HARRIS SIMON GROUP - NEW YORK CONNECTION

Harris Simon Group for Eastwind Records Japsn from 1987.
Two Files-here and here.
Super heavy weight latin fusion and one of the great unsung albums of the mid 80s.Harris Simon on keyboards with Michael Brecker ,Joe Farrell ,Portinho , Rubens Bassini, Claudio Roditi,Brian Brake and Mike Richmond.
Check out the monstrous versions of Hugo Fatturoso's "Romance Of Death" ,Cesar Mariano's "North Station",Danny Zeitlin's "Stonehenge"and Jeffrey Kaufman's "All points South".Jawdropping 500 mile an hour wipe out !
Ripped from the long deleted cd issue @320-I posted a vinyl rip of this last time at a lower bit rate so this should be a sonically improved listen.Highly Recommended.

TUBBY HAYES QUINTET - LATE SPOT AT SCOTT'S

Tubby Hayes for Mercury from 1963.
Tubby Hayes (ten sax) with
Jimmy Deuchar (trumpet); Gordon Beck (piano); Freddie Logan (bass); Allan Ganley (drums).
Recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Club, Gerrard Street, London, on 17th-18th May 1962.

A review from ian17577 at amazon.co.uk:
I had read about Tubby Hayes years before I first heard him on record and there are few other British Jazz musicians that have enjoyed his postumous reputation. Since I was too young to be around to hear him in person, records such as this live session from Ronnie Scott's club must serve as the only opportunity to hear what all the fuss was about.Anyone brought up to think that British jazz in the 1950's and 60's was inferior to their American counterparts and that the imbalance was only addressed during the 1980's revival should check out this recording which illustrates Tubby Hayes playing at full steam. Certainly this was a musician who was, atleast, of comparable ability to American saxophonists such as Hank Mobley. Like the latter's recordings, this is very much in the hard bop idiom and evokes the spirit of contemporary groups such as those led by Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderley. Clearly, Hayes' trips to the States where he made recordings with the likes of Clark Terry and Roland Kirk gave him ample opportunities to absorb the latest developments in the music. That he could do this and still retain his own personal sound, shows the mettle of the man.Whilst Hayes clearly dominates the set, Scottish trumpeter Jimmy Deucher is given ample opportunity to prove what a great player he was. It is hard to see fom this performance why he hasn't enjoyed a greater reputation. Allan Ganley also proves that he was no slouch behind the drums. A young Gordon Beck is featured on a somewhat out of tune piano.All in all, if Hayes was to go on to produce even more stupendous recordings such as the fantastic "Mexican Green", this is a hugely enjoyable record that is recommended to both those lucky enough to remember the great man and those eager to know why he has such a legendary reputation. The highlights of the recording are "The Sausage Scraper" and "Yeah", the latter played with almost unbelievable bravado. A British Jazz Classic.

Ripped @320 from the now deleted Redial cd issue.

JOHN MAYER / JOE HARRIOTT - INDO JAZZ SUITE

Joe Harriott and John Mayer for Lansdowne from 1968.

