Inexcusably, there are no date or personnel listings on this LP from Blue Note’s declining years, but the music is generally quite worthwhile, if a bit eclectic. The personnel changes throughout the session, despite all the performances being apparently recorded on the same day. The great drummer Elvin Jones…
Drummer Elvin Jones‘ 45th birthday (September 9, 1972) was a good excuse to record his group of the period. The results were originally released as a double-LP and have been reissued as two CDs with over an hour of new music added. Jones‘ pianoless quartet features two masterful saxophonists (both doubling…
While it doesn’t quite match the heights of their early collaborations, Cirrus finds Bobby Hutcherson resuming his partnership with tenor saxophonist Harold Land, and the results are quite good. The pair work with pianist Bill Henderson, trumpeter Woody Shaw, bassist Ray Drummond, drummer Larry Hancock, saxophonist/flautist Emmanuel Boyd and…
Bobby Hutcherson, vibes, marimba; Oscar Brashear, trumpet; Thurman Green, trombone; Harold Land, tenor sax; Dwight Dickerson, piano: Kent Brinkley, bass; Larry Hancock, drums. Recorded at United Artists Recording Studios, Los Angeles on March 24 & 25, 1975 Recording engineer: Bert D’Angelo Produced by Bobby Hutcherson Originally issued as INNER…
Bobby Hutcherson, vibes, marimba; Manny Boyd, soprano sax; tenor sax; George Cables, piano; James Leary III, bass; Eddie Marshall, drums; Kenneth Nash, percussion. On “Waiting,” Manny Boyd, Hadley Caliman and Mguanda Dave Johnson, flutes are added. Recorded at Different Fur Music Studios, San Francisco on February 24-26, 1976 Recording…
Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson was one of the last jazz artists to be recording for the Blue Note label (along with Horace Silver) before it finally collapsed. Some of the vibist’s later Blue Note albums are forgettable but this LP with Manny Boyd (doubling on tenor and soprano), keyboardist Larry…
Although vocalist Rachelle Ferrell is a bizarre singer whose idiosyncratic style is often at odds with her mainstream material, fans of the singer will certainly find much to enjoy on Live at Montreux. The CD collects various performances Ferrell gave at the Swiss music festival from 1991 to 1997….
Rachelle Ferrell made her name performing R&B, but this strictly acoustic jazz CD is her earliest recording. Her voice is quite soulful, making her later shift to R&B less of a surprise in hindsight, but Ferrell seems quite unsure of how to use her wide range, and her improvisations…
Making sweet music together almost constantly since meeting at a Philadelphia junior high school in the mid-’70s, the principals in Pieces (keyboardist James K. Lloyd, bassist Cedric Napoleon, and drummer Curtis Harmon) were way ahead of their time. From the get-go, they mixed jazz and R&B long before there…
