of jazz at the University of Pittsburgh and Moorhead State University. His two most important musical associations have been heading the Paris Reunion Band (1985-1989) and leading Roots (which he formed in 1991). ~Scott Yanow

Happy Girl mc
Happy Girl zippy

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Slide Hampton - Mellow-Dy

Styles: Trombone Jazz

Year: 1968

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 55:02

Size: 127,0 MB

Art: Front

( 4:15)  1. Lament

( 7:11)  2. Impossible Waltz

(12:15)  3. Chop Suey

( 5:16)  4. Mellow- Dy

(18:32)  5. The Thing

( 7:30)  6. Us Six

Trombonist Slide Hampton's writing ability has long overshadowed his skills as a player. This CD reissue sets the record straight by putting the focus on Hampton's boppish and consistently creative trombone. The first three selections (a couple of originals and J.J. Johnson's "Lament") showcase Hampton really stretching out with a quartet also including pianist Martial Solal, bassist Henri Texler and drummer Daniel Humair. The second half of the CD has Hampton joined by tenor saxophonist Nathan Davis, vibraphonist Dave Pike, pianist Hampton Hawes (sounding quite modern), Texler, and Humair for a couple more originals and Hawes' "Us Six." Overall, the advanced straight-ahead music on this CD comprises one of Hampton's best showcases as a trombonist, and the release is easily recommended. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/album/mellow-dy-mw0000234931

Personnel: Slide Hampton (trombone); Nathan Davis (tenor saxophone); Dave Pike (vibraphone); Martin Solal, Hampton Hawes (piano); Henri Texier (bass); Daniel Humair (drums).

Mellow-Dy

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Nathan Davis - Rules of Freedom

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:16
Size: 92,7 MB
Art: Front

( 7:40)  1. Blues for Trane
( 8:32)  2. A 5
( 3:52)  3. Ahali the Painter
( 5:35)  4. Mandingo's Pad
(11:07)  5. Love is Freedom
( 3:26)  6. Rules of Freedom

Nathan Davis has split his career between being a fine tenor saxophonist and a jazz educator. He played briefly with Jay McShann in 1955, attended the University of Kansas, spent time in the Army in Berlin (1960-1963), and stayed in Paris where he worked with Kenny Clarke (1963-1969), Eric Dolphy (1964), and Art Taylor. He also toured Europe with Art Blakey (1965) and Ray Charles. Since 1969, Davis has been a professor of jazz at the University of Pittsburgh and Moorhead State University. His two most important musical associations have been heading the Paris Reunion Band (1985-1989) and leading Roots (which he formed in 1991).~Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/artist/nathan-davis-mn0000377691/biography

Personnel:  Bass – Jimmy Garrison;  Drums – Art Taylor;  Flute, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Nathan Davis;  Piano – Hampton Hawes

Rules of Freedom

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