The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

[Rudy]

Reminds me of some Isaac Hayes from that era. It was so good!

Indeed! I found myself listening to the other Mizell Brothers albums by Donald Byrd yesterday (not yet reissued on vinyl) and the more I listen, the more I'm hearing similarities to the soul/R&B/funk of the early to mid 70s. I know that purists bristle at the thought of Byrd straying away from jazz but in a sense, Byrd was a bridge between jazz and that world of soul and funk, and even prior to that he had taken a few steps towards making jazz more accessible. Miles similarly drifted into other styles, but his approach was more "out there" and not accessible. (There are a few similarities, but more differences, between Miles' On The Corner and Black Byrd, for instance.)

Even with other artists, the Mizells had the same touch. I have another Bobbi Humphrey record (Blacks and Blues) that features their work, along with the recent Johnny Hammond Gears that I finally located in the Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf reissue series. I was hoping to get Black Byrd but not until it's properly reissued.

Larry Mizell appears to be the more jazz-leaning side of the two brothers, and Fonce (Alfonso) of course was part of the Motown songwriting/production group The Corporation that scored #1 hits with the Jackson 5.

Hot Buttered Soul may get a spin this evening...

 

[AM Matt]

Isaac Hayes late 1970 "....To Be Continued" my older brother had on 8 track tape as well as 1971 "Shaft" also. You could hear the 8 track tape of "Shaft" which had a farting sound!! (laughs) Got both of those on remastered CD!!

 

[hannahtobin]

Indeed! I found myself listening to the other Mizell Brothers albums by Donald Byrd yesterday (not yet reissued on vinyl) and the more I listen, the more I'm hearing similarities to the soul/R&B/funk of the early to mid 70s. I know that purists bristle at the thought of Byrd straying away from jazz but in a sense, Byrd was a bridge between jazz and that world of soul and funk, and even prior to that he had taken a few steps towards making jazz more accessible. Miles similarly drifted into other styles, but his approach was more "out there" and not accessible. (There are a few similarities, but more differences, between Miles' On The Corner and Black Byrd, for instance.)

Even with other artists, the Mizells had the same touch. I have another Bobbi Humphrey record (Blacks and Blues) that features their work, along with the recent Johnny Hammond Gears that I finally located in the Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf reissue series. I was hoping to get Black Byrd but not until it's properly reissued.

Larry Mizell appears to be the more jazz-leaning side of the two brothers, and Fonce (Alfonso) of course was part of the Motown songwriting/production group The Corporation that scored #1 hits with the Jackson 5.

Hot Buttered Soul may get a spin this evening.

 

[Stevenj]

Indeed! I found myself listening to the other Mizell Brothers albums by Donald Byrd yesterday (not yet reissued on vinyl) and the more I listen, the more I'm hearing similarities to the soul/R&B/funk of the early to mid 70s. I know that purists bristle at the thought of Byrd straying away from jazz but in a sense, Byrd was a bridge between jazz and that world of soul and funk, and even prior to that he had taken a few steps towards making jazz more accessible. Miles similarly drifted into other styles, but his approach was more "out there" and not accessible. (There are a few similarities, but more differences, between Miles' On The Corner and Black Byrd, for instance.)

Even with other artists, the Mizells had the same touch. I have another Bobbi Humphrey record (Blacks and Blues) that features their work, along with the recent Johnny Hammond Gears that I finally located in the Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf reissue series. I was hoping to get Black Byrd but not until it's properly reissued.

Larry Mizell appears to be the more jazz-leaning side of the two brothers, and Fonce (Alfonso) of course was part of the Motown songwriting/production group The Corporation that scored #1 hits with the Jackson 5.

Hot Buttered Soul may get a spin this evening...

Spun up the Donald Byrd at Montreux after work tonight and took me away.

 

[Rudy]

Spun up the Donald Byrd at Montreux after work tonight and took me away.

