Thursday, March 31, 2011

Charles Mingus - Mingus At Antibes


Recorded live at the Antibes Jazz Festival, Juan-les-Pins, France, July 13, 1960.

The claim that "This is one of the great Mingus albums," made in the liner notes to MINGUS AT ANTIBES, is no exaggeration. Recorded live at the Antibes Jazz Festival in 1960, Mingus is presented here at his emotional, ground-breaking best with an ensemble that was surely one of his finest. Mining the style forged on BLUES AND ROOTS (released in early 1960), the music is an adrenaline-charged amalgam of black folk forms: gospel, blues, call and response and collective group improvisation, all woven through the spacious structures of Mingus' fiercely complex compositions.

All of this and more is evidenced on the surging, riotous "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting," which opens the album, followed by "Prayer For Passive Resistance" in a similar vein. "What Love," based loosely on the chord structures of "What Is This Thing Called Love" is highlighted by loose, improvisational passages and a free-form dialogue between Mingus' bass and Eric Dolphy's bass clarinet. Elsewhere, Dolphy plays alto sax with great intensity and startling, conversational phrasing. A stirring performance, MINGUS AT ANTIBES captures the artist at one of the most exciting points of his career.

Personnel: Charles Mingus (acoustic bass, piano); Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone, bass clarinet); Booker Ervin (tenor saxophone); Ted Curson (trumpet); Bud Powell (piano); Dannie Richmond (drums)

Tracks:
  1. "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" – 11:54
  2. "Prayer for Passive Resistance" – 8:06
  3. "What Love?" – 13:34
  4. "I'll Remember April" (Gene de Paul) – 13:39
  5. "Folk Forms" – 11:08
  6. "Better Git Hit in Your Soul" – 11:00



Cartola - Raizes do Samba


Tracks:
  1. As Rosas Nao Falam
  2. O Sol Nascer (A Sorrir)
  3. Tive Sim
  4. Alvorada
  5. Disfarca E Chora
  6. Corra E Olhe O Ceu
  7. Amor Proibido
  8. Minha
  9. Nao Posso Viver Sem Ela
  10. Sala de Recepcao
  11. Festa da Vinda
  12. Sim
  13. Preciso Me Encontrar
  14. Aconteceu
  15. Quem Me Ve Sorrindo
  16. Ordenes E Farei
  17. Algeria
  18. Senhora Tentacao
  19. O Mundo E Um Mohino
  20. Cordas de A o 

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Banda Black Rio - Gafieira Universal


Tracks:

1. Chega Mais
2. Vidigal
3. Gafieira Universal
4. Tico Tico No Fubá
5. Ibeijada
6. Rio De Fevereiro
7. Dança Do Dia
8. Samboreando
9. Cravo E Canela
10. Expresso Madureira

King Sunny Ade - The Best Of The Classic Years


Sunny Adé's music is characterised by, among other instruments, the Talking drum- an instrument indigenous to his Yoruba roots, the guitar and his peculiar application to juju music,that would easily put him in the same class as guitar musicians like Santana. His music is in the age old tradition of singing poetic lyrics("Ewi" in Yoruba) and praise of dignitaries as well components of "juju" (traditional African belief) called the "Ogede"-"casting a spell". Hence, Adé's music constituents a record of the oral tradition of his people for posterity. Sunny Adé was the first to introduce the pedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop music. He was the first to introduce the use of synthesizers, clavinet, vibraphone, tenor guitar into the juju music repertoire such as dub and wah-wah guitar licks. -wiki

Tracks:
  1. Sunny Ti De
  2. Bombile Horojo
  3. Oro Towo Baseti
  4. Ko Salapata
  5. African Beats Lu Nsere
  6. Synchro System (Complete Orginal Version)
  7. Ibanuje Mon Iwan
  8. Afai Bowon
  9. Ogun Party Part 1
10. Adena Ike


