HOUSTON
PERSON / RON CARTER – CHEMISTRY
A brilliant
late-life session from these two jazz giants – and maybe the most striking
record we've heard from either player in years! The album features just the
bass of Ron Carter and tenor of Houston Person – in a wonderfully stripped-down
setting that really gets right to the heart of the matter, and which lets us
hear both musicians at a level that's extremely up-close and personal – as they
improvise with undimmed magic on a set of standards that really turn into
something else entirely in their hands! Carter's a player who we've always known
to take best advantage of open space like this – and Person is equally great in
the format, and maybe wins us over even more than on any of his other recent
dates for the label. Titles include "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Blue
Monk", "Blame It On My Youth", "I Didn't Know What Time It
Was", "Fools Rush In", and "Can't We Be Friends". ~
Dusty Groove
MARCOS
AMORIM – SEA OF TRANQUILITY
Beautifully
subtle guitar work from Marcos Amorim – a musician who plays an electric
instrument, but can often make it feel as if waves of sound are just cascading
out gently into the air – more tone than attack on the strings, with this style
that's deft, but very unassuming – and which works especially well with the
Fender Rhodes lines used on a good number of tracks on the album! The balance
is key to Amorim's talents – as the whole thing would be too smooth or slick in
the hands of someone else, but still has that up-close, personal vibe we loved
in Marcos' other albums for Adventure. Other instrumentation includes bass and
drums – and singer Delia Fischer appears on a few of the album's tracks,
although the set is mostly instrumental overall. Titles include
"Bolero", "January Ashes", "Dance Of The Five
Princesses", "Sea Of Tranquility", "The Further Away The
Closer I Get", "Sea Time", and "My African Goddess". ~
Dusty Groove
JAMAICA JAZZ
1931-1962
A huge
vision of Jamaican music in the pre-reggae years – a wealth of jazz recordings
from the 40s and 50s, including some key sides of Jamaican musicians who
emigrated to London! The set features way more than just some early
instrumental moments in the years before ska and rocksteady – as the package
begins with bigger band sounds, moves into some calypso-influenced jazz, and
then steps out in a sweet array of hardbop and sounds inspired by some of the
growing changes in Jamaican rhythms. And even the London recordings seem very
well-chosen – early in the careers of musicians who'd later break bigger in the
UK, but who work here with more ties to the island of their roots. Titles
include "Donkey City" and "Swing Lane Girl/Iron Bar" by
Lord Fly, "Wheel & Tun Me" by The Jamaican Calypsonians,
"Snakehips Swing" by Ken Snakehips Johnson, "Big Top
Boogie" by Leslie Jiver Hutchinson, "Cherokee" and "April
In Paris" by Joe Harriott, "Bang" and "Eb Pob" by
Dizzy Reece, "Manhattan" and "Cumana" by Cecil Lloyd,
"Deborah" and "Rhythm" by Wilton Gaynair, "Air Horn
Shuffle" and "Swing For Joy" by Count Ossie & The Wareikas,
"Tangerine" and "Harry Flicks" by Harold McNair, "The
Answer" by Tommy McCook, and "Old Devil Moon" by Totlyn Jackson.
3CD set features 60 titles in all – and notes in French and English! ~ Dusty
Groove
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