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536

Grant Green: Carryin' On

Read "Grant Green: Carryin' On" reviewed by John Ballon


Having firmly established himself as the '60s jazz guitarist second only to the great Wes Montgomery, Grant Green was willing and able to move into something new and give himself up to the emerging funk wave that would seep across the '70s.

Attacked by purists as Grant's grand selling-out, these recordings have been rediscovered and widely sampled by legions of acid-jazz aficionados. Hypnotically rhythmic and quintessentially grooving, the five tracks on this straight reissue are all exceptionally tasty bursts of ...

395

The Crusaders: Crusaders I

Read "The Crusaders: Crusaders I" reviewed by John Ballon


Most people think that when the Jazz Crusaders dropped the “Jazz" from their name, they also dropped the jazz from their playing. When the band first decided to call themselves the Crusaders, it was only to expand their musical horizons beyond what was narrowly defined as “jazz" at the time. True, the band quickly came to symbolize the commercial dumbing-down of once vibrant and creative jazz musicians in the lean years of the 1970s.And true, the band eventually ...

531

Donald Byrd: Kofi

Read "Donald Byrd: Kofi" reviewed by John Ballon


An album of previously unreleased material taken from two 1969-1970 sessions which capture the immensely talented trumpeter Donald Byrd in a transitional moment of artistic brilliance. The first two tracks, “Kofi" and “Fufu," were both recorded during the 1969 session, and are the most original and imaginative compositions on the album. Rooted in the hypnotic African-infused rhythms of drummer Mickey Roker, bassist Ron Carter, and percussionists Airto and Dom Um Romao, these two tracks synthesize the modal, electric, hard bop, ...

422

Charles Lloyd: Forest Flower

Read "Charles Lloyd: Forest Flower" reviewed by John Ballon


Recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966, Forest Flower was the jazz soundtrack of the Flower Power movement. Always accessible and majestic, the Charles Lloyd Quartet was recorded here at the peak of its powers. The title track, “Forest Flower," actually is split into two parts, “Sunrise" and “Sunset," which merge together seamlessly to form a single piece of astonishing unity, with Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee, and Jack DeJonette playing beyond the point of empathy. There ...

828

George Benson: The Other Side Of Abbey Road

Read "George Benson: The Other Side Of Abbey Road" reviewed by John Ballon


I first heard The Other Side Of Abbey Road at a cozy coffee shop in Hollywood, California, early in my jazz discovery days. At the time, I was just recovering from a heavy overdose on the Beatles, having listened to all their post-LSD records almost exclusively for several months. I was ready for something new, and an album of Beatles covers was not exactly what I had in mind. Nevertheless, my curiosity was aroused once George Benson's velvety voice rang ...

506

Ray Barretto: Acid

Read "Ray Barretto: Acid" reviewed by John Ballon


By the time 1968 rolled around, Ray Barretto was a celebrated studio session player whose hard-driving conga rhythms could be heard all over the records of Dizzy Gillespie, Cal Tjader, Cannonball Adderley, and countless others. Once he dropped Acid onto the music world, Barretto firmly established a reputation for himself as an innovator in his own right.

Like the drug itself, Acid had a mind-expanding influence on everyone, allowing for a far more adventurous and eclectic edge to slip into ...

493

Charlie Parker: Jam Sessions

Read "Charlie Parker: Jam Sessions" reviewed by John Ballon


Charlie “Bird" Parker was a peerless musician who needs no further introduction. Despite his vast discography, there are few good-sounding recordings where the majority of the tunes run any more than 5 minutes in length. Jam Sessions is one of the notable exceptions. Backed by an all-star band (including such giants as Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, Benny Carter, and Oscar Peterson), Parker stretches with leisurely exuberance across lengthy jams (every track is over 13 minutes). The assembled talent really come ...

377

Armstrong & Ellington: The Great Summit

Read "Armstrong & Ellington: The Great Summit" reviewed by John Ballon


No two musicians defined the first half of the Jazz Century more than Duke Ellington & Louis “Satchmo" Armstrong. Duke was the dashingly elegant mad-genius of composition, a black Mozart who imbued jazz with an emotional sophistication and wit that will never be surpassed. Louis almost single-handedly popularized the art of the solo, liberating jazz from the rigid rules of ensemble playing and giving individual musicians a chance to express themselves. Unmistakable in sound, Satchmo's presence strongly defined every session ...

931

Miles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions

Read "Miles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions" reviewed by John Ballon


I never waited as impatiently for a boxed set to be released as I did for this one. I assumed that the only thing that could possibly be better than In A Silent Way was The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions , because there would be so much more of it. Now that I have it all to enjoy (!), I'm finally able to appreciate the full magnitude of the original release of In A Silent Way. After withstanding ...


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