I finished off last night with Gears, by Johnny Hammond. It was tough to find it on vinyl (Shuga Records may still have a copy or two), but it has the same sound as the mid 70s Donald Byrd Blue Note albums, especially Street Lady, Places and Spaces, and Stepping into Tomorrow. Essentially substituting Byrd with Hammond. That Montreux record is somewhat different, but in a good way--same team behind it but they take the music somewhere else. Good stuff!

I don't know if you listened to WJZZ in the late 70s, but I remember "Dominoes" was a frequent visitor to the playlist. Some of the other Byrd tracks sound vaguely familiar as well.

 

[martin]

A few weeks ago I received Bert Kaempfert "the Decca collection". It is 24 remastered CDs that was released on vinyl in the US between 1961 and 1971. They were all recorded in Hamburg, Germany but Milt Gabler was the American producer that was responsible for the US albums that came out with different covers and sometimes slightly different songs and titles than the European releases. It is really an excellent collection and the CDs sound terrific. It is highly reccomended..

Amazon.co.uk

- greetings from the north -
Martin

 

[Harry]

I was delighted to find both the A SWINGIN' SAFARI album and a VERY BEST OF BERT KAEMPFERT compilation CD. The song, "A Swingin' Safari" was special to me as it was used as a theme tune on the old NBC version of the game show, THE MATCH GAME. I loved that instrumental theme and charged my parents with the task finding that record. The best that they could manage in the early 1960s was an American knock-off by Billy Vaughan. I grew to like that probably just as much, but was still really happy to find, many years later, the Bert Kaempfert original.

 

[Rudy]

A few weeks ago I received Bert Kaempfert "the Decca collection". It is 24 remastered CDs that was released on vinyl in the US between 1961 and 1971.

These "mega sets" are great for fans and collectors of the music, especially if the catalog has been out of print for decades.

The US Amazon site also lists it, which is probably about the same price given the exchange rate.

https://www.amazon.com/Bert-Kaempfert-Decca-Collection-Boxset/dp/B0CKY98FCW/

 

[hannahtobin]

Little tidbit I learned on a podcast recently. There is one thing different about this song among all the others in the Police library.



This is the only Police song where Stewart Copeland appears on guitar. Copeland had recorded this as a demo, and Sting and Andy Summers only sang/played their parts over the track, rather than make a new recording of it. Summers added the guitar solo.

Source (an interesting podcast to watch):

It's fascinating to learn about the behind-the-scenes details of how certain tracks come together, especially when they deviate from the typical roles of the band members. It shows the versatility and creativity of musicians like Copeland, Sting, and Andy Summers, and how they were able to adapt their roles to bring a song to life in unconventional ways.

 

[Mr Bill]

It definitely has that "Klark Kent" feel to it!

--Mr. Bill

 

[Rudy]

These riffs are more than a little similar. Someone was definitely influenced by "Street Lady."

 

[hannahtobin]

These riffs are more than a little similar. Someone was definitely influenced by "Street Lady."

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Harry]

Spinning a fairly rare Brazilian recording of an album by the bass player in Brasil '66. He recorded a short solo album back in 1992 that was only released in Brazil. A couple of tracks are familiar from the Brasil '66 discography. The album is called CARROUSEL and only came out on LP, maybe cassette given the year, 1992.

"Tiu-Ru-Ru" is the song "After Sunrise" from PRIMAL ROOTS
"Mar de Sal" is the song "Salt Sea" from CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS



P.S. I don't own the actual record but I was gifted a recording of it years ago and made my own CD-R. The images above are from Discogs.

 

[Rudy]

I've seen Tiao's record listed, but never took a chance on ordering one. So much good music never sees release beyond its country of origin.

 

[hannahtobin]

I've seen Tiao's record listed, but never took a chance on ordering one. So much good music never sees release beyond its country of origin.

That's why streaming services have gained popularity with both consumers and producers.

 

[Rudy]

From the "today I learned" department...



This record was from back in the day when Verve Records took chances.

