BOBBY HUTCHERSON / DAVID SANBORN / JOEY DEFRANCESCO / BILLY HART - ENJOY THE VIEW
NEA Jazz Master Bobby Hutcherson makes his triumphant return
to Blue Note Records, where the virtuoso vibraphonist started his career in the
early 60s, with the superb album, Enjoy the View. The vibrant session is
produced by Blue Note president Don Was. Recorded by an all-star collective of
saxophonist David Sanborn and organist Joey DeFrancesco, and featuring drummer
Billy Hart, the Hutcherson-sparked group plays seven original compositions that
range from cool, gentle grooves to fiery outbursts of exuberance. At heart, the
album soars thanks to the divine musical alchemy among the performers an assemblage
of veteran artists who play at the top of their game. DeFrancesco proved to be
the common denominator of the session, having played with Hutcherson for some
ten years, with Sanborn and Hart, with whom he has enjoyed a long history,
including his second album as a leader (1990 s Where Were You?). In New York
when Was first came on board at Blue Note Records, after dinner he
serendipitously dropped into the Blue Note club where DeFrancesco and Sanborn
were performing. 'I'd known Dave for some 25 years and I knew Joey as one of
the best Hammond B3 organ players in the world,' Was says. 'I just sat there
and the set was so relaxed and grooving. I loved what I heard. So after the two
sets, I met Joey upstairs and asked him what he thought about doing an album
with Bobby and Dave. That s how it started.' ~ Amazon.com
MESCHELL NDEGEOCELLO - COMET COME TO ME
Meshell Ndegeocello comes on with the force of a comet – and
delivers one of her boldest records in years – a crackling set of cosmic soul
tunes that have all the power of the singer in her early years! Meshell's
definitely absorbed some of the headier elements of her varied projects over the
past decade or so – including some stronger jazz elements, a respect for older
roots, and even a complicated sense of rhythms – but she also moves forward
with a focus and presence that we haven't heard this strongly in years – proud,
righteous, mature, and very much her own self throughout the course of this
wonderful album! Titles include "Friends", "Shopping For
Jazz", "Conviction", "Folie A Deux",
"Choices", "Modern Time", "American Rhapsody",
"Tom", "Good Day Bad", and "Comet Come To
Me". ~ Dusty Groove
TAYLOR MCFERRIN - EARLY RISER
A great debut from Taylor McFerrin – family member to another famous jazz singer, but very much possessed of his own self and style! The album's got this crackling, glistening quality – subtle electrics and Fender Rhodes mixing with Taylor's well-crafted vocals – never overwhelming them, but taking them into a space that's beyond conventional soul or jazz – and completely hypnotic throughout! Robert Glasper guests on one track on the set – and McFerrin's approach is a bit like some of the most creative elements in Glasper's Black Radio experiment – and other guests on the record include Emily King, Nai Palm, and Thundercat. Titles include "Decisions", "Postpartum", "Degrees Of Light", "The Antidote", "Florasia", "4am", "Stepps", and "Already There". ~ Dusty Groove
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