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - A Night In Tunisia





A Night in Tunisia is a jazz album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, released in 1960. From the liner notes by Barbara J. Gardner: "This album is a prime example of Blakey's expressed desire to showcase his young talent. Not only is there extended solo room for the musicians; further, all but the title tune were written and arranged by the talented junior jazz citizens in his group." Gardner further writes about the title track, written by Dizzy Gillespie: "'A Night In Tunisia' as recorded here remains the spectacular fiery poly-rhythmic stimulant that it is when performed live in night clubs and concert stages. The mood is set as Shorter leaps in to render a brilliant rapid-fire solo. Morgan's airy solo sparkles to the foreground. Note his climactic building and multinoted technique. Bobby Timmons feeds back drive and fire from the keyboard along with the Blakey sizzling cymbals and sputtering drums. Merritt here, as throughout the album, is the capable anchor man." The album was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder. -Wikipedia

Personnel:
  • Lee Morgan — trumpet
  • Wayne Shorter — tenor saxophone
  • Bobby Timmons — piano
  • Jymie Merritt — bass
  • Art Blakey — drums
Track listing:

1989 remastered release:
  1. "A Night in Tunisia" (D. Gillespie–F. Paparelli) –11:11
  2. "Sincerely Diana" (Wayne Shorter) –6:47
  3. "Sincerely Diana" (alternative take) (Wayne Shorter) –6:51
  4. "So Tired" (Bobby Timmons) –6:36
  5. "Yama" (Lee Morgan) –6:20
  6. "Kozo's Waltz" (Lee Morgan) –6:45
  7. "When Your Lover Has Gone" (E.A. Swan) –6:43

Hermeto Pascoal - Montreux Jazz Ao Vivo


Line-up / Musicians
   
- Hermeto Pascoal / soprano sax, clavichord, piano, flute, tenor sax, piano and voice
- Itiberê Zwarg / bass
- Nenê / clavinet and percussion/drums
- Jovino Santos Neto / piano and clavinet
- Cacau / clarinet, baritone sax, tenor sax and flute
- Nivaldo Ornelas / soprano sax, tenor sax and flute
- Zabelê / perucssion and voice
- Pernambuco / percussion


Live, released in 1979

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Pintando O Sete (4:25)
2. Forró Em Santo André (7:31)
3. Remelexo (3:52)
4. Bem Vinda (1:45)
5. Sax E Aplausos (17:02)
6. Lagoa Na Canoa (1:23)
7. Fátima (4:28)
8. Terra Verde (1:22)
9. Maturi (4:48)
10. Quebrando Tudo (5:55)
11. Nilza (3:19)
12. Forró Brasil (3:16)
13. Montreux (4:28)
14. Voltando Ao Palco (5:30)
15. E Adeus (1:01)



Monday, March 28, 2011

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - In the Heart of the Moon


In the Heart of the Moon is a duet recording by Malian guitar slinger Ali Farka Toure and Mandé lineage griot Toumani Diabate on kora. There are a few other players who contribute percussion here and there, and Ry Cooder plays a Kawai piano on a couple of tracks and a Ripley guitar on one, but other than these cats, this is a live duo set without edits or enhancements of any kind. There were three sessions in the conference room of the Mande Hotel in Mali, the first of which was on the eve of Farka Toure being elected mayor of his town, Niafunké. Most of the music here dates back to the Jurana Kura (translated as new era) cultural movement, which was part of the independence struggle in the 1950s and early '60s. The music created by the Jurana Kura for the guitar created a entirely new style of rhythmic fingerpicking. For those familiar with Farka Toure's blazing lead style, this disc may come as a shock. While he does solo many times here, he is also playing in balance with Diabate, whose kora has the larger lyric and harmonic palette, so he is in a supporting role. It doesn't matter. Whether the song is "Kaira" (written and performed by Diabate's father in the '50s and the earliest recorded track on the album, from before the Mande sessions), "Ai Ga Bani (I Love You)" and "Soumbou Ya Ya" (both written for young people during the Jurana Kura), or one of Farka Toure's originals near the end of the set, such as "Gomni," the style is the same. Everything echoes this earlier era because it has informed all Malian and Guinean music since. The purpose was to make people aware not only of its existence but to inspire and exhort. The music is insistent but not strident. It contains a gentleness and tenderness that seem to drip from the region, one of the poorest in the world. The players' focus and intensity are captured, but they make it all come off so easily that the listener gets lost in the pleasure of these gorgeous melodies and the call-and-response style of interaction between the players. Simply put, In the Heart of the Moon is nothing short of remarkable.