Muhal Richard Abrams - Levels and Degrees of Light (1967)

Levels and Degrees of Light was the first recording under Muhal Richard Abrams' name and was a landmark album that launched the first in a long line of beautiful, musical salvos from the AACM toward the mainstream jazz world. The title track finds Abrams broadly tracing out some of the territory he would continue to explore in succeeding decades, an ethereal, mystic quality (evinced by Penelope Taylor's otherworldly vocalizing and Gordon Emmanuel's shimmering vibes) balanced by a harsh and earthy bluesiness set forth by the leader's piercing clarinet. "The Bird Song" begins with a fine, dark poetry recitation by David Moore (oh! for the days when one didn't approach a poem on a jazz album with great trepidation) before evanescing into a whirlwind of percussion, bird whistles, and violin (the latter by Leroy Jenkins in one of his first recorded appearances). When the band enters at full strength with Anthony Braxton (in his first recording session), the effect is explosive and liberating, as though Abrams' band had stood on the shoulders of Coltrane, Coleman, and Taylor and taken a massive, daring leap into the future. It's a historic performance. The final track offers several unaccompanied solo opportunities, spotlighting Abrams' sumptuous piano and the under-recognized bass abilities of Charles Clark. This is a milestone recording and belongs in the collection of any modern jazz fan.

by Brian Olewnick in All Music Guide

Styles:
Free-Jazz
Avant-Garde

Tracks:
01 - Levels and Degrees of Light (10:34)
02 - The Bird Song (22:54)
03 - My Thoughts are my Future - Now and For (09:42)

Line-up:
Muhal Richard Abrams: piano, clarinet
Anthony Braxton: alto saxophone
Maurice McIntyre: tenor saxophone
Leroy Jenkins: violin
Gordon Emmanuel: vibraphone
Charles Clark: bass
Leonard Jones: bass
Thurman Barker: drums
Penelope Taylor: vocals
David Moore: poet (track 2)

Wayne Shorter - Adam's Apple (1966)

With the possible exception of its song, "Footprints," which would become a jazz standard, Adam's Apple received quite a bit less attention upon its release than some of the preceding albums in Wayne Shorter's catalog. That is a shame because it really does rank with the best of his output from this incredibly fertile period. From the first moments when Shorter's sax soars out in the eponymous opening track, with its warmth and roundness and power, it is hard not to like this album. It might not be turning as sharp of a corner stylistically as some of his earlier works, like Speak No Evil, but its impact is only dulled by the fact that Shorter has already arrived at the peak of his powers. Taken in isolation, this is one of the great works of mid-'60s jazz, but when Shorter has already achieved a unique performance style, compositional excellence, and a perfectly balanced relationship with his sidemen, it is hard to be impressed by the fact that he manages to continue to do these things album after album. But Shorter does shine here, while allowing strong players like Herbie Hancock to also have their place in the sun. Especially hypnotic are two very different songs, the ballad "Teru" and Shorter's tribute to John Coltrane, "Chief Crazy Horse," both of which also allow Hancock a chance to show what he could do.

by Stacia Proefrock in All Music Guide

Styles:
Post-Bop
Hard-Bop
Modal

Tracks:
01 - Adam's Apple (6:52)
02 - 502 Blues (Drinkin' And Drivin') (6:36)
03 - El Gaucho (6:32)
04 - Footprints (7:31)
05 - Teru (6:15)
06 - Chief Crazy Horse (7:39)
07 - The Collector (6:55)

Line-up:
Wayne Shorter - tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock - piano
Reggie Workman - bass
Joe Chambers - drums

Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack (1960)

Back at the Chicken Shack is one of organist Jimmy Smith's classic Blue Note sessions, and the first to draw attention to tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine. Recorded in 1960 with Kenny Burrell on guitar, Donald Bailey on drums, and Turrentine, the group reaches the peak of funky soul-jazz that all other challengers of the genre would have to live up to. Included on this uptempo session is a reworking of "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" (a feature for Turrentine), Turrentine's "Minor Chant," two Smith compositions, "Messy Bessie" as well as the set's notable title cut, and the CD-only bonus track, "On the Sunny Side of the Street." Smith's Midnight Special album was recorded at these same sessions, and is also exceptional.

by All Campbell in All Music Guide

Styles:
Jazz Blues
Soul

Tracks:
01 - Back at the Chicken Shack (8:01)
02 - When I Grow Too Old to Dream (9:54)
03 - Minor Chant (7:30)
04 - Messy Bessie (12:25)
05 - On the Sunny Side of the Street (5:45)

Line-up:
Jimmy Smith - organ
Kenny Burrell - guitar
Stanley Turrentine - tenor saxophone
Donald Bailey - drums

Terumasa Hino Quintet - Hino At Berlin Jazz Festival'71 (1971)

Long considered a jazz legend and Japan’s foremost trumpeter, Terumasa Hino has played with almost all the jazz heavyweights throughout the past half century, from Gil Evans and Elvin Jones to Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. His musical references have been Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis.