Here's a write up from Jazz-Groove.com
Let me quote from Charles Fox’s splendid sleeve notes from the first LP, Indo-Jazz Suite…
“…There were problems to be faced in bringing the two kinds of music - jazz and Indian - into such close proximity. John Mayer, an Indian composer who came to Britain from Calcutta in 1952, had previously written several concert works which link Indian scalar forms and rhythms with Western modes, and these have been performed by various European orchestras and soloists. But this was his first attempt at fusion with jazz musicians. Joe Harriott, already famous as one of the most adventurous jazz musicians in Europe, responded nobly to the challenge. Indeed, it is likely that his work here is some of the finest he has ever put on record…”
And Fox is right, but the meeting of Mayer and Harriott did not come about, as these things should, because someone realised it had to happen, but because of a set of frustrating circumstances for Mayer, and of being in the right place at the right time for Harriott. Alan Robertson explains all of this in his splendid biography of Harriott, Joe Harriott: Fire In His Soul, where he recalls that after Mayer had tried unsuccessfully to interest producer Denis Preston at EMI Records (Preston’s secretary had told Mayer to stop calling as her boss was far too busy to talk to him) in the idea of a fusion between Eastern and Western music he, six months after being told to get lost, received a communication from Preston asking if he had a short piece in a jazz idiom, and although Mayer hadn‘t…
“…he seized the opportunity and said yes. To Mayer’s dismay, Preston announced he intended to record it the following day. Mayer had to lose a night’s sleep to compose a suitable piece in time. The following day, bleary-eyed, he attended the recording of his new composition, ‘Nine for Bacon’, at Lansdowne Studios. The session featured such prominent musicians as Don Lusher, Kenny Baker and Humphrey Littleton. Mayer remarked happily, ‘I got £20. It was a hell of a lot of money in those days.’ Worth losing a night’s sleep for.”
As Robertson goes on to write ‘Nine for Bacon’ “…with its combination of jazz and Indian influences, favourably impressed Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records in New York when Preston played him the recording. Ertegun suggested the idea of an album blending Indian music and jazz and using jazz musicians alongside Indian instrumentalists in an integrated group.”
Then, three months after the recording, Mayer received a letter from Preston asking Mayer to call on him. When the very nervous Mayer was finally ushered into the producer’s office he initially thought Preston was going to ask for the money back until, “…without any sense of irony he [Preston] announced: ‘We have had this idea…’
Mayer played along, which was wise because Preston then introduced the composer to Joe Harriott, whose three previous albums, Joe Harriott With Strings, Free Form, and Abstract, had been produced by Preston. The two musicians hit it off immediately (and Harriott was a difficult man to get on with), and within a month Mayer had finished writing the music for the first Indo-Jazz Fusion LP, and the rest as they say is jazz history, but a history that, in the melodic, but very free, playing of Harriott stands out as a beacon of wonderful music that, forty years on, still comes across as fresh and hugely inventive.
I remember, back in Birmingham in 1968, listening to the group as they played an evening raga (a bihag) as the sun began to set and Mayer’s violin coasted along with the sitar of Diwan Motihar just before Alan Ganley, on drums, kicked in with a three-four and Harriott soared away with a solo that lasted just long enough for me to miss the last train home.
320 rip from the deleted cd reissue.

RAY BARRETTO - THE OTHER ROAD

Ray Barretto for Fania from 1973.

Billy Cobham (drums), Art Webb (flute) and Roberto Rodriguez(trumpet) Eddie Martinez( piano/rhodes) Manny Duran(Flugel/Trumpet), J Roman(trumpet),Ray Romero(timbales),Tony Fuentes(bongos and cowbell), G. Edghill (Fender bass).

Ray interviewed about "The Other Road":Then, in 1973, about half of my band left me to form the band Típica 73 and once again I had to readjust and reconstruct my band. It took me about a year to get the band back in form and working again. But in the meantime, I convinced Massuci to let me record a jazz project, and one night, from midnight to 6 a.m., we recorded the album The Other Road. After it was released, many people who bought it thinking that it was a salsa album returned it to the stores because it was a jazz project. Years later, it was praised for being one of the pioneering recordings of the so-called Latin jazz movement. It became a cult classic, but the masses, the media and the music industry totally overlooked it.

320 rip from original vinyl - Fania put it out on cd years ago now long deleted.

CANNONBALL ADDERLEY - THE BLACK MESSIAH

Cannonball Adderley for Capitol from 1971 - Recorded Live at The Troubadour
Cannonball Adderley (Alto & Soprano saxophone)Nat Adderley (Cornet)Roy Mac Curdy (Drums)Walter Booker (bass)George Duke (Piano) Airto Moreira (percussion) David Axelrod (Production)
I guess this must be the post I have had the most requests to re-up since I first posted it in May 2006. I finally got it together to rip it again this time @320 from my original vinyl.
Two files : LP 1 and LP 2.

