Jazz Archives

The first 120 seconds or so of "Mind Over Matter" feature Joe Henderson, Stanley Clarke, and underground luminaries Lenny White (drums) and George Cables (keyboard) engaged in free-form, expressionist, abstract improv and then, in a short contained explosion, Henderson starts blowing his tenor like he's spitting out rounds of bullets from a gun. 

A torrent solo follows and, just when you think the song won't let up, in comes Curtis Fuller's trombone and then Pete Yellen's flute. The song ends with what almost sounds like the soundtrack to an absurd dream. It's a 13-minute tune broken up into suites and, although it may not be the album's best, it's possibly its most enthralling, and it typifies this album's place in Henderson's Milestone discography -- not his best, but enthralling. There are songs with nouveau-bop heads ("No Me Esqueca") and all-in burners ("A Shade of Jade"). Although the album is rhythm-heavy, it was recorded a couple years before Henderson's funk cloud would really thicken -- Joewas still swinging here ("Invitation"), which ain't so bad. Still, despite the obvious highlights, this undersold gem is a must-listen if only to check "Gazelle" (recorded live) and hear a head-nodding bassline from Ron McClure backing Henderson and Woody Shaw at their fieriest.

:::Review by Vincent Thomas:::

Joe Henderson - In Pursuit of Blackness (1971)

A1. No Me Esqueca 7:08

A2. Invitation 7:36

A3. A Shade Of Jade 7:41

B1. Gazelle 7:34

B2. Mind Over Matter 13:16

Credits

Bass – Ron McClure (tracks: A2, B1), Stanley Clarke (tracks: A1, A3, B2)

Congas – Tony Waters (tracks: B1)

Drums – Lenny White

Piano [Electric] – George Cables

Saxophone [Alto], Flute, Clarinet [Bass] – Pete Yellen (tracks: A1, A3, B2)

Saxophone [Tenor] – Joe Henderson

Trombone – Curtis Fuller (tracks: A1, A3, B2)

Trumpet – Woody Shaw (tracks: A2, B1)

Originally a two-fer on vinyl and now on one CD, Shaw's debut as a leader is one of the first "free bop" sessions, in many ways his answer to Bitches Brew. The trumpeter's ensemble extracts dense, energetic, meaty collective sounds based in pure improvisation with a skeleton of a rhythmic framework to expound upon. Saxophonists Gary Bartz & Bennie Maupin, electric pianist George Cables, twin bassists Ron Carter and Clint Houston, and drummer Lenny White respond to Shaw's heavy direction, making for some of the most kinetic jazz heard in that period of early fusion. Shaw's bright melodicism, hard edged swing and refusal to compromise are his greatest assets. They come shining through on tuneful classics like the unstoppable "Think On Me" and stop-start gymnastics of "Boo-Ann's Grand." It represents the progressive bop aesthetic at a fever pitch. The title track is as wild and wooly as Woody could be, while "Lost & Found" is free bop at its finest. "New World" is a free funk number, quite a trend setter for its time, while "A Deed For Dolphy" shows an abstract, no-time side rarely heard from Shaw. All tunes are quite lengthy, no shorter than nine, no longer than seventeen minutes. This allows the band to develop their ideas and interact in a manner more akin to a concert setting. Bartz (alto and soprano saxophone) and Maupin (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet and flute) consistently show why they are two of the best improvising jazzmen out there. As much as the music is the thing, it is the singular presence of Shaw that refracts many colors of light and dark, like a multi-hued beacon directing many ships to port. There is not a better example of this music from its inception, documented on tape, than this other worldly session that brought the trumpeter to the jazz world's attention. Furthermore, few have done it better since. Truly a landmark recording, and a pivot point in the history of post-modern music.