All the albums that Terumasa Hino has released in the 70's (starting with the legendary Hi Nology, 69) are highly recommended for lovers of spiritual jazz and koozmigroov.

“Hino at Berlin Jazz Festival ’71” is pure power. It was released by Victor Japan on 1971 and by Catalyst Records on 77. It includes four long tracks. The absence of keyboards gives prominence to the guitar player (Kiyoshi Sugimoto). Terumasa Hino is great, as always. The rest of the quintet is: Motohinko Hino (Terumasa brother) on drums, Yoshio Ikeda on bass and Takao Uematsu on tenor saxophone. Highly recommended! All killer No filler.

Style:
Post-Bop

Tracks:
01 - Birth of Action (18:29)
02 - Cycle Circle (12:51)
03 - Ode to Workman (17:32)
04 - Alone, Alone and Alone (7:33)

Line-up:
Terumasa Hino - trumpet
Takao Uematsu - tenor sax
Kiyoshi Sugimoto - guitar
Yoshio Ikeda - bass
Motohiko Hino - drums

Sonny Rollins - East Broadway Run Down (1966)

Around the ten-minute mark of the title track, things get very interesting indeed -- moody and spooky as Jimmy Garrison hangs on a single note, making his bass throb along while Elvin Jones widens the space and fires drum and cymbal hits in all directions. Coming off bass and drum solos that never seem to fit anywhere in the piece, it's a supreme moment of tension-building, one that gets repeated after Rollins and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard restate the theme in unison. This is the sound of Rollins' group working in unity. For much of "East Broadway Run Down," though, the rhythm section is off doing their thing, usually together, while Rollins meanders about in limbo, seemingly trying to figure out what it is that he should be doing. That Rollins was having an off day for this recording is a suspicion that's strengthened by Hubbard's part -- where Rollins is wandering, Hubbard is charging ahead, focused and tight, fitting with the rhythm section, keeping the tension up. The remainder of the album is more on the mark, with "Blessing in Disguise" being quite enjoyable -- it starts out in a cheerfully traditional vein and gradually, subtly, starts to slide off into an improvisational area only to come back again to the traditional, and so back and forth. Rollins floats his sax line around the melody with only occasional excursions toward the outer regions. "We Kiss in a Shadow," though, is charmingly straightforward, a ballad rendering supported by Jones and Garrison locking together on a nice rhythm construction that lets Rollins float around the melody.

by Steven McDonald in All Music Guide

Styles:
Post-bop
Avant-Garde
Hard-Bop

Tracks:
01 - East Broadway Run Down (20:27)
02 - Blessing in Disguise (12:27)
03 - We Kiss in a Shadow (5:40)

Line-up:
Sonny Rollins – sax (tenor)
Jimmy Garrison – bass
Freddie Hubbard – trumpet
Elvin Jones – drums

Albert Ayler - New Grass (1969)

If there is one word that is poison in the minds of jazz fans and critics, it's sellout. If any musician, for whatever reason, decides to change their sound in a way that could be considered commercial, they have committed the deadliest of sins. So many debate and whine over whether an artist is a sellout, but really, what the hell difference does it make? None. If a record is great, it's great.
Albert Ayler was always controversial. His ripping tenor produced sheets of articulated squeals and buzzes that helped to revolutionize a new kind of jazz. His work was always leading edge or barbarically raw, depending on your critical orientation. But his original approach and methods of delivery differed from Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, AACM and other peers. Like these players, he found his sound and ideology repeatedly scrutinized.
And so it wasn't much of a surprise when he released New Grass that critics would rip him apart. What made this record different is that his cult of fans and critics were the instigators of the attack. Why? He had sold out; he threw out his loose structures for classic R&B arrangements. What they failed to observe is that New Grass is a genius piece of work that welds his sheets of sound to classic African-American styles such as R&B, soul and gospel. How could a man who created sounds that influenced artists ranging from Sonic Youth to John Zorn to Captain Beefheart to David Murray to the Velvet Underground create a record in such a "commercial" format?
Ayler knew this record was going to upset his fans and he took time to explain himself on the opening track "Message from Albert/New Grass." Opening with a primal rant of classic soloing that could have fit anywhere on Spiritual Unity , Albert proceeds to explain his emotional playing as a gift from God and that this record is a further exploration of his sound. He states that he hopes people will like the record... and, well, it sounds like a plea. Why should any artist ever have to explain themselves or their ideas? They shouldn't have to, but Ayler took it upon himself to ask the listener to have an open mind. Yet the record overall isn't as commercial as the critics of the day would have us believe. Sure, kicking tunes such as "New Generation" and "Heart Love" have grooving R&B/soul/gospel arrangements with vocals, but his solos still rip with bloody emotion. Yet "Sun Watcher" is a ripper; though not as harsh as his earlier work, he still holds onto his ideals.
Though Impulse! has been accused by critics of pushing Ayler into making a commercial disc, it seems strange that the label would have, since much of its roster consisted of free jazz artists. They were, after all, responsible for releasing the majority of John Coltrane's riskiest and most experimental work. After many spins it seems more that Ayler was looking for a new way to explore his music than just making a record that would reach a larger audience. The solos on this record would have never gotten airplay then, nor would they get it now. His squeaks and honks may have R&B riffing, but the solos are too gritty for most to handle.
That is why it is time to re-evaluate this record and accept it for its musical merits. The chops are solid and the arrangements are tight. Sure this may be the first time you hear yourself humming an Ayler tune, but it doesn't minimize the genius he put into this record. It shows an artist at a turning point, and because of negative feedback it remains an obscure record, instead of a big seller. It is time that we as jazz fans open our minds and be willing to allow artists to try on different suits. Sure quite often the results are horrid, but often the results are like New Grass.
by Trevor McLaren in All About Jazz