Still immersed in the burgeoning electronic jazz-rock explosion of the times, Cannonball Adderley goes further toward a rapprochement with the rock and soul audiences than ever before on this fascinating, overlooked double album. For starters, he recorded it live at West Hollywood's Troubadour club, then known as a showcase for folk and rock acts. He also imported additional players into his quintet, expanding into exotic percussion effects with Airto Moreira (whom Miles Davis had previously featured), hard rock guitar with sessionman Mike Deasy, fiery tenor sax from the young Ernie Watts, and occasional seasoning from conguero Buck Clarke and clarinetist Alvin Batiste. "Now I don't give a damn whether you can count or not, we still are the Cannonball Adderley Quintet!," quoth the leader, who is in loose, loquacious form throughout the set (the jazz world badly misses his witty verbal intros). With Joe Zawinul now flying off to Weather Report, his replacement is an even more electronically minded pianist, George Duke, who levitates into the outer limits with his Echoplex and ring modulator and proves to be a solid comper. But Zawinul is not forgotten, for the band pursues a long, probing, atmospheric excursion on his tune, "Dr. Honouris Causa." Adderley generously gives Deasy two contrasting feature numbers -- "Little Benny Hen," a raucous, amateurishly sung blues/rock piece, and "Zanek," a great countrified tune with an avant-garde freakout at the climax -- and all of the other guests save Clarke get single solo features. Brother Nat Adderley gamely visits the outside on cornet while Cannonball doubles with increasing adventurousness on soprano and alto and bassist Walter Booker and drummer Roy McCurdy deftly handle all of the changes of style. Cannonball adeptly keeps pace with Miles Davis, his former boss - the driving "The Chocolate Nuisance" could easily be a first cousin of "Pharoah's Dance" on Bitches Brew - while not abandoning his funky soul-jazz base nor the special audience-friendly ambience of his concerts. Unlike Adderley's other two-for-one-priced double albums of the '70s, this one was inexplicably sold at full price, which probably limited its sales and might partly explain why it remains surprisingly hard to find in used LP bins.
Surprisingly enough this has never made a cd issue. No reissues in any format.
Recorded Live at The Troubadour

EDDIE PALMIERI - MOLASSES

Eddie Palmieri for Tico from 1967.
Hard core-you know the score!!!
Bass - David Perez Bongos - Manny Oquendo Congas - Tommy Lopez Flute - George CastroPiano - Eddie Palmieri Timbales - Manny Oquendo Trombone - Barry Rogers , Jose Rodrigues Vocals - Ismael Quintana Producer - Pancho Cristal
Descarga.com made this an Editor's pick:
Many great musicians refer to this as one of their 'bible' albums. They learned to play listening to this album. I've never heard a rhythm section so rock-solid in my life. You want to keep up with Manny Oquendo on timbales? Well...good luck. Eddie Palmieri, while listening to this on a recent visit to my radio show, mentioned that, 'It was solid because it was between us and those dancers. The dancers took us to that level.' Those must have been some great dancers. Pianist Eddie Palmieri is spectacular as is trombonist Barry Rogers (Jose Rizo, 2007-04-22)
And here's Dusty Groove on the case:
Nothing slow and sticky here -- because Eddie Palmieri is really hitting his groove by this point in his career -- soaring along in a dark blend of jazz and Latin elements, with a fair bit more complicated modes than most of his contemporaries! There's a sophistication here that's really wonderful -- and light years ahead of Eddie's albums of a few years before. Yet the album's never too bogged down in its own importance that it fails to groove -- as most of the numbers here are killer groovers that burst out with raw energy that's perfect for a Latin dancefloor! Barry Rogers and Jose Rodrigues play twin trombones, Manny Oquendo is on timbales, and George Castro plays flute -- but Eddie's really the star of the set with his incredibly bold lines on piano!

Highly recommended.Ripped @320 from the recent remastered Fania cd.

PAUL HORN - CYCLE

Paul Horn for RCA from 1965.
Marvellous modal moods from Paul Horn.

One can hear hints of Paul Horn's future directions on this obscure LP. Horn (doubling on alto and flute) shows his interest in Indian music on "Shadows #1" and "Shadows #2" (which are dedicated to Ravi Shankar) and in the drone feeling that he gives "Chim Chim Cheree." "In the Bag" and "Greensleeves" add a pair of Scottish bagpipers (!) to the quintet (which also includes vibraphonist Lynn Blessing, pianist Mike Lang, bassist Bill Plummer, and drummer Bill Goodwin), so this is not an album for everyone. Within three years, Horn would abandon jazz altogether to work on atmospheric mood music. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

No Reissues on any format-ripped from the original vinyl @320.