:::Review by Michael G. Nastos:::

Woody Shaw - Blackstone Legacy (1970)

1. Blackstone Legacy 16:08
2. Think On Me 10:49
3. Lost And Found 10:45
4. New World 17:06
5. Boo-Ann's Grand 14:25
6. A Deed For Dolphy 8:56

Credits
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Gary Bartz
Bass – Ron Carter
Bass [Electric] – Clint Houston
Drums – Lenny White
Piano, Piano [Electric] – George Cables
Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet [Bass], Flute – Bennie Maupin
Trumpet – Woody Shaw

It's impossible to hear Jaco Pastorious' debut album today as it sounded when it was first released in 1976. The opening track -- his transcription for fretless electric bass of the bebop standard "Donna Lee" -- was a manifesto of virtuosity; the next track, the funk-soul celebration "Come On, Come Over" was a poke in the eye to jazz snobs and a love letter to the R&B greats of the previous decade (two of whom, Sam & Dave, sing on that track); "Continuum" was a spacey, chorus-drenched look forward to the years he was about to spend playing with Weather Report. The program continues like that for three-quarters of an hour, each track heading off in a different direction -- each one a masterpiece that would have been a proud achievement for any musician. What made Jaco so exceptional was that he was responsible for all of them, and this was his debut album. Beyond his phenomenal bass technique and his surprisingly mature compositional chops (he was 24 when this album was released), there was the breathtaking audacity of his arrangements: "Okonkole Y Trompa" is scored for electric bass, French horn, and percussion, and "Speak Like a Child," which Pastorious composed in collaboration with pianist Herbie Hancock, features a string arrangement by Pastorious that merits serious attention in its own right. For a man with this sort of kaleidoscopic creativity to remain sane was perhaps too much to ask; his gradual descent into madness and eventual tragic death are now a familiar story, one which makes the bright promise of this glorious debut album all the more bittersweet. (This remastered reissue adds two tracks to the original program: alternate takes of "(Used to Be a) Cha Cha" and "6/4 Jam").

:::Review by Rick Anderson:::

Jaco Pastorius - s/t (1976)
1. Donna Lee 2:28
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Congas – Don Alias
Written-By – C. Parker

2. Come On, Come Over 3:52
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Trombone [Bass] – Peter Graves
Saxophone [Baritone] – Howard Johnson
Clavinet, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Herbie Hancock
Saxophone [Tenor] – Michael Brecker
Written-By – B. Herzog, J. Pastorius
Vocals – Dave Pratter, Sam Moore
Drums – Narada Michael Walden
Featuring – Sam & Dave
Trumpet – Randy Brecker, Ron Tooley
Congas – Don Alias
Saxophone [Alto] – David Sanborn

3. Continuum 4:33
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Alex Darqui, Herbie Hancock
Drums – Lenny White
Bells – Don Alias

4. Kuru/Speak Like A Child 7:42
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Cello – Beverly Lauridsen, Charles McCracken, Kermit Moore
Viola – Manny Vardi, Julian Barber, Stewart Clarke
Arranged By [String Arrangement] – Jaco Pastorius
Violin – David Nadien, Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, Joe Malin, Paul Gershman
Drums – Bobby Economou
Bongos, Congas – Don Alias
Concertmaster – David Nadien
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Written-By – H. Hancock, J. Pastorius
Conductor [Strings] – Michael Gibbs

5. Portrait Of Tracy 2:22
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Written-By – J. Pastorius

6. Opus Pocus 5:29
Saxophone [Soprano] – Wayne Shorter
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Herbie Hancock
Steel Drums – Leroy Williams, Othello Molineaux
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Percussion – Don Alias
Drums – Lenny White

7. Okonkole Y Trompa 4:25
French Horn – Peter Gordon
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Bata [Okonkolo Iya], Congas, Cabasa [Afuche] – Don Alias
Written-By – D. Alias, J. Pastorius

8. (Used To Be A) Cha-Cha 8:57
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Flute [Piccolo] – Hubert Laws
Drums – Lenny White
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Congas – Don Alias