Styles:
Free-Jazz
Soul
Avant-Garde

Tracks:
01 - Message From Albert - New Grass (03:53)
02 - New Generation (05:06)
03 - Sun Watcher (07:29)
04 - New Ghosts (04:10)
05 - Heart Love (05:32)
06 - Everybody's Movin' (03:43)
07 - Free At Last (03:08)

Line-up:
Albert Ayler - Saxophone [Tenor], Vocals
Buddy Lucas - Bass
Bill Folwell - Bass [Electric]
Bernard Purdie - Drums
Call Cobbs - Piano, Harpsichord [Electric], Organ
Seldon Powell - Saxophone [Tenor], Flute
Garnett Brown - Trombone
Burt Collins - Trumpet
Joe Newman - Trumpet
The Soul Singers - Vocals

Paul Bley - Turning Point (1964)

When this album was released in 1975 by Paul Bley's Improvising Artists label, the seven selections had been previously unheard. The five pieces from Mar. 9, 1964 (which feature pianist Bley, tenor-saxophonist John Gilmore, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian) were later released in a more complete form on the Savoy LP Turns. This was a unique onetime encounter between the innovative Bley (whose lyrical approach to free form improvising was quite different than that used by the high-energy players of the time) and Sun Ra's longtime tenor John Gilmore; "Ida Lupino" is the most memorable of these tracks. In addition there are a couple of trio performances ("Mr. Joy" and "Kid Dynamite") from a May 10, 1964 concert with bassist Peacock and drummer Billy Elgart that have not been released elsewhere. Very interesting if not quite essential music.

by Scott Yanow in All Music Guide

Styles:
Avant-Garde
Free-Jazz

Tracks:
01 - Calls (06:10)
02 - Turning (06:30)
03 - King Korn (06:00)
04 - Ictus (04:05)
05 - Mr Joy (03:50)
06 - Kid Dynamite (03:40)
07 - Ida Lupino (06:33)

Line-up:
Paul Bley - Piano
Gary Peacock - Bass
John Gilmore - Saxophone [Tenor]
Paul Motian (tracks: 1 to 4, 7) - Drums
Billy Elgart (tracks: 5, 6) - Drums

Grover Washington Live in Philadelphia (1981)

Tracks:
01 - Winelight
02 - Let it Flow
03 - One the Dark Side
04 - Make me a Memory
05 - Just the Two of Us

Line-up:
Grover Washington Jr. - Alto Sax
Richard Tee - Keyboards
Ralph MacDonald - Percussion
Paul Griffin - Synthetizer
Eric Gale - Guitar
Anthony Jackson - Bass
Steve Gadd - Drums
Zack Sanders - Vocal

Chico Hamilton Quintet - Gongs East! (1959)

The best-known of all the 1950s Chico Hamilton Quintet sets, this is also the only early Hamilton music that has been fully reissued on CD. At the time, the drummer's group also included cellist Nate Gershman, guitarist Dennis Budimir, bassist Wyatt Ruther and the young Eric Dolphy on alto, bass clarinet and flute. Dolphy has quite a few short solos on this rewarding music, and the highlights of the date include "Beyond the Blue Horizon," "Passion Flower," Gerald Wilson's "Tuesday at Two" and the exotic "Gongs East." Recommended.

