A stone smoker from Rongetz Foundation – and a record that's even better than anything else we've heard from them! This time around, the sound is very live – recorded in the US, with help from heavyweights like Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax and Bruce Williams on alto – plus killer vocals from Gregory Porter on two tracks that are worth the price of the album alone! The sound is totally smoking – soul jazz, with a spiritual undercurrent – and on the cuts "Hard Bop Merry Go Round" and "Gogo Soul", Porter gets some of his best backing ever – a mode that almost sounds better than his already-great albums! A few other cuts feature vocals by other singers – and titles inclu de "Eunice K", "Sam's Intro", "A Composer Of Modern Day", "The Braggart", and "Freaking Sunshine". ~ Dusty Groove
A rare Japanese session from American reedman Charlie Mariano – and one of the few recorded documents of his time on the Tokyo scene! The album really captures Charlie at a pivotal – and under-recorded – point in his career – definitely stretching out from the tight lines of his Boston years, yet also still holding back from some of the trippier styles he'd explore more freely on the European scene. This sense of being at the edge really holds throughout the entire album – and even familiar tunes have some structures that are less familiar than you might expect – as Charlie blows alto with deep sense of soul, in the company of a group that includes Masao Yagi on piano, Hideo Shiraki on drums, Akira Fukumara on trumpet, and Hidehiko Matsumoto on tenor and soprano sax! Titles include "Etude", "Santa Barbara", "Rootie", "G Low", and "Come Rain Or Come Shine". ~ Dusty Groove
Sarah Vaughan and Henry Mancini – a surprising combination, and one that's served up in an equally surprising style! The set was cut at the height of Mancini's 60s popularity, but the overall feel is quite different than his groovy soundtracks – and much more in the mature, boozy style that Vaughan was using at the time. Arrangers are a varied lot – the set includes work by Bob James, Frank Foster, Bill Holman, and Billy Byers – which gives the tunes a nice sense of variety, too – not the usual "in the mode of" record you might get from a set focused on a single composer. There's a few standout groovers – including a great vocal version of "Peter Gunn" – but most things are nice and mellow, and titles include "Dear Heart", "Charade", "Slow Hot Wind", "Mr Lucky", "It Had Better Be Tonight", and "How Soon". ~ Dusty Groove
No comments:
Post a Comment