March 7, 2019
Featuring his usual touring band, conga master Candido released the funky Beautiful in 1970. His first release for Blue Note — following his Solid State debut, Man of a Thousand Fingers — is a dance-oriented project that features lots of go-go-style blues jams propelled along by Candido‘s high-energy percussion,Richard Davis‘ electric bass, and Frank Anderson‘s juicy organ backgrounds. While jazz improvisation isn’t really the point of the music, saxophonist Alan Ralph does get in some nice post-bop and modal-style choruses and the two-part “Ghana Spice” gives Candido a nice chance to stretch out. Re-released in 2003 as part of Blue Note’s Rare Groove Series, Beautiful isn’t the most essential of Candido‘s recordings, but should hold a fascination for funk-jazz enthusiasts.
