Another CTI classic from the early 70's and although this one has a larger ensemble it still stays away from the over-produced commercialized sound the label would soon be putting out. Freddie Hubbard and Herbie Hancock are simply spectacular throughout, especially on the title track. Billy Cobham's drumming stays in the groove and the interplay between him and Milt Jackson is really happening. What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life is a ballad shows off the skills that made Jackson a legend on the vibes and the string arrangements are for the most part tasteful and not over the top.
Players: Milt Jackson - Vibes Freddie Hubbard - Flugelhorn
George Marge - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, English Horn
Phil Bodner - Flute, Piccolo, English Horn
Romeo Penque - Oboe, English Horn
Herbie Hancock - Piano, Electric Piano
Jay Berliner - Guitar
Ron Carter - Bass
Billy Cobham - Drums
Ralph MacDonald - Percussion
Max Ellen, Paul Gershman, Emanuel Green,
Charles Libove, Joe Malin, David Nadien,
Gene Orloff & Elliot Rosoff - Violins
Charles McCracken, George Ricci
& Alan Shulman - Cellos
Margaret Ross - Harp
Don Sebesky - Arranger, Conductor
Recently scored myself a pristine copy of this on vinyl and have been trying not to wear it out listening to it too much. Just an awesome album from start to finish, has to be counted among Hubbard's best moments in the studio.
Players:
Freddie Hubbard - Trumpet
Junior Cook - Tenor
George Cables - Keyboards
Aurell Ray - Guitar
Ron Carter - Bass
Kent Brinkley - Bass
Ralph Penland - Drums
Juno Lewis - Percussion
A classic (but out-of-print) session from a post-Coltrane McCoy Tyner. With a group of all-star players - including Wayne Shorter, Woody Shaw, Gary Bartz and Ron Carter - this album deserves a wider audience. The album opens with Vision which fully showcases the soloing skills of all the players, with Carter's cello and Shaw's trumpet playing really standing out. Smitty's Place has a great enthusiastic feeling as the group bounces and swings with each other. Overall the record is a nice blend of the hard-bop and post-bop styles, with just the right amount of free-jazz and avant-garde elements to make the record a nice summation of Tyner's career up to this point and where it would soon be heading in just a few years with his outstanding albums of the 1970's.
Players: McCoy Tyner - Piano
Woody Shaw - Trumpet
Gary Bartz - Alto Sax, Wooden Flute
Wayne Shorter - Tenor Sax, Clarinet
Ron Carter - Cello
Herbie Lewis - Bass
Freddie Waits - Drums
Players: Wayne Shorter - Tenor Sax James Spaulding - Alto Sax, Flute
Curtis Fuller - Trombone
Herbie Hancock - Piano
Ron Carter - Bass
Joe Chambers - Drums
Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums) performing Hutcherson's classic Little B's Poem live in 1989.
"Mama Wailer" was the second release on Creed Taylor's Kudu imprint and is a funky soul-jazz classic. Lonnie Smith is joined by a group of like-minded players (including an in-the-groove Grover Washington, Jr. on tenor) and the music is dirty low down jazz-funk that never strays too far from it's improvisational roots. The group's take on Sly and The Family Stone's Stand is the centerpiece of the album and took up all of Side 2 on the original LP. After this recording, Lonnie Smith disappeared from the scene for awhile, he wouldn't make another record until "Afrodesia" showed up on the Groove Merchant label in 1975.
Players:
Lonnie Smith - Organ, Clavinet
Grover Washington, Jr. - Tenor Sax
Danny Moore - Trumpet
George Davis - Guitar
Jimmy Ponder - Guitar
Ron Carter - Bass
Billy Cobham - Drums
This is a performance of "Cantaloupe Island" from the "One Night with Blue Note" film celebrating the historic concert in 1985 that brought together Blue Note Records legends to celebrate the revival of the label by Bruce Lundvall and Michael Cuscuna. This performance certainly features legendary players: Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Ron Carter and Tony Williams!
Originally issued as a double LP, this 1970 record was trumpeter Woody Shaw's debut as a leader and was ambitious to say the least. The music on "Blackstone Legacy" is not easy to classify, and a look at the lineup that Shaw assembled for the session gives a hint at the exciting music within. Bennie Maupin and Gary Bartz on the saxophones, two bassists: Ron Carter & Clint Houston and Lenny White on the drums were all players that had experience with the progressive jazz Shaw was looking to put down on wax. A landmark recording in the realm of modern music, any fan of creative music should give it a listen.
Released in 1970, "Straight Life" came out in between the more well known Hubbard albums "Red Clay" and "First Light". While I will always be partial to "Red Clay" for personal reasons (it is one of the first jazz albums I ever bought), "Straight Life" may be Hubbard's greatest CTI recording. The all-star group (Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette) were all very familiar with each other by this point in their careers and play off each other with ease. All are on the same page playing the post-bop fusion selections that Hubbard chose for these sessions including his own classic compostition, the title track Straight Life.