PETE TURNER

For anyone who has been wondering "Who the hell is Pete Turner?" many of you will be familiar with his photography on album covers(notably CTI).I have just bought this great book which reproduces much of his work and describes how the images were arrived at and the context in which they were used for the lps.
The book is superb with high definition glossy artwork which beautifully captures the mood of the original sleeves.
Read more about Pete Turner at Doug Payne.com and here's a review of the book from the same site:

Pete Turner's photographs are familiar to many in the features and ads of nature, science, travel, ladies and men's magazines.
While his work is also featured on many book covers and in museums around the world, Pete Turner is perhaps best known for the photos on the covers of the greatest jazz albums issued over the last half century.
Many know these records by their cover photos alone: the "Giraffe" album (Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Wave"); the "Cheetah" album (Hubert Laws's "The Rite Of Spring" - Mr. Laws's albums were always on the receiving end of some of Turner's best work); or "Road Song", Wes Montgomery's final album and one of Turner's most iconic photos. These are just a few of the examples of how Pete Turner's photographs defined the music they were attached to.
The Color Of Jazz - Album Cover Photographs by Pete Turner, published in September 2006 by Rizzoli, captures much of the beauty Pete Turner's photography brought to the music world. Reflecting the colors Mr. Turner has explored over the last fifty years, this album cover book is like no other. It's not just an album cover book. And it's not just a book on photography. It's something of a multimedia work of art.An outstanding design by Will Hopkins and Mary K. Baumann celebrates Mr. Turner's often iconic work with (mostly accurate) text by celebrated jazz expert Ashley Kahn, highlighting each work with quotes copped from other sources and a few recent, revealing comments from the photographer artist himself.
Quincy Jones offers a beautiful foreword and producer Creed Taylor - who is responsible for much of Turner's work appearing on album covers - offers a kind after word. A highly recommended tribute to the work of Pete Turner, which will especially please jazz fans of the 1960s and 1970s who, like producer Creed Taylor, regard these albums for the works of art that they truly are.

AXOGRAPHY.BLOGSPOT

Calling all lovers of Adderley and Axelrod-xmnr0x23 has been busy ripping Cannonball Adderley's Big Man and just posted it over at his excellent axelgrease.blogspot.
Grab it- it's hot!!!

THE CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET AND ORCHESTRA

Cannonball with Wiliam Fischer,Lalo Schifrin and the quintet for Capitol from 1970.

Nat Adderley (cor) Cannonball Adderley (as) Joe Zawinul (p) Walter Booker (b) Roy McCurdy (d) William Fisher, Lalo Schifrin (cond) Orchestra
Los Angeles, CA, June, 1970

David Axelrod at the production desk.

This one's for Kristof.

Motown 67 on the case at Soulstrut.com

Cannonball Adderley Quintet & Orchestra features three songs, each penned by different authors. Joe Zawinul wrote Experience In E, Tensity is by David Axelrod and Lalo Schifrin was responsible for Dialogues For Jazz Quintet and Orchestra. Experience In E and Dialogues For Jazz Quintet gravitate back and forth between Free Jazz and heavily orchestrated Bop. There’s a nice middle part in the former, and a short bass and drum part in the latter that could be looped. Tensity is the best of the three as it has a strong backbeat to a Soul-Jazz melody. It’s been sampled several times as well.

No reissues-ripped from the original vinyl @320.Side 1 has the intro edited by 20 seconds due to a bad scratch.

Please check the comments box-lc has kindly upped Experience in E without my edited intro and left a link for it -nice work chap !!!

