Another entry in the perpetually listening to every record in my collection alphabetically and blogging unscholarly thoughts project. This installment stars Charles Lloyd, Jimmie Lunceford, Miriam Makeba, Adam Makowicz and Sergio Maldini.
Charles Lloyd – Dream Weaver – What a deep catalog, Charles Lloyd has! So many records for so many years, and somehow they seem to hold a high standard of communication inside improvisation. It’s funny. Somehow, I haven’t transcribed much of anything from these records, even though some of the moments on Charles Lloyd records are as burning as anywhere else. I’m partial to this record and Forest Flower because of Cecil McBee, who I studied with for several years at NEC. He sounds great! But if I take my McBee focus out and listen to what’s happening, then the communication between everyone on the stand shines through. This is more or less the beginning of the Keith Jarrett/Jack DeJohnette association, which has obviously been prolific and at times, amazing.
The Flowering – Recorded in Europe during one of the original Quartet tours, maybe 1966? Online it says Oslo and Antibes, but the jacket only talks about Oslo, so it’s hard to say exactly where it was recorded. One thing is for sure, this band is on fire. The highlights continue to be Cecil McBee, for me. His solo on “Speak Low” and his original “Wilpan’s” are both incredible. There’s another great version of that tune on Charles Tolliver’s record Live at Slugs, but more on that later.
Jimmie Lunceford – Lunceford Special – A record that I would never have purchased if I hadn’t been a part of the Either/Orchestra. Way back when swing dancing was making a resurgence, E/O head honcho Russ Gershon had an idea to make a swing dance version of the E/O. We recorded a demo of killer big band tunes, like “T’aint What You Do”, which is on this record. I also remember learning about Lunceford’s writing from Boston-area arranging master Everett Longstreth when I studied with him at NEC. The writing on this record is super clean, and the swing is so on point it almost hurts.
Miriam Makeba – The Best of – I love her voice, which is the reason why I love this record. She sounds so beautiful, regardless of what music she is singing. What I dislike about this record is everything else, including some of the music she is singing. It seems to me that demonstrating her “versatility” by asking her to sing music from Othello or Fiddler on the Roof does less to show her versatility and more to satisfy a producer’s or business executive’s objective of selling more records. Who knows? Maybe she wanted to sing these songs, although I doubt it. [This is the unscholarly part of the project – the scholar would find out the answer.] Let her sing whatever she wants. She sounds amazing every time.
Adam Makowicz – Naughty Boy – Piano quartet with BOTH Charlie Haden and Dave Holland, along with Al Foster. Awesome. This was recorded during a time when Haden and Holland couldn’t play any wrong notes, ever. I mean, it’s not like their careers are littered with terrible notes anyway. I’m just saying that throughout the 1980s, their output was consistently amazing.
Sergio Maldini – E il suo complesso – I bought this record in 2002 or so because I noticed that it has the song “Marina” on it. Since my wife is named for this exact song, I figured I’d pick up the record, surprise her and enjoy some Italian jams. Some killer accordion on this album. Anyway, here’s a record that was made somewhere in the neighborhood of 1967, but sounds like something out of La Dolce Vita or 8 1/2, made in 1960 and 1963. There are obvious nods to rock music and R&B in the midst of tarantellas, some French something or other and the occasional harmonic minor scale. This is Italian pop music through and through, made by a guy who would go on to be a famous journalist. Maybe he’s the original Paparazzo. The band features Ferruccio Martinelli, Ottavio Zanardi and Giuseppe Ticconi.