Home » Jazz Articles » Cecil McBee
Jazz Articles about Cecil McBee
Alice Coltrane: The Carnegie Hall Concert
by Mike Jurkovic
The most perfect of time machines, with no errant destinations and no abrupt landings, The Carnegie Hall Concert transports one to a time when artists took their art seriously, when it was sacrosanct. Alice Coltrane's harp comes on like the siren lure of angels, like a missionary, calling all to stop their labor. It seems to say, Come to listen, come to wonder, come to rest, don't be afraid." And Coltrane wasn't, not ever. Here she was with ...
read moreRoy Brooks: Understanding
by Angelo Leonardi
Il doppio compact di Roy Brooks pubblicato da qualche giorno (anche in lussuoso triplo vinile e in versione digitale) non è solo un tributo a uno dei massimi batteristi dei decenni sessanta/ottanta. Registrato il 1° novembre 1970 a Baltimora, presenta uno dei concerti più esaltanti del jazz contemporaneo, un hard bop intriso d'avanguardiain particolare John Coltraneche si sviluppa con intensità febbrile per due ore. Il merito va al misconosciuto batterista di Detroit e al suo quintetto comprendente Woody Shaw alla ...
read moreRoy Brooks: Understanding
by Pierre Giroux
Roy Brooks was a preeminent hard-bop drummer who early on participated in seminal recording dates led by Horace Silver, Yusef Lateef and Sonny Stitt. In this release entitled Understanding, produced by Cory Weeds and Zev Feldman for Reel To Real Records, Brooks is documented live by The Left Bank Jazz Society at The Famous Ballroom in Baltimore on November 1, 1970. The limited-edition 180 gram 3-LP gatefold set of previously unreleased material, features a stellar band including trumpeter Woody Shaw, ...
read moreLonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes: Expansions
by Chris May
If ever a first wave jazz-funk album deserved a 180gm vinyl reissue in 2020 it is this near masterpiece. It was originally released in 1975 on Flying Dutchman, the label Bob Thiele set up after he left Impulse!. Jazz-funk divided the jazz world in the 1970s as much as free-jazz had done a decade earlier. And with reason. Much of it was crap. Just like a lot of jazz-rock was crap. More or less desperate attempts by ...
read moreCecil McAwesome
by Patrick Burnette
Inspired by bassist Cecil McBee's star-turn on Lloyd McNeill's Elegia, the boys devote a whole episode to examining works led by Cecil or just plain enhanced by his presence. He's had a wide-ranging career as a side-man so they cherry-pick what highlights they can while wondering if the next setting on the engineering knob after 10" and 11" is really sexual." A rapper, a classic by Beck, and some brand new dream pop get look ins during pop matters.
read moreCecil McBee: Masterful, And Always Equipped
by R.J. DeLuke
Cecil McBee is one of the finest bass players on the scene, a status he's held among musicians for many years, even if the public is slower to pick up on the achievements of this 79-year-old musician extraordinaire. A natural, he was quick to connect with musicians in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. But helping him along the road to becoming a top-flight musician was a series of encounters where people would come asking for him. They were ...
read more