GATO BARBIERI & DOLLAR BRAND - CONFLUENCE
A real sleeper – and one of the treasures of the Arista
Freedom series! The album's a rare meeting between Argentine tenor player Gato
Barbieri and South African pianist Dollar Brand – a true global meeting of the
jazz minds, and a recording that's stronger than most of the work either player
was recording at the time! The format is incredibly spare – just tenor and
piano, plus some occasional cello work by Brand – dark and angular, but also
filled with small flowers of hope, flowering in the spontaneous presence of
these two great minds. Tracks are long, with a free flowing quality that's
infused with soul and spirit – and titles include "Hamba Khale",
"Aloe & The Wildrose", and "To Elsa". ~ Dusty Groove
THE INDEPENDENTS - JUST AS LONG: THE COMPLETE WAND RECORDINGS 1972-74
The great Chicago soul sound of the early 1970s has seldom
been better personified on wax than the recordings of the Independents.
Protégés of soul giant Jerry Butler and one of the leading groups of their era,
between 1972 and 1975 Chuck, Helen, Maurice, Eric and their (non-performing)
fifth member Marvin made some of the best and most beautiful music to come out
of the Windy City. They were rewarded for their music efforts by a string of
Billboard R&B chart hits, most of which also reached the pop Hot 100 too.
Much of the group's catalogue has never been available on CD. The material that
has been previously digitised has been deleted for many years, with copies of
that CD selling for up to £100. This CD marks the first time all their Wand
recordings have appeared in the same collection, including two special remixes
by Tom Moulton that were first issued, after the group broke up, on the
renowned Disco Gold compilations. Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy went on to
produce and write for many soul and pop artists from Yancy's wife Natalie Cole
to divas Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston but as you will hear, they saved
plenty of their best songs for their own group. ~ Amazon
JOHN SURMAN - MORNING GLORY
A seminal 70s session from British modernist John Surman –
a record that exposed him to a much wider audience than the one he'd been
getting in the avant jazz underground, and a record that's strongly build upon
Surman's amazing ability to improvise in long, spiraling lines! The record
features 4 long tracks played by a group that also includes Terje Rypdal, John
Taylor, Malcolm Griffiths, and John Marshall – all playing loosely and sparely
alongside Surman – in a way that's never too overindulgent or domineering.
Titles include "Norwegian Soul – Septimus", "Hinc Illae Lacrimae
– For Us All", and "Iron Man". ~ Dusty Groove
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