by Scott Yanow in All Music Guide

Styles:
West-Coast Jazz
Hard-Bop

Tracks:
01 - Beyond The Blue Horizon (2:59)
02 - Where I Live (2:57)
03 - Gongs East (5:04)
04 - I Gave My Love A Cherry (4:03)
05 - Good Grief, Dennis (3:17)
06 - Long Ago And Far Away (3:04)
07 - Tuesday At Two (3:59)
08 - Nature By Emerson (4:48)
09 - Far East (4:38)
10 - Passion Flower (3:04)

Line-up:
Chico Hamilton - Drums
Wyatt Ruther - Bass
Nathan Gershman - Cello
Dennis Budimir - Guitar
Eric Dolphy - Saxophone [Alto], Flute, Clarinet [Bass]

Roscoe Mitchell Sextet - Sound (1966)

Sound, Roscoe Mitchell's debut as a leader, was an early free jazz landmark and an enormously groundbreaking album in many respects. Historically, it marked the very first time that members of Chicago's seminal AACM community appeared on record; it also showcased the early chemistry between future Art Ensemble of Chicago members Mitchell, Lester Bowie, and Malachi Favors. Arrangement-wise, it employed a number of instruments largely foreign to avant-garde jazz -- not just cello and clarinet, but the AEC's notorious "little instruments," like recorder, whistle, harmonica, and assorted small percussion devices (gourds, maracas, bells, etc.), heard to best effect on the playful "Little Suite." Structurally, Sound heralded a whole new approach to free improvisation; where most previous free jazz prized an unrelenting fever pitch of emotion, Sound was full of wide-open spaces between instruments, an agreeably rambling pace in between the high-energy climaxes, and a more abstract quality to its solos. Steady rhythmic pulses were mostly discarded in favor of collective, spontaneous dialogues and novel textures (especially with the less orthodox instruments, which had tremendous potential for flat-out weird noises). Simply put, it's an exploration of pure sound. It didn't so much break the rules as ignore them and make up its own, allowing the musicians' imaginations to run wild (which is why it still sounds fresh today). Sound's concepts of texture, space, and interaction would shortly be expanded upon in classic recordings by Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and others; the repercussions from its expansion of free jazz's tonal and emotional palettes are still being felt. [Delmark's CD reissue includes two takes of "Sound," which were edited together to form the original LP version, and an alternate arrangement of the briefer free-bop tribute number "Ornette."]

by Steve Huey in All Music Guide

Styles:
Avant-Garde
Free-Jazz

Tracks:
01 - Ornette [alternative take] (5:44)
02 - Sound 1 (26:36)
03 - The Little Suite (10:27)
04 - Ornette (5:29)
05 - Sound 2 (19:24)

Line-up:
Roscoe Mitchell: alto saxophone, clarinet, flute, recorder
Lester Bowie: trumpet, flugelhorn, harmonica
Malachi Favors: bass
Maurice McIntyre: tenor saxophone
Lester Lashley: trombone, cello
Alvin Fielder: percussion

Anthony Braxton - Five Pieces (1975)

Anthony Braxton has to be one of the last jazz musicians to achieve "giant" status before the genre's popularity declined to the point where doing so became an impossibility. It has been noted that when he was the first jazz signing to the new major label Arista, he promised to be some kind of crossover success (see the liner notes to The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton and a November 2008 essay in The Wire magazine discussing its release). Well, success he certainly did achieve. Despite the widely-held belief that new jazz was no longer profitable for labels or musicians from the mid-1970s onward, Braxton's series of albums for Arista all sold relatively well--enough for the label to break even even if Braxton himself never financially profited. In terms of being a "crossover" artist, that is a bit more difficult to assess. Leading up to his tenure with Arista, he had recorded works like For Alto that extended into the territory of modern composition (of the likes of John Cage), but he also worked with more traditional jazz material on albums like In the Tradition. And that has remained his mode of operation since--drifting back and forth between the twin poles of traditional jazz and avant-garde composition. But does that constitute a "crossover"? It would seem most of the time the answer is no. But Five Pieces 1975 and some other Arista recordings do make strides at crossing the divide between traditional jazz and modern composition, achieving a new synthesis of both within a given piece. It seems for that reason it manages to be one of his best efforts.
The success of Five Pieces 1975 certainly has a lot to do with the superb band surrounding Braxton. They are up to the challenge of each piece and every performer is a match for the next. There is a balance achieved between them that evidences a complete mastery of both the compositional elements and the more liberal improvisational sensibilities at work. If the album could be improved, it would be to replace "You Stepped Out of a Dream" with something like "Opus 40P" or even "Maple Leaf Rag" from Duets 1976 to add more variety. But then again, why tamper.
Musicians labeled "prolific" are usually also saddled with the label "inconsistent", if nothing else due to the almost inherent lack of editorial decisions to provide some kind of focus. Anthony Braxton is saddled with both those labels, as well as the one calling his music "difficult". Yet through the years he's also managed to do some things the "jazz-industrial complex" (his term, like the military-industrial complex and prison-industrial complex) doesn't normally allow. Thanks largely to a source of income teaching in later years, he has managed to keep writing and recording challenging works without giving up on his mellower, more lyrical and accessible impulses. He has also managed to come about as close to being a household name as any modern jazz musician since Coltrane's era (apart from certain members of the Marsalis family and a few pop musicians masquerading as jazz artists). So aside from his purely musical contributions, which are indeed numerous, he has presented an image of jazz that contrasts with the accepted one. That may be his most enduring achievement. It means that there will remain more than one path forward.