9. Forgotten Love 2:14
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Viola – Al Brown, Manny Vardi, Julian Barber, Stewart Clarke
Arranged By [String Arrangement] – Jaco Pastorius
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Double Bass – Homer Mensch, Richard Davis
Cello – Alan Shulman, Beverly Lauridsen, Charles McCracken, Kermit Moore
Violin – Arnold Black, David Nadien, Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, Joe Malin, Matthew Raimondi, Max Pollikoff, Paul Gershman
Concertmaster – David Nadien
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Conductor [Strings] – Michael Gibbs

Bonus Tracks (Previously Unreleased)

10. (Used To Be A) Cha-Cha 8:49
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Flute [Piccolo] – Hubert Laws
Drums – Lenny White
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Congas – Don Alias

11. 6/4 Jam 7:45
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Congas – Don Alias
Drums – Lenny White
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Herbie Hancock

Now this is more like it. In its Connoisseur Series, Blue Note is making available a completely unreleased Andrew Hill date from 1969. Passing Ships wasn't even included in the Mosaic box because the master tape wasn't found until 2001. The band Hill employed on this session was a nonet, featuring Woody Shaw and Dizzy Reece on trumpets, Joe Farrell on reeds, woodwinds, and English horn, Howard Johnson on tuba and bass clarinet, Ron Carter on bass, Lenny White (on only his second recording date) playing drums, trombonist Julian Priester, and French horn player Bob Northern. The music here is ambitious. Hill's scoring for one reed, two trumpets, and low brass is remarkable for the time. In fact, it isn't until his big-band album of 2002 that he ever ventured into these waters again. The title cut, with its bass clarinet and English horn counterpoint, is almost classical in structure but nearly Malian in melody. While the cut's dynamics are restrained, its color palette -- especially with the lilting muted trumpets playing a mysterious harmonic line -- is flush and royal.
"Plantation Bag" is a showcase for Farrell's tough, grooved-out soloing as he blows blue and free in response to Hill's funky, large-spread chord voicings. The trumpets layer one another in the middle of the tune, alternately soloing and punching comp lines through the middle. The Asian melodic figures at the heart of "Noon Tide" add exoticism to one of the most adventurous tunes ever written by Hill. Rhythmically it turns on pulse rhythms that shift and slide methodically as Priester takes the tune's first solo, playing against Hill's left-hand stridency. Of the remaining three selections, "Cascade," with its staggered harmonic architecture that goes against all common wisdom for big-band harmony, is remarkable for its precision and rhythmic invention. Why this isn't going to be out there for the general public for all time is beyond reason. Why punish the artist that way? Conventional wisdom would suggest that something that has been unearthed for the first time in 34 years deserves to be a part of the general catalog. Get it quick.

:::Review by Thom Jurek:::

Andrew Hill - Passing Ships (1969)

1. Sideways 4:09
2. Passing Ships 7:08
3. Plantation Bag 8:32
4. Noon Tide 9:49
5. The Brown Queen 6:22
6. Cascade 6:27
7. Yesterday's Tomorrow 5:11

Credits
Bass - Ron Carter
Clarinet [Bass Clarinet] - Howard Johnson , Joe Farrell
Drums - Lenny White
English Horn - Joe Farrell
Flute [Alto] - Joe Farrell
French Horn - Bob Northern

Piano - Andrew Hill
Producer - Francis Wolff
Saxophone [Soprano Sax] - Joe Farrell
Saxophone [Tenor Sax] - Joe Farrell
Trombone - Julian Priester
Trumpet - Dizzy Reece , Woody Shaw
Tuba - Howard Johnson

Al Di Meola's second album is ultimately my favorite album of his and is one of the best jazz rock albums available. All the elements of total success are here, stellar musicianship, creative songwriting, and fun and imaginative variances in the music. From heavy hitting power riffing to soft spoken acoustic guitar interludes, it is all here. From the very first second of Flight Over Rio to the pulsating closing seconds of Elegant Gypsy Suite, one thing is clear, this is an album that will be remembered for many many years to come. Like I said with my review for Casino, this album will surely be up the alley of any fan of guitar oriented music and any fan of high velocity Spanish influenced jazz rock.

