Jazz Archives

This is a lounge-jazz easy listening album, loaded with funky accent and lush riffs. Approach this release with care, as you might become addicted to listen to this after each complex and demanding album that you go through. This is a perfect sonic afterglow music; the album of the "afterwards".

Azymuth - Azimuth (1975)

1. Linha Do Horizonte (4:29)
2. Melô Dos Dois Bicudos (3:08)
3. Brazil (3:58)
4. Seems Like This (4:31)
5. Caça A Raposa (5:12)
6. Estrada Dos Deuses (3:14)
7. Wait For My Turn (3:01)
8. Montreal City (3:19)
.9 Morning (3:48)
10. Periscópio (7:36)

Credits

Artwork By [Design By] - Swifty
Drums, Percussion - Ivan Conti [Mamao]
Engineer [Assistant] - Barrachinka , Jaire Gualberto , Zé Guilherme
Engineer [Sound] - Ari Carvalhaes , Eugenio , Luigi , Luis Cláudio
Guitar - Joao América [Parana] (tracks: A1)
Guitar, Violin, Vocals, Percussion, Bass - José Alexandre Malheiros
Mastered By [Remastered By] - John Dent
Other [Coordination By] - Duncan Ballantyne , Hugh De Winton , Joe Davis , Lewis Robinson
Percussion, Vocals - Arinvaldo Contesini
Piano, Clavinet, Electric Piano, Organ [Hammond], Synthesizer [Moog, Arp], Vocals - José Roberto Bertrami
Vocals - Márcio Lott (tracks: A1, A7, A9)
Vocals, Percussion - Joao América [Parana]
Written-By - A. Malheiros (tracks: A2, A3, A5 to A7, A10) , I. Conti (tracks: A2, A3, A5, A6, A10) , J. R Bertrami (tracks: A2 to A6, A8 to A10)

Notes

Original album recorded at Estudios Hawai Phonogram, Rio De Janeiro between October '74 and February '75.

Still considered an expatriate as he resided in Europe, Dexter Gordon (tenor sax) returned stateside in mid-1972 long enough to lay down two sessions' worth of material that would primarily be split between Tangerine (1972), Generation (1973), and Ca'Purange (1973). The opening update of the Johnny Mercer staple "Tangerine" gets things underway with a mid-tempo treatment allowing Gordon, Thad Jones (trumpet), Hank Jones (piano), and Stanley Clarke (bass) plenty of room to groove on their own as well as in the quintet with Louis Hayes' (drums) rock-solid downbeat. Oddly, the performance is not presented in its entirety, fading out nearly nine minutes in. Hank Jones shines on the easygoing "August Blues" -- the first of three Gordon originals featured on the platter. Gordon is more methodical as his interesting ideas develop organically and inspire the same from Thad Jones, who kicks things up with his dizzying double-time before handing things back to pianist Hank Jones. Clarke steps up and gives the tune a final shot of soul as the rest of the ensemble join back in. The funky "What It Was" is the most modern-sounding side on the album, with Clarke's undulating and propulsive bass giving the number a contemporary kick. Although pianist Jones decides to class up the joint with refined and bluesy contributions that rhythmically jump and jive all over the beat. From a slightly earlier date, Gordon is accompanied by Cedar Walton (piano), Buster Williams (bass), and Billy Higgins (drums) on the LP's final two entries. The interpretation of the Mancini/Mercer classic "Days of Wine and Roses" is suitably stately with Gordon's rich tone perfectly capturing the tuneful romanticism without seeming maudlin or trite. The same can be said of Walton's warm and inviting runs that glide into a short but sublime bass solo from Williams. It certainly ranks up there as one of Gordon's greats. Freddie Hubbard (trumpet) is on hand for the closer -- Gordon's "The Group" -- as listeners are given a taste of the former's strong melodic sense. His blows are resounding, particularly so when doubling up beside Gordon for maximum impact.

1. Tangerine 9:04

2. August Blues 9:56

3. What It Was 8:16

4. Days of Wine and Roses 8:46

Dexter Gordon- tenor saxophone

Thad Jones- trumpet

Hank Jones- piano

Stanley Clarke- bass

Louis Hayes- drums; 

Freddie Hubbard- trumpet

Cedar Walton- piano

Buster Williams- bass

Billy Higgins- drums

Recorded: June 22 & 28, 1972, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Gentleman is both an Africa 70 and Afro-beat masterpiece. High marks go to the scathing commentary that Fela Anikulapo Kuti lets loose but also to the instrumentation and the overall arrangements, as they prove to be some of the most interesting and innovative of Fela's '70s material. When the great tenor saxophone player Igo Chico left the Africa 70 organization in 1973, Fela Kuti declared he would be the replacement. So in addition to bandleader, soothsayer, and organ player, Fela picked up the horn and learned to play it quite quickly -- even developing a certain personal voice with it. To show off that fact, "Gentleman" gets rolling with a loose improvisatory solo saxophone performance that Tony Allen eventually pats along with before the entire band drops in with classic Afro-beat magnificence. "Gentleman" is also a great example of Fela's directed wit at the post-colonial West African sociopolitical state of affairs. His focus is on the Africans that still had a colonial mentality after the Brits were gone and then parallels that life with his own. He wonders why his fellow Africans would wear so much clothing in the African heat: "I know what to wear but my friend don't know" and also points out that "I am not a gentleman like that!/I be Africa man original." To support "Gentleman," the B-side features equally hot jazzy numbers, "Fefe Naa Efe" and "Igbe," making this an absolute must-have release. [In 2000, MCA released Confusion and Gentleman as a two-fer.]