Styles:
Avant-Garde
Free-Jazz
Post-Bop

Tracks:
01 - You Stepped Out of a Dream (07:10)
02 - Opus 23 H (04:34)
03 - Opus 23 G (08:07)
04 - Opus 23 E (17:16)
05 - Opus 40 M (03:22)

Line-up:
Anthony Braxton - Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Dave Holland - Bass
Barry Altschul - Drums
Kenny Wheeler - Trumpet

Clifford Jordan - Blowing in from Chicago (1957)

BLOWING IN FROM CHICAGO features tenor saxophonist John Gilmore as a co-leader. After this 1957 session, he spent the rest of his career in Sun Ra's band, hardly ever making any albums under his own name. This adversely affected Gilmore's legacy, since his name has largely been overlooked by younger jazz audiences. However, Gilmore's performance here is first-rate, and is matched by fellow tenor sax player Clifford Jordan. Throughout the record, it's apparent that this pairing of like minds is ideal.
Drummer Art Blakey also asserts himself on this album, especially on the highly rhythmic "Billie's Bounce," a Charlie Parker tune he popularized with the Jazz Messengers. The Latin-flavored Jordan original "Bo-Till" is one of BLOWING IN FROM CHICAGO'S highlights, as is his funky blues number "Evil Eye." This is classic hard bop played by some of its most skillful practitioners.
Clifford Jordan's first date as a leader actually found him sharing a heated jam session with fellow tenor John Gilmore. Backed by pianist Horace Silver, bassist Curly Russell, and drummer Art Blakey, the two saxophonists square off mostly on obscurities (other than Gigi Gryce's "Blue Lights" and "Billie's Bounce"). This was one of Gilmore's few sessions outside of Sun Ra's orbit and, if anything, he slightly overshadows the cooler-toned Jordan. Recommended.

by Scott Yanow in All Music Guide

Styles:
Hard-Bop
Post-Bop

Tracks:
01 - Status Quo (5:34)
02 - Bo-Till (5:54)
03 - Blue Lights (6:35)
04 - Billie's Bounce (9:32)
05 - Evil Eye (5:12)
06 - Everywhere (5:42)
07 - Let It Stand (7:42)

Line-up:
Clifford Jordan - Tenor Sax
Curly Russell - Bass
Art Blakey - Drums
Horace Silver - Piano
John Gilmore - Tenor Sax

Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956)

Pithecanthropus Erectus was Charles Mingus' breakthrough as a leader, the album where he established himself as a composer of boundless imagination and a fresh new voice that, despite his ambitiously modern concepts, was firmly grounded in jazz tradition. Mingus truly discovered himself after mastering the vocabularies of bop and swing, and with Pithecanthropus Erectus he began seeking new ways to increase the evocative power of the art form and challenge his musicians (who here include altoist Jackie McLean and pianist Mal Waldron) to work outside of convention. The title cut is one of his greatest masterpieces: a four-movement tone poem depicting man's evolution from pride and accomplishment to hubris and slavery and finally to ultimate destruction. The piece is held together by a haunting, repeated theme and broken up by frenetic, sound-effect-filled interludes that grow darker as man's spirit sinks lower. It can be a little hard to follow the story line, but the whole thing seethes with a brooding intensity that comes from the soloist's extraordinary focus on the mood, rather than simply flashing their chops. Mingus' playful side surfaces on "A Foggy Day (In San Francisco)," which crams numerous sound effects (all from actual instruments) into a highly visual portrait, complete with honking cars, ringing trolleys, sirens, police whistles, change clinking on the sidewalk, and more. This was the first album where Mingus tailored his arrangements to the personalities of his musicians, teaching the pieces by ear instead of writing everything out. Perhaps that's why Pithecanthropus Erectus resembles paintings in sound -- full of sumptuous tone colors learned through Duke Ellington, but also rich in sonic details that only could have come from an adventurous modernist. And Mingus plays with the sort of raw passion that comes with the first flush of mastery. Still one of his greatest.
by Steve Huey in All Music Guide

Style:
Post-Bop

Tracks:
01 - Pithecanthropus Erectus (10:36)
02 - Foggy Day (7:50)
03 - Profile of Jackie (3:11)
04 - Love Chant (14:59)

Line-up:
Charles Mingus – Bass
Jackie McLean – Alto Saxophone
J. R. Monterose – Tenor Saxophone
Mal Waldron – Piano
Willie Jones – Drums

Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue (1963)

To describe Kenny Burrell as an integral part of the Blue Note story is to sell this still-thriving guitarist short. Perhaps better than any of his contemporaries, Burrell represents the level of versatility and consistent quality that transcended individual record labels and created the fertile jazz recording scene of the 12-inch LP's first decade.

