Jazz Supreme - Modal Waltz-A-Nova

barabara sounds sez:  

Album #3 in the Jazz Supreme series strikes a rather different balance of sounds. This time around there are none of the contemporary club jazz artists (unlike the first two albums). Instead we get a classic selection of tracks by the likes of Roy Haynes, McCoy Tyner, Oliver Nelson, Elvin Jones and — one of the standouts — Walt Dickerson.

Great to have some UK and European jazzers represented in the mix, too. If you like that Roland Kovac track, check out the full album here. There are also a couple of odd ones out: what Pedro Biker and Elliott Smith or their tracks are doing here is hard to fathom. But hey, it's really no problem: if (like me) you don't think they belong, then just program them out of your playlist... 

trax: 

01. James Clay – Pavanne
02. The Mike Westbrook Concert Band – Waltz (for Joanna) 

03. Oliver Nelson – Patterns

04. Walt Dickerson – Death and taxes

05. The Latin Jazz Quintet – Rip a dip 

06. Roy Haynes – Dorian  

07. McCoy Tyner – Three flowers  

08. Pedro Biker – Wives and lovers  

09. Elvin Jones – Half and half 

10. Mary Lou Williams – It ain't necessarily so

11. Michael Garrick Septet – Ursula

12. Yusef Lateef – Love theme from 'Spartacus' 

13. Roland Kovac Orchester – Blue dance

14. Wolfgang Dauner Quartet – Waltz for a young girl

15. Elliott Smith – Waltz #1

Jazz Supreme - Spiritual Waltz-A-Nova

barabara sounds sez:  

More supremely jazzy sounds from this great series. This was actually the very first of the excellent Jazz Supreme comps, and it sets the tone perfectly. A brilliant blend of classic and club, drawing from the back catalogs of Strata-East, Black Jazz, Tribe and interspersing them with righteous sounds from more recent times. 

Among my favorites: Abdul Rahim Ibrahim (the former Doug Carn); Dee Dee Bridgewater; and Charles Greenlee (with Archie Shepp of course). And I'm sure I'm not the only person to discover the Pete Jolly Trio through this album. 

trax:
01. John Hicks – After the morning 
02. The Ted Vining Trio – Impressions
03. Dee Dee Bridgewater – Little B's poem
04. S.O.L.A.R. – Faith for my mind
05. Hipnosis – Black Forest stomp
06. Two Banks Of Four – One day
07. The Pete Jolly Trio – My favorite things
08. Abdul Rahim Ibrahim – Tropic sons
09. Haki R. Madhubuti And Nation – Children
10. Pharoah Sanders – Moments notice
11. Kindred Spirits Ensemble – Naima
12. Charles Greenlee – Steam
13. The Descendants Of Mike And Phoebe – Coltrane
14. Doug Hammond – Moves
15. Joe Bonner – Soft breezes

Jazz Supreme – Fender Rhodes Prayer

barabara sounds sez:  

Summer nights, balmy and subtropical. Some spiritual vibes to mellow out once the heat of the day is done... One of my alltime favorite comps, this is a tasty shuffling of classic 70s jazz and newer clubbier sounds – some better known, others a lot more obscure – put out some five years back as part of a series given the exceptionally cool title Jazz Supreme. Cue plenty of exclamation points from the ever-enthusiastic Dusty!

dusty sez: 

A sublime batch of Fender Rhodes grooves – all of them deeply spiritual numbers with a strong jazzy vibe – most from the 70s, but also including a few contemporary cuts as well! There's a totally righteous feel to the whole collection – one that goes even farther than the first volume this great Jazz Supreme series – and the mixture of electric keys with deeper spiritual leanings is completely sublime – a sound first forged in the 70s, and carried through by some current artists who share a very similar vibe! …[this] 18 song collection runs for nearly 80 minutes in all!

trax:

01. Build An Ark – Peace with every step / Equipoise
02. Mark De Clive-Lowe ft. Bembe Segue – Naima
03. Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes – Golden dreams
04. Steve Kuhn – The meaning
05. Berardi Jazz Connection – F.D.P
06. Yesterdays New Quintet – Superwoman
07. Kindred Spirits Ensemble – Ja-Mil
08. Weldon Irvine – Feelin' mellow
09. Frank Owens – Freddie's dead
10. Larry Willis – Inner crisis
11. Dave Hubard – T.B.'s delight
12. Karin Krog – The meaning of love
13. moO – Moostic voyage
14. Joe McDuphrey Experience – Solar waves
15. INO hidefumi – Spartacus
16. Carmen Lundy – Afrasia
17. Build An Ark – The blessing song

The Pentagon

barabara sounds sez:  

Straightahead down-the-line jazziness from this not-quite-supergroup which came together to record in Japan back in 1976. Not the most challenging or progressive side ever issued by the East Wind label, but still well deserving of several listens. As before, this one has seen the light of day a couple of times before in the blogosphere — but there's never any harm is spreading the good stuff around some more. [And yes, it's nothing to do with the US military…]

dusty sez: 

Pretty soulful stuff – and a unique one-off group that features Cedar Walton, Clifford Jordan, Sam Jones, Billy Higgins, and Ray Mantilla – the first four of whom had played together often at the time, and who receive some nice added percussive support from Mantilla for the set! Tunes have a laidback grooving stye – mostly soulbop with some slight Latin touches…

scott (all music) yawno sez:

Originally released by the Japanese East Wind label and made available briefly domestically on an LP from the defunct Inner CIty label, this quartet outing features pianist Cedar Walton, the underrated tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Billy Higgins; Ray Mantilla adds his congas to three of the six selections. The group performs fresh versions of five jazz standards (including "Manteca," Kenny Dorham's "Una Mas," and Lester Young's D.B. Blues") plus Jordan's "He Is a Hero." Superior to Walton's RCA recordings of this period and his upcoming output for Columbia, this obscure effort finds all of the musicians playing up to their usual level of creativity.