CANNONBALL ADDERLEY QUINTET AND ORCHESTRA:
Nat Adderley(c) Julian "Cannonball" Adderley(as) Joe Zawinul(el p) Walter Booker(b) Roy McCurdy(dm) with Orchestra arr. & cond.
by Bill Fischer: Freddie Hill,Paul Hubinon(tp) Dick Leith,Dick Hyde(tb) David Duke,Art Maebe(frh) Gene Cipriano,Jackie
Kelso(saxes) Bill Green(fl,cl,picc) Jim Horn(fl,picc) Ernie Watts, Jerry Kasper(oboe) Don Christlieb(bassoon) Ray Brown(arco b)
Gary Coleman(mallets) John Arnold(perc) & strings: James Getzoff,Bill Hymanson,Ralph Schaefer,Bill Henderson,Assa
Drori,Stanley Plummer, Gerald Vinci,Henry Roth,Israel Baker,Marvin Limonick,Paul Shure,Lou Raderman(v) Joe Reilich,Milton
Thomas, Allan Harshman,Myron Sandler,Sam Boghossian,Gary Nuttycombe(viola) Edgar Lustgarden, Raphael Kramer,Armand
Kaproff,Jeffrey Solow(cello) Morty Corb,Bob West,Al McKibbon,Max Bennett(b)
(Session #18574)(Capitol Tower) LA,May 20,1970
74567Experience in E Cap.ST-484
74568: no information (poss. not used).
Nat Adderley(c) Julian "Cannonball" Adderley(as) Joe Zawinul(p) Walter Booker(b) Roy McCurdy(dm) with Orchestra arr. & cond.
by Bill Fischer (similar to previous session). Arr. by Lalo Schifrin-1.
(Session #18575)(Capitol Tower) LA,May 21,1970

INDO-JAZZ FUSIONS - JOE HARRIOTT-JOHN MAYER DOUBLE QUINTET

Joe Harriott and John Mayer for Atlantic from 1966.
As the Curried Jazz post was so popular I thought that it was time to post one of the first and best lps of the indo jazz movement.Here's an excellent piece of writing about the John Mayer and the album from Bruce Eder, All Music Guide:


John Mayer was one of those multiple-threat music talents that made most other players' lives and career paths seem simple. Born in India, to Anglo-Indian parents, he studied classical music and had a successful career as an orchestral violinist, but gave it up to work as a composer and, later, in jazz fusion as a composer-violinist-band leader. From the mid-1960's onward, he made his mark in the fields of jazz, progressive rock, and world music. Along with Dave Arbus of East of Eden, Mayer was probably the most well-liked violinist among rock musicians in London during the late 1960's, although his career is much more rooted in classical music. John Mayer born 1930 in Calcutta, to an Anglo-Indian father and an Indian mother. His musical interests manifested themselves early, and at seven he was studying violin with Phillipe Sandre at the Calcutta School of Music, who agreed to teach him in his free time, because Mayer's parents lacked the resources to send him there as a paying pupil. He later studied with Melhi Metha, who encouraged him, while in his late teens, to compete for a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. By then, Mayer was determined to become a composer who would be taken seriously both in his own country and abroad. He also wanted to achieve this utilising both European and Indian techniques, and toward this end he studied with Sanathan Mukherjee, who taught him the theoretical aspects of Indian classical music. At the time, he knew and heard little of jazz, although he did start sitting in as a drummer with jazz bands. Mayer won the scholarship, and arrived in London in 1950 to study at the Royal Academy. He had won through his violin playing, but he started out studying composition with Matyas Sether, who encouraged him to use the techniques of Indian and western music in serial composition. His money ran out after only a year, but he was fortunate enough to earn a spot in the violin section of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Thus began a somewhat awkward eight-year period in which he played in the violin section of the orchestra while continuing to study composition--despite having some of his works played by the orchestra, and conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, he didn't begin to make headway as a composer until Sir Charles Groves commissioning him to write his Dance Suite for sitar, flute, tabla, tambura and symphony orchestra, which was premiered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1958. This early success, however, created problems with the management of the London Philharmonic, however, which was a conservative organization and didn't appreciate having a composer within the ranks of its performing musicians. Mayer was forced to leave his job at the LPO, but was hired by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham, who asked him to join. Mayer began a happy seven year relationship with the RPO, in the process learning a huge amount about orchestration (as well as conducting) from some of the finest players in England. By 1965, when he left the RPO's violin section, he was able to finally earn his living from his compositions and to quit full time orchestral playing. Additionally, by that time, fate had taken a hand in his career--Mayer was known in avant-garde London circles for his work mixing western and Hindustani classical music, and in 1964 EMI producer Dennis Preston asked him if he had available a short jazz-based piece with which to complete an album Preston was working on. Mayer told him he did, even though he had nothing ready-- Preston said he wanted to record it the next day, and Mayer stayed up all night writing the piece. He attended the recording the following day, and thought no more about it until six months later when Preston told him that he'd played the piece to Atlantic Records founder and president Ahmet Ertegun in New York, who'd liked what he'd heard and suggested that Mayer write music for an album which would fuse Indian music and jazz. Ertegun's idea was to combine the quintet of Indian musicians with which Mayer worked, featuring a sitar, tabla, tambura, flute, with Mayer on violin and harpsichord, with a jazz quintet led by Joe Harriott, himself an under-appreciated alto-player who had shown an appreciation of various aspects of world music. Mayer wrote the music in a month, and it was recorded by this group, known as the Joe Harriott and John Mayer Double Quintet, in two days. The resulting album, Indo-Jazz Fusions, was released in 1966 and became an immediate favorite in avant-garde circles and an unexpectedly good seller. Additionally, the group ended up not only in demand as a performing unit, but with a new name--from that day on, they were known as Indo-Jazz Fusions. Among those in the line-up was future Mahavishnu Orchestra bassist Rick Laird. They cut a second album that did as well as the first, and played in England and throughout Europe for the next seven years, until Harriott's death in 1973. During this period, Mayer became a familiar figure in progressive rock circles as well--he was mentioned as a mentor and colleague of Keith Emerson's on the Nice's third album, and credited with suggesting some of their repertory ("Diary of an Empty Day"); he later co-orchestrated and conducted the orchestra on the recording of Keith Emerson's Piano Concerto from Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Works Volume One album (the biggest selling album and CD on which Mayer has appeared to date). Additionally, he played violin with a group called Cosmic Eye, who cut an album, Dream Sequence (EMI-Regal Zonophone), in 1972. Mayer devoted much of his time in the years after Harriott's death to composition and academic pursuits, and was rewarded with professorships and composer-in-residence positions at the Birmingham Conservatory. He revived Indo-Jazz Fusions in 1995, and resumed performing and recording with them (most recently on the Nimbus label), as well as composing new works with the same Indian-Jazz fusion idiom that he pioneered 40 years earlier. In March of 2004, Mayer was hit by a car and fatally injured. He was 73.