He was everywhere, as a sideman and a leader, after launching his East Coast career with two Blue Note albums in 1956. And one suspects that certain excellent sessions he cut for other companies with Coleman Hawkins in place of Turrentine; or A Night at the Vanguard -classic trio Burrell- might have more substantial reputations today if they had been issued under the Blue Note logo. Consider such gems as Bluesy Burrell, cut for Prestige/Moodsville four months before the present session with Holley and Barretto aboard, Tommy Flanagan's piano added and Coleman Hawkins in place of Turrentine, or A Night at the Vanguard with Richard Davis and Roy Haynes that Argo taped in 1959 less than a month after Blue Note had documented a Burrell quintet (with Tina Brooks and Art Blakey), On View at the Five Spot Cafe.
Yet if such masterpieces from other catalogues (and others like Kenny Burrell with John Coltrane and The Tender Gender) can be imagined as Blue Note releases, no rival label could possibly have provided as fitting a home for Midnight Blue. Leonard Feather's notes report what the music so clearly reveals; that Burrell had a clear overall vision for the album, involving a program of blues and related material that might shout (but only in context) yet would also explore the feelings to be uncovered at lower volumes and slower tempos. It was a concept that must have taken producer Alfred Lion back to his earliest ensemble project with the Port of Harlem Jazzmen.
Given the particular affinity of the guitar and the blues, space was needed to allow the instrument its full expressive potential. Lion was willing to give Burrell the necessary room where other producers of the time might have insisted upon a piano or, especially given the album's theme, an organ. Taking further advantage of the textural possibilities by adding Ray Barretto's conga drums to Bill English's trap set was also within the Blue Note tradition. Candido had teamed with Kenny Clarke on the label's Introducing Kenny Burrell, and Barretto had assumed the role of house conguero for both Blue Note and Prestige since important 1958 recordings with Lou Donaldson, Red Garland and Gene Ammons. Bassist Major Holley Jr and English were Burrell regulars who worked and recorded frequently with the guitarist in these years, while Stanley Turrentine, the only Blue Note leader among the supporting artists, had first shown a penchant for making indelible music with Burrell on the 1960 session that produced Jimmy Smith's Midnight Special and Back at the Chicken Shack.
In various combinations, Burrell, Turrentine, Holley, English, and Barretto brilliantly realize the original goal. While the album is filled with great moments, like the guitarist's naked emoting on "Soul Lament" and the propulsion he generates while locking into tempo on "Midnight Blue", the overall plan and pace create one of the most subtle cumulative moods ever conjured on two sides of vinyl. Hear how the waltz tempo of "Wavy Gravy" arrives like a seismic shift in terrain, and how affirmatively things are concluded on "Saturday Night Blues". The seven original tracks form a complete statement, a considered presentation that in no way contained the spontaneity at the music's heart. The bonus track "Kenny's Sound" is particularly enlightening in this regard. It was the first piece done at the session and clearly did not enhance the aura of the final album, yet it served as a perfect muscle-flexer that allowed the musicians to loosen up and prepare for the highly focused task ahead. The other added title "K Twist", was recorded again nearly two years later on a session designed to produce material for release on 45. The later personnel is quite similar, with everyone from this session save Holley returning, but the addition of Herbie Hancock's piano creates a less fluent if more commercial veneer.
Midnight Blue did not need "K Twist" in order to generate a hit, since in "Chitlins Con Carne" it had one of the most ingratiating blues lines of the periods. "Chitlins Con Carne" might seem rather basic to some players and listeners more impressed by complex scales and harmonic substitutions, yet it holds profound lessons about telling a story through music and functioning as a collective unit missing from most texts and exercise books. It also establishes a level of music discourse that is sustained over the remainder of this timeless album.

