SADAO WATANABE - COME TODAY
Excellent
small group work from Sadao Watanabe – easily one of the best Japanese reed
players of the past 50 years – still sounding great here on a recent acoustic
session! Watanabe plays alto throughout – a definite preferred horn of late –
and stretches out in these expressive solos in the company of Gerald Clayton on
piano, Ben Williams on bass, and Jonathan Blake on drums – a combo who step out
with lots of warm sympathy on a set of tracks that's all original material by
Watanabe! Sadao's tunes have a feel that's quite poetic, yet still also
swinging too – a balance carried out in a wonderfully subtle way on tunes that
include "I Miss You When I Think Of You", "Gemmation",
"Vamos Juntos", "Simpatico", and "Warm Days
Ahead".~ Dusty Groove
VIJAY IYER - MUTATIONS
Vijay
Iyer on ECM – a great new setting for one of the most-discussed pianists in
recent years – and a chance for him to offer up some even more creative sides
of his talents! The record still features Vijay playing piano with some of
those blocky tones and rhythmic pulses that we love from his other trio and
solo recordings – but the album also features him on electronics, and working
with a string quartet on one number too – all in ways that are looser and more
abstract than some of his better-known records, and creates a bridge between
his jazz work and some of the new music modes of ECM. Titles include "Vuln
Part 2", "Spellbound & Sacrosanct Cowrie Shells & The
Shimmering Sea", "Mutations I to X", and "When We're
Gone". ~ Dusty Groove
SAM DEES - ONE IN A MILLION: THE SONGS OF SAM DEES
Sam Dees
is a hell of a singer, and he's a hell of a songwriter too – one who's worked
not just with the southern soul stars of his roots, but also a much wider range
of soul talents too! This wonderful collection really gets at the strength of
Dees' amazing ability to pen a special soul tune – as it features work from a
surprisingly huge array of talents from all sides of the soul spectrum –
including a fair bit of vocalists we never knew worked with Sam's material. We
love Dees' own records to death – and have enjoyed many of his demo recordings
over the years, too – but a set like this really shows the important influence
he had on soul music in the 70s – the way he touched so many folks, and helped
them out with his meaningful lyrics. The set features great notes on Sam and
his contribution – and 22 tracks that include "Where Did We Go Wrong"
by LTD, "Vanishing Love (UK rmx)" by The Chi-Lites, "Girl
Overboard" by Dorothy Moore, "So Your Love Finally Ran Out" by
Les McCann, "Run To Me" by Sidney Joe Qualls, "Save The
Overtime" by Gladys Knight & The Pips, "Seconds Of Your
Love" by Johnnie Taylor, "One In A Million You" by Larry Graham,
"Spoiled By Your Love" by Anita Ward, "What A Way To Put
It" by The Temptations, "Good Guys Don't Always Win" by Ray
Crumley, and "My World" by Sam Dees himself! ~ Dusty Groove
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