CAL TJADER PLUGS IN

Cal Tjader's third album for Skye from 1969.

Cal Tjader Live at the Lighthouse Hermosa Beach, CA: February 20-21, 1969 Al Zulaica (el-p); Jim McCabe (el-b); Johnny Rae (perc); Cal Tjader (vib); Armando Peraza (cga).
Dusty Groove on the case:
A beautifully plugged-in, turned-on session from Cal Tjader -- one that features the funky vibist alongside some sweet Fender Rhodes! The session was recorded live, but it's got a flowing, modal quality that rivals Tjader's best work in the studio for Verve and Fantasy at the end of the 60s -- a soaring, spacious sound that comes from the interplay between Cal's ringing vibes and the Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano work of Al Zulaica -- an excellent player we only know from a few of Tjader's albums. Armando Peraza provides some tight conga work on the set -- and titles include "Spooky", "Tra La La Song", "Morning Mist", "Alonzo", "Nica's Dream", and "Get Out of My Way" -- a great instrumental take on the Latin soul hit from Joe Torres!
Ripped @320 from the Skye CD reissue on DCC.

CAL TJADER - AGUA DULCE

Cal Tjader for Fantasy from 1971.
Luis Gasca,Coke Escovedo,Al Zulaica,Pete Escovedo - the Californian latinos are here in force but it's still the authentic sound of latin jazz and another top set of tunes from Cal.Here's a quick review from Motown 67 at soulstrut:
Agua Dulce is another record crossed off my long time want list. The Latin title track is highlighted by the work of Coke Escovedo on the timbales, and there’s a big bass line that opens Descarga before going into another Latin number. The upbeat Gimme Shelter and Morning are the two best songs. The latter has light vocals in the beginning setting the mood for the catchy melody.