Styles:
Guitar Jazz
Hard-Bop

Tracks:
01 - Chitlins con Carne (5:30)
02 - Mule (6:56)
03 - Soul Lament (2:43)
04 - Midnight Blue (4:02)
05 - Wavy Gravy (5:47)
06 - Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You (4:25)
07 - Saturday Night Blues (6:16)
08 - Kenny's Sound (4:43)
09 - K Twist (3:36)

Line-up:
Kenny Burrell – guitar
Stanley Turrentine – tenor saxophone
Major Holley – bass
Billy Gene English – drums
Ray Barretto – conga

Sun Ra - Nuclear War (1984)

Along with Lanquidity, Nuclear War is one of the rarest discs in Sun Ra's enormous catalog. Recorded in 1982, Nuclear War disappeared until 2001 when the Chicago-based Atavistic label made it part of their exceptional "Unheard Music Series." Originally Ra was so sure the funky dance track was a hit, he immediately took it to Columbia Records, where they immediately rejected it. Why he thought a song with the repeating chant "Nuclear War, they're talking about Nuclear War/It's a motherf***er, don't you know/if they push that button, your ass gotta go/and whatcha gonna do without your ass" would be a hit is another puzzle in the Sun Ra myth. Even with the danceability factor, without heavy censoring, the song would never be played on the radio. Severely depressed by the rejection, but still determined, Ra licensed the track to Y Records, a post-punk label out of Britain. Initially a vinyl 12" was released with "Sometimes I'm Happy" on the flip side. Two years later, Nuclear War was released as an album, but only in Italy. The remaining tracks include four originals and three standards, Ellington's "Drop Me Off in Harlem," "Sometimes I'm Happy," and "Smile." The latter two are highlights in their own right thanks to the gorgeous vocals of June Tyson.

by Al Campbell in All Music Guide

Styles:
Avant-Garde
Experimental Big Band
Fusion

Tracks:
01 - Nuclear War (07:47)
02 - Retrospect (05:43)
03 - Drop Me Off In Harlem (05:04)
04 - Sometimes I'm Happy (04:29)
05 - Celestial Love (05:36)
06 - Blue Intensity (05:18)
07 - Nameless One No. 2 (04:01)
08 - Smile (04:24)

Line-up:
Sun Ra - Piano, Synthesizer, Organ, Vocals
Hayes Burnett - Bass
James Jacson - Bassoon, Infinity Drum
Atakatune - Congas, Percussion
Samarai Celestial - Drums
Vincent Chancey - French Horn
Marshall Allen - Saxophone [Alto], Flute
Danny Ray Thompson - Saxophone [Baritone], Flute
John Gilmore - Saxophone [Tenor]
Tyron Hill - Trombone, Vocals
Walter Miller - Trumpet
Jun Tyson - Vocals

Ahmad Jamal - Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not for Me (1958)

Recorded at the Pershing Club in Chicago, IL, Jamal's third album (including the hit "Poinciana") was the turning point in his career. His liberal use of silence influenced many jazz musicians, including Miles Davis.

by Michael Erlewine in All Music Guide

Styles:
Cool
Post-Bop

Tracks:
01 - But Not for Me (03:31)
02 - The Surrey with the Fridge on Top (02:35)
03 - Moonlight in Vermont (03:09)
04 - (Put Another Nickel In) Music! Music! Music! (02:56)
05 - No Greater Love (03:26)
06 - Poinciana (08:07)
07 - Woody N' You (03:40)
08 - What's New (04:08)

Line-up:
Ahmad Jamal – Piano
Israel Crosby - Double bass
Vernel Fournier - Drums

Weather Report - Gibraltar

Herbie Hancock - Sextant (1972)

When Herbie Hancock left Warner Bros. in 1971 after releasing three musically sound but critically and commercially underappreciated albums -- The Crossing, Mwandishi, and Fat Albert's Groove -- he was struggling. At odds with a jazz establishment that longed for his return to his Blue Note sound and a fierce consciousness struggle with free music and the full-on embrace of electricity since his tenure with Miles Davis, Hancock was clearly looking for a voice. Before diving into the commercial waters that would become Headhunters in 1973, Hancock and his tough group (including Billy Hart, Julian Priester, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Bennie Maupin, and Buster Williams) cut this gem for their new label, Columbia. Like its Warner predecessors, the album features a kind of post-modal, free impressionism while gracing the edges of funk. The three long tracks are exploratory investigations into the nature of how mode and interval can be boiled down into a minimal stew and then extrapolated upon for soloing and "riffing." In fact, in many cases, the interval becomes the riff, as is evidenced by "Rain Dance." The piece that revealed the true funk direction, however, was "Hidden Shadows," with its choppy basslines and heavy percussion -- aided by the inclusion of Dr. Patrick Gleeson and Buck Clarke. Dave Rubinson's production brought Hancock's piano more into line with the rhythm section, allowing for a unified front in the more abstract sections of these tunes. The true masterpiece on the album, though, is "Hornets," an eclectic, electric ride through both the dark modal ambience of Miles' In a Silent Way and post-Coltrane harmonic aesthetics. The groove is in place, but it gets turned inside out by Priester and Maupin on more than one occasion and Hancock just bleats with the synth in sections. Over 19 minutes in length, it can be brutally intense, but is more often than not stunningly beautiful. It provides a glimpse into the music that became Headhunters, but doesn't fully explain it, making this disc, like its Warner predecessors, true and welcome mysteries in Hancock's long career.