NØ NUKES JAZZ ORCHESTRA

barabara sounds sez:
Out today.
"…a jazz driven manifest powered by Fear, Despair, Anger and Hope."
Full details (in Japanese) here..

3.11- A year has passed since the tsunami hit Fukushima to cause an unexampled disaster. Meanwhile, for the whole year, a remarkable bassist/composer/arranger, Jyoji Sawada has kept asking himself, what can jazz do, what kind of music, melody, can a musician play in the face of this tragedy. Now he assembles top musicians in Japan to create a a sonic description of what has happened in Japan after the incident. NNJO is a musical statement for all who lives in the Post-Fukushima era, a jazz driven manifest powered by Fear, Despair, Anger and Hope.

3.11- 巨大地震によって引き起こされた未曾有の事故から1年。ジャズはいま、何を語り、何を訴え、何を歌うことができるのか。鬼才コンポーザー/アレンジャー/ベーシスト沢田穣­治がリズム隊に芳垣安洋、岡部洋一、沢田のサウンドには必須のストリングス・クアルテットと管楽器隊としてサクソフォビア、そして、おおたか静流とアン・サリーなど当代き­っての辣腕を従え、ときにグロテスクに、ときに美しく綴るポスト・フクシマの音風景。ジャズに託された絶望と希望のマニフェスト。

Akira Ishikawa & His Count Buffalos - Get Up!

barabara sounds sez:  

Not the first time this has been seen in blogoville, but that's no reason to hold back. And not perhaps the ultimate Count Buffalos — my vote has to go to the magnificent Side 1 of Electrum (which you'll find hosted over at OIR). Or even Bakishinba (another of Bacoso's gems). But still most excellent and worthy of your time. Plus I seriously rate the album cover.

brief bio stuff: 

Akira Ishikawa was born in Yokosuka in 1934. He played with Akira Miyazawa's Modern All Stars; and later with Toshiyuki Miyama and his New Herd (in its early days), then left to form his own band The Gentures (try this on YouTube), which later gave birth to Count Buffalos. He was hugely influenced by African rhythms after visiting East Africa in the 1970. Hence the albums Uganda: Dawn of African Rock (more here) and then Bakishinba. 

Besides working as a session musician and also on TV (he takes the blame for this theme tune for an NHK kids show), he spent a lot of time working on projects to benefit African kids). In the 1990s he founded the music club Piga Piga in Ebisu, which hosted some of the best live African sounds in Tokyo. He later moved back to live in Kenya, which is where he died in 2002.

'Nuff said. Without further ado, time to Get it Up…

Marvin Peterson - Hannibal in Antibes & the Soulmasters in Concert

barabara sounds sez:

High time I posted some Hannibal. The finest littlest-known trumpet free-funkster ever. So, making up for lost time, here are two sides, both live — except the second (the first chronologicly) is from when Marvin Peterson hadn't yet adopted his alternate name. In Antibes is from 1977, recorded in the south of France and released on enja, and he's at his jazz peak. In Concert with the Soulmasters dates from '68, when he was still just 20 and playing jazz-funk around his home state of TX. Both in their own ways are exceptionally cool...  

dusty sez (on Antibes):

A classic live set from trumpeter Marvin Hannibal Peterson – done with two side-long tracks that really let the group stretch out in a very spiritual way! The performance was captured at the Antibes festival in 1977 – and Hannibal's leading a relatively stripped-down group – with George Adams on flute and tenor, Diedre Murray on cello, Steve Neil on bass, and Mkaya Ntshoko on drums. The mixture of cello and bass, without any piano, echoes some of Peterson's larger ensemble work – but the feel here is much more lively and improvised – a mixture of his freer energies and deeper concepts, which makes for one of his most dynamic records ever.

…and (on live with the Soulmasters):

Rare early work from Hannibal Marvin Peterson – doing it live at the Burning Bush in Denton, TX in November of 1968, around the time Petersonwas still a student at North Texas State University – an incredible formative live document of one of the great soul jazz players, in a more soul & early funk inspired groove than the more exploratory style to come! The set's credited to Marvin Peterson & The Soulmasters – aptly billed, we might add – and it's a mix of organ funk, a more slow cooking number or two, and a couple nods to James Brown style funk soul! Marvin, not yet billed as Hannibal, is on trumpet and he sings on his own "Five Foot Seven" and also contributes some vocals to the JB cover "I Can't Stand It". Tim Peterson is on sax and flute, penned the set opening "Groove For Otis" and co-wrote "Our Groove" with Peterson. The group also covers the Gershwin classic "Summertime" and other players include Mike Campell on alto sax, Clevend Gay on trombone, Eugene Carrier on organ and tamborine, Richard Thompson and Eugene Murray on bass and Emry Thomas on drums.