Ripped @320 from the reissue cd "Descarga" which put this back to back with the formidable "Live at the Funky Quarters".

CAL TJADER SOUNDS OUT BURT BACHARACH

Cal Tjader for Skye from 1969.
Recorded eight months after Solar Heat this is a curious collection that continued Skye's reputation for putting a pretty polish on pop perennials. Tjader sounds out an offbeat set of Burt Bacharach originals with a rhythm section of L.A. studio musicians and an ever-subtle sprinkling of overdubbed horns and strings. What's most interesting here is that Bacharach's harmonic and rhythmic complexity is nearly absent -although "Moneypenny Goes For Broke" (from the James Bond score CASINO ROYALE) hints at itñ forcing the listener to consider the composer's gift for melodic writing and Tjader's melodic approach to playing. This is particularly evident in the way Tjader handles the tunes made popular by Bacharach's most cogent muse, Dionne Warwick: "I Say A Little Prayer," "You'll Never Get To Heaven" and the hymn-like "Message To Michael."
Ripped @320 from the cd reissue from Laserlight

CAL TJADER - SOLAR HEAT

And yet more beautiful music by Cal Tjader for Skye from 1968.
Ray Barretto - Latin Percussion · Chuck Rainey - Bass · Michael Abene - Harpsichord Piano (Electric) · João Donato - Organ · Gary McFarland - Arranger . Vibraphone · Bobby Rodriguez - Bass · Cal Tjader - Vibraphone · Orestes Vilato - Latin Percussion

Another desert island disc for me and if challeged with only one Tjader album to be cast away with it would be a tough decision between this and "The Prophet".
This one catches Tjader mid-career in the first of his three albums on Skye Recordings, the label he owned with fellow musicians Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabo. Tjader is beautifully framed here by Gary McFarland's crystalline arrangements and Joao Donato's gorgeously understated organ. Tjader and McFarland are ideally matched here, particularly on the pop covers of "Never My Love" and "La Bamba" and McFarland's own "Fried Bananas" and the entrancing "Eye Of The Devil".
Don't be put off by the appearance of sappy pop tunes-this album is just exquisite throughout.Highly Recommended.
Ripped @320n from the Skye cd reissue from DCC jazz.

CAL TJADER - THE PROPHET

More beautiful music from Cal Tjader for Fantasy from 1968.
I first posted this 18 months ago so as it's one of my all time top 10 albums the time has come to post it again.320 rip this time from the long deleted Japanese cd reissue.Highly Recommended.

"This is an ecstatically beautiful album " wrote Herb Wong in the sleeve notes to this 1969 Cal Tjader lp.And I think he was right-I love this record .Cal got Joao Donato in on piano for this one who also wrote "Warm Song","Aquarius" and "Temo Teimoso" for the session.Cal knocked up "Souled Out",The Prophet""Cals Bluedo"and "The Loner" and added the standard "A Time for Love".He then added strings and vocals into the mix with the usual percussion / rhythm section and the combination works wonderfully as arranged by Don Sebesky.Moving from the swinging groove of the title track to the funky sound of Souled Out to the bossa influenced Donato input this lp hits the mark on every track .Beautiful jazz but also one for the lounge lovers. Oh and in case you're wondering where you may have heard it before Aquarius was sampled by a Tribe called Quest for Midnight Marauders .

CAL TJADER - GUARABE

Cal Tjader for Fantasy from 1977.
Let's face facts:I am a Cal Tjader freak and even more so a total sucker for his 70s lps on Fantasy which I have managed to collect in their entirety.So here's one that hasn't been posted before-I hope !
Have a read of an incredibly underwelming review from Scott Yanow at AMG:
During this period, the influential Latin-jazz pioneer was leading a hornless quintet/sextet that included Clare Fischer\'s electric piano as a key part of the band's sound. With guitarist Bob Redfield, bassist Rob Fisher, drummer Pete Riso, the talented (but at the time obscure) percusionist Poncho Sanchez and Carmelo Garcia on timbales keeping the proceedings heated, Tjader's group livens up such numbers as "This Masquerade," "Morning" and even the pop tune "If."
Ripped @ 320 from the original vinyl.