by Thom Jurek in All Music Guide

Styles:
Fusion
Avant-Garde
Jazz-Funk

Tracks:
01 - Rain Dance (9:16)
02 - Hidden Shadows (10:11)
03 - Hornets (19:35)

Line-up:
Herbie Hancock - piano, Fender Rhodes, Hohner D-6 clavinet, mellotron
Bennie Maupin - soprano sax, bass clarinet, piccolo, afuche, hum-a-zoo
Dr. Eddie Henderson - trumpet, flugelhorn
Julian Priester - bass trombone, tenor trombone, alto trombone, cowbell
Buster Williams - electric bass, acoustic bass
Billy Hart - drums
Dr. Patrick Gleeson - ARP 2600 and Pro-Soloist
Buck Clarke - percussion

Archie Shepp - Attica Blues (1972)

Refining his large-ensemble experiments of 1971, Attica Blues is one of Archie Shepp's most significant post-'60s statements, recorded just several months after authorities ended the Attica prison uprising by massacring 43 inmates and hostages. Perhaps because Shepp's musical interests were changing, Attica Blues isn't the all-out blast of rage one might expect; instead, it's a richly arranged album of mournful, quietly agonized blues and Ellingtonian swing, mixed with a couple of storming funk burners. Of course, Shepp doesn't quite play it straight, bringing his avant-garde sensibilities to both vintage big band and contemporary funk, with little regard for the boundaries separating them all. His soloing on tenor and soprano is typically sharp-edged and modal, and his nasal, slicing tone on soprano is featured quite heavily. The stylishness of the slow numbers is undercut with quivering, faintly unsettling dissonances, and the up-tempo funk cuts recall the way Sly Stone's arrangements ping-ponged many different elements off each other in a gleeful organized chaos. That's especially true on the gospel-inflected title song, a monster of a groove that later became a hit on the acid jazz revival circuit (and stands up to anything recorded by straight-up funk bands of the era). In the same vein, "Blues for Brother George Jackson" sounds like an edgier Isaac Hayes-style blaxploitation soundtrack cut. Vocal ballads are plentiful, and Joe Lee Wilson ("Steam," a song Shepp would return to often) and Carl Hall (aka Henry Hull) both acquit themselves well; more debatable are the poetic recitations and the choice of flügelhornist/composer Cal Massey's young daughter Waheeda to sing "Quiet Dawn" (although Waheeda's almost-there intonation is effectively creepy). Still, in the end, Attica Blues is one of Shepp's most successful large-group projects, because his skillful handling of so many different styles of black music produces such tremendously groovy results.

by Steve Huey in All Music Guide

Styles:
Free Jazz
Experimental Big Band
Vocal Jazz
Social Music

Tracks:
01 - Attica Blues (4:47)
02 - Invocation: Attica Blues (0:19)
03 - Steam (Part 1) (5:07)
04 - Invocation To Mr. Parker (3:16)
05 - Steam (Part 2) (5:10)
06 - Blues For Brother George Jackson (4:00)
07 - Invocation: Ballad For A Child (0:29)
08 - Ballad For A Child (3:36)
09 - Good-Bye Sweet Pops (4:22)
10 - Quiet Dawn (6:12)

Line-up:
Archie Shepp: tenor and soprano saxophones
Clifford Thornton: cornet
Roy Burrows, Charles McGhee, Michael Ridley: trumpet
Cal Massey: fluegelhorn
Charles Greenlee, Charles Stephens, Kiane Zawadi: trombone
Hakim Jami: euphonium
Clarence White: alto saxophone
Marion Brown: alto saxophone, flute, bamboo flute, percussion
Roland Alexander, Billy Robinson: tenor saxophone
James Ware: baritone saxophone
John Blake, Leroy Jenkins, Lakshinarayana Shankar: violin
Ronald Lipscomb, Calo Scott: cello
Dave Burrell: electric piano
Walter Davis, Jr.: electric piano, piano
Cornell Dupree: guitar
Jimmy Garrison, Gerald Jemmott, Roland Wilson: bass
Ollie Anderson, Nene DeFense, Juma Sultan: percussion
Beaver Harris, Billy Higgins: drums
Joshie Armstead, Henry Hull, Waheeda Massey, Albertine Robertson, Joe Lee Wilson: vocal
Bartholomew Gray, William Kunstler: narrator