Fela Kuti - Gentleman (1973)

1. Confusion, Pts. 1&2

2. Gentleman

3. Fefe Naa Efe

4. Igbe

Producer, Arranged By, Composed By - Fela Ransome Kuti
Saxophone [Alto, Tenor], Electric Piano, Vocals - Fela Ransome KutiSaxophone [Tenor] - Igo Chico
Trumpet [Solo] - Tunde Williams

On Contours, his second Blue Note album, tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers fully embraced the avant-garde, but presented his music in a way that wouldn't be upsetting or confusing to hard bop loyalists. Rivers leads a quintet featuring trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Joe Chambers through a set of originals that walk a fine line between probing, contemplative post-bop and densely dissonant avant-jazz. Each musician is able to play the extremes equally well while remaining sensitive to the compositional subtleties. Rarely is Contours anything less than enthralling, and it remains one of the high watermarks of the mid-'60s avant-garde movement.

1. Point Of Many Returns (9:20)

2. Dance Of The Tripedal (10:07)

3. Euterpe (11:43)

4. Mellifluous Cacophony (8:58)

Bass - Ron Carter

Drums - Joe Chambers

Piano - Herbie Hancock

Saxophone [Tenor, Soprano], Flute, Written-by - Sam Rivers

Trumpet - Freddie Hubbard

Originally released as Blue Note BST 84206, recorded on May 21, 1965

Recorded live at the Zurich Jazz Festival in 1980, this was America's first taste of the wild abandon that is the Vienna Art Orchestra and expatriate Lauren Newton's glorious vocal instrument. This is a 13-piece big band led by the beautifully weird compositional, instructional, and arranging craziness of Mathias Rüegg. They trash and revere all traditions -- both historical and avant-garde at the same time -- while using them both along with carnival and circus music, classical forms and fugues, and French salon music. They swing here like a Mingus big band playing "Jelly Roll, But Mingus Rolls Better," with soloists who could care less what the ensemble chart says and vice versa. Newton, mixed high above the prattle, soars with the intensity of a pianist while blowing Jon Hendricks away at his own game. The fun really begins when the ensemble changes tempos two or three times and sections play against each other as in "Concerto Piccolo," even if begun by the lilting line of the title's instrument. Musical puns and variations on serious themes abound from the orchestra pit, but unlike Rüegg's Euro counterparts like Franz Koglmann and Stan Tracey, this man has a sense of where colorization and parody end and a new musical language is created. In this sense he resembles both Frank Zappa and Willem Breuker, but uses tradition differently -- not as a guidepost but as a landmark on the way to someplace else (and Rüegg knows exactly where he's going, judging by his charts). The man's imagination is the limit because his band can do virtually anything he dares to dream up. And while it's true that the saxophone (and reed) section of Harry Sokal, Roman Schwaller, and Uli Scherer is top-notch, virtually unsurpassed by any like section in European music, it is Ms. Newton's performance that steals the night. She cuts loose with an abandon that vocalists rarely use these days. Unafraid to screw up the text, when she picks up steam she is literally unstoppable -- even by the band! There are colors, harmonies, and polyphonal systems at work here that will be recalled as the glory years of Euro big-band jazz in the future, and the evocative timbral nature of Rüegg's compositions will be studied for decades to come. Truly, Concerto Piccolo is an amazing debut from a band that offers more than it could possibly receive.

1. Concerto Piccolo 15:30

2. Herzogstrasse 4 11:13

3. Jelly Roll, But Mingus Rolls Better 12:50

4. Variations on Am Hermineli Z'liab 12:26

5. Tango from Obango 12:33

Anna Lauvergnac (vocals), 

Tobias Weidinger (trumpet), 

Matthieu Michel (trumpet), 

Stephan Zimmermann (trumpet), 

Juraj Bartos (trumpet), 

Adrian Mears (trombone), 

Robert Bachner (trombone),

Dominik Stöger (trombone), 

Ed Partyka (bass trombone, tuba), 

Mauro Negri (alto saxophone, clarinet, soprano saxophone, flute), 

Joris Roelofs (alto saxophone, clarinet, flute), 

Harry Sokal (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone), 

Andy Scherrer (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, piano), 

Herwig Gradischnig (baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet), Martin Koller (guitar, electronics), 

Georg Breinschmid (double bass), 

Ingrid Oberkanins (percussion), 

Mario Gonzi (drums), 

Ronny Matky (sounds)