EDDIE PALMIERI AND CAL TJADER - BAMBOLEATE

Heavy duty business for Eddie & Cal for Tico from 1967.
An incredible collaboration between pianist Eddie Palmieri and vibist Cal Tajder -- a record done for Tico in answer to their previous session for Verve -- and a set that's even harder-jamming overall! Cal and Eddie really find something special together on the record -- and both players groove into a descarga mode that burns even more strongly than their own other work of the decade -- a masterful jam that's a really true collaboration, and which brings out the best that both musicians had to offer. Cal's moving way beyond his familiar modes here -- with a fluid, freely colorful sound -- and Eddie himself is beginning to hit some of the darker, harder notes that would show up even more strongly on his records of the 70s. There's a much more strongly jazz-based sound here than most of Palmieri's previous records -- a really bold focus on the instrumentation as it rolls out over some great modally-informed grooves -- and titles include "Bamboleate", "Resemblance", "Guajira Candela", "Mi Montuno", and "Come An Get It". Props as usual to Dusty Groove.
Ripped@320 from the original vinyl-reissued as part of the recent CD Fania Series.

GARY MCFARLAND - THE IN SOUND

Reposted from the very early days of this blog.
Beautiful music from Gary McFarland for Verve from 1966.
A lovely breezy piece of jazz pop bossa and an excellent showcase for Gary McFarland's melodic gifts. The In Sound improves upon the Soft Samba concept with exceptional covers ("The Moment of Truth," "The Sting of the Bee"), some of McFarland's most distinctive originals ("The Hills of Verdugo," "Over Easy," "Fried Bananas"), an increased jazz quotient and tremendous playing. McFarland is spot on throughout, playing with a vigor seldom heard elsewhere. Perhaps he drew inspiration from the superb and simpatico guitar work of fellow Berklee alum, Gabor Szabo. McFarland and Szabo never sounded better together, despite a number of later albums together (Gypsy 66, Profiles, Simpatico, Dreams). Recent Berklee grad, Sadao Watanabe, is a nice but rather mixed-down addition on flute. This may be the best music McFarland ever made.

About the cover- Songwriter Margo Guryan had purchased the painting "Fried Egg On A Polka Dot Tablecloth" (1965) by her cousin, pop artist Peter Shulman. Guryan thought it might make a good album cover and interested Creed Taylor in the painting (who wanted to whiten the background). Taylor had chosen the painting for Gary McFarland's record. However, the album's title dismayed Guryan, a former writing partner of McFarland's, since song titles like "Wine And Bread," "Fried Bananas" and especially "Over Easy" seemed to suit the image better.
Reissued in Japan on cd but long ago deleted-no further reissues.
Ripped @320 from the Jap cd

CAL TJADER - ALONG COMES CAL

Cal Tjader for Verve from 1967.
PLEASE NOTE:"LOS BANDIDOS" IS "OUR DAY WILL COME" AND VICE VERSA ON THIS DOWNLOAD-THE TRACKS TITLES ARE SWITCHED.

Cal used Chico O'Farril to do the arrangements and conduct this album and it works very well with all the material being latin in origin except "Round about Midnight" which most purists will no doubt hate! As O'Farril says on the sleeve notes "Everybody approaches Round About Midnight so seriously ,we decided to have a little fun with it!"
Big tune on this is ,of course,the tremendous montuno banger "Los Bandidos" which hits a groove and swings like hell-just terrific and one of my favourite Cal tunes.Also of note is a great version of "Samba Do Suenho" which had previously been recorded on "Bamboleate" by Cal and the mighty Eddie Palmieri.
Ripped from the original vinyl @320- surprisingly NO reissues on any format!

DAVID AXELROD - THE AUCTION

DAMN!!!edub pointed out to me that tracks 2 and 3 are missing from this post-so I went back and checked it and he's absolutely right.
DOOOOHHH!!!The cd I ripped it to has a scratch on it so when I try to rip it it jumps ...tracks 2 and 3
So I've ripped the missing cuts again - just add them to your original down load to get the full lp.
Thankyou edub-and here are the missing tracks.
And before you ask it's not me in the picture but it gives a good idea of my reaction!!!