Flight Over Rio opens the album with some intuitive bass riffing from Anthony Jackson and some very smooth keyboards from Jan Hammer. There's a definite mellow mood during this introduction, but once Di Meola enters everything slowly changes. The track becomes more fast paced and high energy, with some stellar ascending riffs from Di Meola and great and precise percussion from Mingo Lewis, as well as a great keyboard/guitar duel between Di Meola and Hammer. It opens the album brilliantly, and the quality of the songs never really goes down. Midnight Tango has a very mellow atmopshere in comparison to Flight Over Rio, with some intuitive soloing from Di Meola over a steady rhythm section and some great wavy piano lines. Slowly the pace increases, although not to the pace of the first track. The well timed chord based bass guitar work is also really well conceived. Mediterranean Sundance begins with a nice drum/percussion duet between Mingo Lewis and Lenny White, but soon becomes an exceedingly complicated piece with some great acoustic work from Di Meola and Paco de Lucia.

The interplay between these two (and later along with John McLaughlin on Friday Night in San Francisco) is incredible and shows some stellar abilities for both musicians who take turns hammering out the main beat while another solos on top of it, eventually becoming a duel solo movement.
Race With Devil on Spanish Highway is probably my favorite song on this album. Beginning with a strong percussive rhythm and a cool bass line, the song soon evolves into an all out shred piece with riff after riff of powerful guitar lines that intertwine and spell out brilliance. There's a riff in this song that the group Liquid Tension Experiment would also quote in their song Acid Rain (or so I believe, they are very very similar). But besides that, there's nothing to dislike about this song, it's just high energy and very inspiring to listen to. Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil is a short interlude before the finale of the album, Elegant Gypsy Suite. It is a little acoustic ditty that has some very somber playing on the part of both Di Meola and Paco de Lucia, who create a very mellow and light atmosphere with this piece. The album ends with the song Elegant Gypsy Suite, which begins with some acoustic work from Paco de Lucia before becoming a nicely flowing piece, with a great bassline from Anthony Jackson and some great underlying percussion from Mingo Lewis. As with all the tracks on the album, Di Meola is nothing short of brilliant, who really creates some gentle yet rough riffs on this piece, as well as gentle and incredibly complicated leads that utilize a nice wah/phaser effect. Throughout the 9 minutes of the track, there is a great sense of evolution and progression, and I never really tire of this stellar piece.
In the end, Elegant Gypsy is right up there with Bill Bruford's One of a Kind as one of my favorite records in the jazz rock genre. There's a lot of excellent musicianship, killer songs, great arrangements, and an overall spectacular feel I get from this album. As I said in my opening paragraph, fans of guitar oriented music and highly technical jazz rock will probably be right at home with this album. I can't call this album anything less than a masterpiece and I am very impressed with this album. You probably won't be either. 5/5.

:::Review by Cygnus X-2:::

Al di Meola - Elegant Gypsy (1977)

1. Flight Over Rio (7:10)
2. Midnight Tango (6:14)
3. Mediterranean Sundance (5:07)
4. Race With Devil On Spanish Highway (6:15)
5. Lady Of Rome, Sister Of Brazil (1:44)
6. Elegant Gypsy Suite (9:12)

Credits
Acoustic Guitar - Paco De Lucía (tracks: 3)
Bass - Anthony Jackson (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6)
Congas, Percussion, Keyboards - Mingo Lewis (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6)
Drums - Lenny White (tracks: 2, 4) , Steve Gadd (tracks: 1, 6)
Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion - Al Di Meola
Keyboards - Barry Miles (tracks: 2, 4) , Jan Hammer (tracks: 1, 6)
Producer, Arranged By, Composed By - Al Di Meola

Bitches Brew is a studio double album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in June of 1970 on Columbia Records. Recording sessions took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio over the course of three days in August of 1969. The album continued Davis' experimentation of electric instruments previously featured on his critically acclaimed In a Silent Way album. With the use of these instruments, such as the electric piano and guitar, Davis rejected traditional jazz rhythms in favor of a looser, rock-influenced improvisational style.

