Maynard Ferguson - M.F. Horn 4 & 5: Live at Jimmy's. 1972 Columbia. 2xLP. Wow, the first side is excellent recalling the powerful 'Give it One' from MF Horn 2. My kind of rocking big band sounds. The rest is pretty standard "stage band" fare, the kind of music I used to play while in high school. Well done for what it is, but not something I will listen to much and can sell. But side 1 almost had me keeping it. (Mar)
Dave Grusin - Discovered Again! 1976 Sheffield Lab (LP). I'm always interested in hearing things on the audiophile label Sheffield Lab, and Grusin is an excellent candidate for the imprint. Pretty decent smooth jazz, with a little bit of that early 70s TV soundtrack sound still left. Good on the whole, but inessential. (Mar)
Quincy Jones - You've Got it Bad Girl. 1973 A&M (LP). Similar to the above actually, but even more constrained and saccharine. This one is way too polished. Last year I picked up Smackwater Jack (1971) for the first time, and enjoyed that title better. (Mar)
Streetlife. 1981 Black Gold (LP). Ah, this ended up being a bummer. I was very excited to find this for $3 at a local store (signed no less). I'll buy anything on the collectable Black Gold label out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Two of my treasures of the collection were released by them: Message (hard rock) and Genre (jazz fusion). Looking at the cover I thought I may have found something like the latter, or perhaps even a soul or funk album. No such luck. The cover, as it turns out, is truly indicative of the music. It's jazz vocal revival music, the sort of thing one would hear in the 1940s and brought back by the likes of Diana Krall in the 90s. Nothing wrong with that of course, just not what I'm into. It'll sell though (it did). (Mar)
*Maynard Ferguson - M. F. Horn Two. 1972 Columbia (LP). Ferguson has something very interesting going here - that of a big band rock album. Not horn or brass rock, but big band. Terje Rypdal started his career with a similar type effort. The opener 'Give it One' packs a wallop, with multiple theme and meter changes. And jams heavy too. I would love to hear a whole album of this! The remainder is the usual Ferguson mix of cover tunes and originals, the latter being the highlight. Though I never tire of 'Theme from Shaft'. Overall, the album is quite good and unique - for my collection at the very least. (Mar)
RMS - Centennial Park. 1985 MMC (LP). Long ago I had an associate who would determine how good an album was by who was on it. A "names guy" I'd call him. Well, he'd certainly love this album then! Why RMS indeed stands for Ray Russell, Mo Foster, and Simon Phillips. No need to listen to the album - it's great! Ha. In any case, Centennial Park is a fine instrumental fusion album with decent guitar from Russell, but it has 1985 written all over it. The tones are cheap and the compositions are somewhat ordinary. I think if I didn't already have dozens of albums just like it, I would keep it. But enough is enough. (Mar)
*Ruphus - Let Your Light Shine. 1976 Brain (LP). Seems I've been on a Ruphus kick of late, but it's pure coincidence that this album came along after hearing the first two recently. I've had those on LP for many years, but never owned this title. Like with Release Music Orchestra's Get the Ball, you'd think this album was readily available, but it's surprisingly elusive here the States, at least at a decent price. Finally secured one online at a fair deal. This is where Ruphus switches gears from being a prog band to a jazz fusion group. The music is a superb example of the Euro fusion movement of the time, and the piercing female vocals of Gudny Aspaas adds to the allure, though requires a mental adjustment. On this listen, I was most reminded of Embryo's Bad Heads and Bad Cats, a major compliment indeed. (Mar)
Jack DeJohnette's Directions - Untitled. 1976 ECM (LP). I was hoping for a rough jazz rock album here similar to early Rypdal or Abercrombie. Well, not quite. This definitely isn't "ECM Jazz", but it is most certainly "Jazz". I could have gone for a rawer edge, similar to some of the greats from around 1970, but this one plays it safe for the most part. Oh well, not the best week for my jazz rock / fusion collection. (Feb)
Stanley Clarke - School Days. 1976 Nemperor (LP). Standard issue - but very good - fusion album from one of the legends of the genre. Followed the pattern of the day with a pastiche of styles, from heavy electric, to soft acoustic, and everything in between. Sometimes albums penetrate deeper into our psyche depending on when we hear them. For me, this comes too late, after absorbing many albums like it. But certainly a very fine album for the style. (Feb)
Art Lande - Rubisa Patrol. 1976 ECM promo (LP). Another ECM styled late night noirish jazz album. Peaceful and soothing. Though credited to pianist Lande as the marquee, it's just as much Mark Isham's album as well. He contributes half of the compositions and his muted trumpet is the dominate instrument. An old friend was a huge Isham fan, so I heard a lot of his work 30+ years ago. It was too tranquil for me then, and I still feel that way - at least on Rubisa Patrol. Borderline keeper, but have to draw the line somewhere. (Feb)
John Abercrombie Quartet - Arcade. 1979 ECM (LP). More of the same, like the above. This is the second Abercrombie Quartet album I've picked up in the last year (the other was the 1980 album). A very pleasant and soothing album with particularly strong rhythm work. Very good on the whole, but can't keep them all, and this is the sort of album I don't tend to gravitate to. (Feb)
*Rainer Bruninghaus - Freigeweht. 1981 ECM / Warner Bros (LP). Bruninghaus was the keyboardist extraordinaire for Eiliff, so I was most curious how this solo album would turn out. It was only a couple of bucks, so why not? First off, this is nothing like Eiliff or has anything to do with Krautrock. And yes, it is most certainly "ECM Jazz", so we're all adults now. Mostly it's an atmospheric album with Bruninghaus' soothing piano and Kenny Wheeler's Flugelhorn, backed by scattered drums, oboe, and English Horn. It's very well done, and calms the nerves nicely. It's side 2 that really draws you in, as the music becomes more cyclical and entrancing, while Bruninghaus introduces more synthesizer to the mix. The 12+ minute title track is a whopper. Sounding all the world like Klaus Schulze's 'Crystal Lake' as a backdrop to the soothing jazz up front. Brilliant really. The US press translates the titles on the back cover (but not the label) to English. The title track is set to mean 'Set Free By the Wind', which tells me it's not a straight translation ('Blown Free' would be that), but an interpretation. I like the album's take because it fits the music perfectly. Wonderful surprise. (Feb)
Egberto Gismonti - Danca das Cabecas. 1977 ECM (LP). Acoustic based world fusion album from Gismonti. More towards proto New Age than "ECM jazz". Reminds some of Pat Metheny's acoustic works, also on ECM. It's not a bad album, but not very enjoyable either, at least for me. More academic than interesting I'd submit. (Feb)
*Urban Ensemble - The Music of Roland Vazquez. 1979 Arista GRP (LP). This was a pleasant surprise. Somewhat standard fare late 70s fusion but with a full stage band behind it. Great horn charts. Think something along the lines of an instrumental Earth, Wind and Fire minus the soul and disco. Or, maybe more to the point, Caldera. Quite liked this one, and fairly unknown. (Feb)
* - Keeping for the collection
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