Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Hubert Laws: Wild Flowers

192

Hubert Laws: Wild Flowers

By

View read count
Hubert Laws: Wild Flowers

Wild Flower is the best flute record I know of. Hubert Laws plays flawlessly and sensitively as usual, but the record really belongs to John Murtaugh. Murtaugh came up as a Los Angeles tenorist in the 1950's but made his reputation as a writer. The program was thoughtfully considered. Each composition has its own identity and feeling. Taken together there is variety and balance. Five tunes feature Murtaugh's magnificent string writing.

The string sound is dry and tart, not lush and not violin-dominated. The cello parts are notable. Bassists Richard Davis and Ron Carter play together magically in the ensemble, serving as a bridge between the strings and the rhythm section. On "Ashante" they carry on a dialogue over pedal-point strings. The modal "Yoruba" is the only piece without strings—four percussionists are substituted. The session's most rhythmically evolved composition, the tune goes though several tempos and rhythms and includes a Laws-Corea duet.

For those who sweat the little stuff the studio players were the best of their time as a glance at their names reveals. This music would not be nearly as successful without their inspired ensemble work.

Track Listing

Wild Flower (Murtaugh); Pensativa (Clare Fischer); Equinox (John Coltrane); Ashanti (Murtaugh); Motherless Child (traditional); Yoruba (Murtaugh).

Personnel

Hubert Laws
woodwinds

Hubert Laws (piccolo, flute, alto flute); John Murtaugh (arranger, conductor); Gary Burton (vibraphone); Chick Corea (piano); Ron Carter, Richard Davis (bass); Bernard Purdie (drums); Mongo Santamaria (conga); Joe Chambers, Airto Moreira, Warren Smith (percussion); David Nadien, Bernard Eichen, Paul Gershman, Harry Lookofsky, Matthew Raimondi, John Pintavalle, Guy Lumia, Gene Orloff (violin); Julian Barber, Selwart Clarke, Harold Coletta, Harold Zartasian, Richard Dickler (viola); Charles McCracken, Harvey Shapiro, Seymour Barab, Richard Bock, George Ricci, Alan Schulman (cello).

Album information

Title: Wild Flowers | Year Released: 2001 | Record Label: Label M

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.