Often cited as one of Davis' best-selling albums and masterpieces, Bitches Brew marked a turning point in modern jazz. Upon release, it received mixed criticism from fans and critics, alike, due to the album's unconventional style and revolutionary sound. Later on, Bitches Brew gained recognition as one of jazz's greatest albums and a progenitor of the jazz rock genre, as well as a major influence on rock and funk musicians.

In February 1969, Davis recorded In a Silent Way, a bold step into ambient funk and electric futurism that inspired the trumpeter to go further out at the sessions for Bitches Brew that August. Davis wanted, he said, "the best damn rock & roll band in the world," to connect jazz with the forward motion of Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. Davis' band was superbad (Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, etc.). But the word fusion was never big enough to describe the visceral thrill of these explosive studio explorations and the pioneering tape-edit wizardry of producer Teo Macero, arguably the original Chemical Brother.

No artist has ever reinvented themselves quite so much as Miles Davis. By 1969 he had already upended jazz by championing modal jazz (and in the process recording Kind of Blue which is almost universally acknowledged as the greatest jazz album of all time). By 1969 he was ready to upend it again, and his previous album In A Silent Way had already given hints of what was to come with its increasing shift from an acoustic to an electric sound.

Recording sessions:

As was Davis's practice, he called musicians to the recording studio on very short notice. A few pieces on Bitches Brew were rehearsed before the recording sessions, but other times the musicians had little or no idea what they were to record. Once in the recording studio, the players were typically given only a few instructions: a tempo count, a few chords or a hint of melody, and suggestions as to mood or tone. Davis liked to work this way; he thought it forced musicians to pay close attention to one another, to their own performances, or to Davis's cues, which could change at any moment. On the quieter moments of "Bitches Brew", for example, Davis's voice is audible, giving instructions to the musicians: snapping his fingers to indicate tempo, or, in his distinctive whisper, saying, "Keep it tight" or telling individuals when to solo.

Davis composed most of the music on the album. The two important exceptions were the complex "Pharaoh's Dance" (composed by Joe Zawinul) and the ballad "Sanctuary" (composed by Wayne Shorter). The latter had been recorded as a fairly straightforward ballad early in 1968, but was given a radically different interpretation on Bitches Brew. It begins with Davis and Chick Corea improvising on the standard "I Fall in Love too Easily" before Davis plays the "Sanctuary" theme. Then, not unlike Davis's recording of Shorter's "Nefertiti" two years earlier, the horns repeat the melody over and over while the rhythm section builds up the intensity. The issued "Sanctuary" is actually two consecutive takes of the piece.

Despite his reputation as a "cool", melodic improviser, much of Davis's playing on this album is aggressive and explosive, often playing fast runs and venturing into the upper register of the trumpet. His closing solo on "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" is particularly noteworthy in this regard. Davis did not perform on the short piece "John McLaughlin".

I can't really explain what Bitches Brew is all about without a bit of historical context. This was 1969 when experimentation in music was at its height. In Britain Pink Floyd were popularising psychedelia and King Crimson were about to release In The Court of the Crimson King and invent progressive rock. In America Davis, ever the restless genius and unable to stand still musically was looking for something more radical and dramatic still. Supplementing his band up to no less than 3 keyboard players and a bass clarinet, and surrounding himself as ever with musicians of the highest caliber he went into the studio for 3 days to record a double album of 6 densely layered tracks.

So what came out? Well, easy listening this ain't and I certainly wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to Jazz or to Miles Davis (Kind of Blue does very nicely for both of those - you might as well start with the best!). The first disc consists of 2 side length tracks, "Pharoah's Dance" and "Bitches Brew", both over 20 minutes. They're both wild cocktails of smoky improvisational jazz. Pharoah's Dance is famous for having no less than 19 edits within it, some as short as 1 second long, and really marks the start of using the studio and the editing booth as an instrument in its own right. I actually can't describe either of these tracks well as each time you listen to them they sound different: there's little structure to hang on to and a mellow groove can quickly dissolve into shards of dissonance with Davis's distinctive trumpet shrieking over the top.

The second disc of the album is somewhat more relaxed. "Spanish Key" actually stays on the same groove for nearly 17 minutes (but certainly isn't boring for it). This is followed by "John McLaughlin" (yep, the track is named after the famous jazz guitarist) and "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down", a menacing track that can almost sound like Led Zeppelin in parts. Finally comes "Sanctuary", a soft sad and superb close with Davis's trumpet at its most plaintive.

The effects of Bitches Brew were revolutionary. Davis had merged rock and jazz, inventing what we now call fusion (perhaps I should say remerged - after all Rock is a 50's ofshoot of Jazz). Extraordinarily for such an experimental album it was one of Davis's biggest sellers and also won him a Grammy. It's influence still permeates todays music. Thom Yorke from Radiohead admits that previous to recording their masterwork OK Computer, Bitches Brew had been lodged almost permanently in his CD player. After its release in 1970, jazz, rock, and the whole of music would never be the same.

1 - Pharaoh's Dance (19:57)

2 - Bitches Brew (26:59)

1 - Spanish Key (17:26)

2 - John Mclaughlin (4:43)

3 - Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (14:02)

4 - Sanctuary (10:53)

5 - Feio (11:49)

* Miles Davis - trumpet

* Wayne Shorter - soprano saxophone

* Bennie Maupin - bass clarinet

* Chick Corea - electric piano (solo on "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down")

* John McLaughlin - guitar

* Dave Holland - bass

* Harvey Brooks - electric bass

* Lenny White - drum set

* Jack DeJohnette - drum set

* Billy Cobham - drum set

* Don Alias - congas, drum set

* Airto Moreira - percussion

* Juma Santos (credited as "Jim Riley") - shaker, congas

* Larry Young - electric piano on "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" "John McLaughlin" "Spanish Key" and "Pharaoh's Dance"

* Joe Zawinul - electric piano on "Bitches Brew" "Sanctuary" "Spanish Key" and "Pharaoh's Dance"

The second incarnation of Chick Corea's influential fusion group released only a single record, the magnificent Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy. Featuring a more rock-oriented approach than the Flora Purim-Joe Farrell band that was responsible for both Return to Forever and Light as a Feather, Corea and old standby Stanley Clarke join forces here with propulsive drummer Lenny White and electric guitarist Bill Connors. Although Connors lacks the sophistication of Al Di Meola, the young guitarist who replaced him, he possesses a deliciously raw sound that keeps Corea's heady compositions firmly grounded. White introduces a funk aspect to the music, replacing Airto's Latin grooves from the first two records. Clarke is as good, wrenching some truly frightening sounds out of his electric basses. This increased emphasis on electric instrumentation, also displayed in Corea's heavy use of synthesizers, is another thing that separates this record from the previous Return to Forever releases. And as good as the band performances are, it is the quality of the compositions that marks Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy as an indispensable disc of '70s fusion. "Captain Senor Mouse," one of Corea's finest fusion compositions, receives an excellent treatment here. Likewise, the two-part "Space Circus" is a fantastic mix of haunting and grooving elements, with some simply incredible solos thrown into the mix. With Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, Corea continues his streak of simply timeless fusion albums. The best of the electric RTF albums.

Acoustic Guitar, Guitar - Bill Connors
Bass, Bells - Stanley Clarke
Drums, Percussion, Congas, Bongos - Lenny White
Engineer - Shelly Yakus
Piano, Organ, Harpsichord, Gong - Chick Corea