This recording features conguero Carlos "Patato" Valdés and vocalist/percussionist Eugenio "Totico" Arango, a historical document of authentic Cuban rumba rhythms coming out of NYC at the time, becoming a catalyst for the Latin music scene that would soon come out of the city (known as Nuyorican). This album has reached near reverent status among Latin music aficionados, especially among rumberos and those influenced by them. And it paved the way for boogaloo, salsa, and all that followed, and influenced artists like Pete Rodriguez, Ray Barretto, and countless others.

Patato would appear on a lot of Latin jazz albums from that point forward, even appearing in one of Cal Tjader's groups along the way. Totico was not as well known, and did not focus solely on music. Here's his obit in the NY Time:

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www.nytimes.com

 

[Rudy]

Still doing a lot of Acid lately...



I'm split on bonus tracks though. This album really ends with "Espiritu Libre" but features five bonus tracks, most likely from other Fania albums (I haven't bothered to find their sources just yet).

It leaves me with mixed feelings about bonus tracks. These are good bonus tracks (for a change), but there's something about upsetting the feel of the original album by including them. "Espiritu Libre" is a certain mood that was meant to close the album (and my second favorite track on the album, the favorite being the title track), so including more tracks just feels like an afterthought.

I do want to find this on vinyl but as I've said before, this was a very popular album in Latino circles, and any remaining copies are quite ragged. The VinylMePlease (dumb name, no?) record club recently had this as a reissue...but in its mono version. Seriously? The percussion on this record begs for stereo. Granted, it likely sold a lot more copies in mono originally. I'm holding out hope that Craft will do a proper reissue of it in stereo. Craft has done a bang-up job on another Barretto title (Indestructible) and Tito Puente's Para los Rumberos similarly sounds great.

I just saw in Roon Player that this title was just remastered and reissued in 2024 in high-res. That wasn't there a month ago. Makes me wonder if it will be arriving on vinyl in the near future...

 

[Rudy]

This is an interesting find. The cover and album title should spark a memory in these parts.



The Mackrosoft is a collective of musicians from various genres (jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop), with a few familiar names in the bunch (like drummer Mike Clark, who was with Herbie Hancock as part of the Headhunters for one of my favorites, Thrust). The album is a tribute to Tom Jobim, of course. There are no covers, but the idea was to utilize instrumentation and sounds that Jobim favored, and it does have a similar chill vibe throughout the album. The album length is also just right at 39 minutes, enough for the eight songs to do their work.

Reading about how Tom Jobim liked many types of music...he would have dug this.

Available on all the streaming services, and for purchase from Bandcamp.

 

[Stevenj]

I finished off last night with Gears, by Johnny Hammond. It was tough to find it on vinyl (Shuga Records may still have a copy or two), but it has the same sound as the mid 70s Donald Byrd Blue Note albums, especially Street Lady, Places and Spaces, and Stepping into Tomorrow. Essentially substituting Byrd with Hammond. That Montreux record is somewhat different, but in a good way--same team behind it but they take the music somewhere else. Good stuff!

I don't know if you listened to WJZZ in the late 70s, but I remember "Dominoes" was a frequent visitor to the playlist. Some of the other Byrd tracks sound vaguely familiar as well.

I started listening to wjzz in the car in the late seventies and early eighties. That was my into to Pat Metheny Group.

 

[Stevenj]

 

[hannahtobin]

From the "today I learned" department...



This record was from back in the day when Verve Records took chances.

This recording features conguero Carlos "Patato" Valdés and vocalist/percussionist Eugenio "Totico" Arango, a historical document of authentic Cuban rumba rhythms coming out of NYC at the time, becoming a catalyst for the Latin music scene that would soon come out of the city (known as Nuyorican). This album has reached near reverent status among Latin music aficionados, especially among rumberos and those influenced by them. And it paved the way for boogaloo, salsa, and all that followed, and influenced artists like Pete Rodriguez, Ray Barretto, and countless others.

Patato would appear on a lot of Latin jazz albums from that point forward, even appearing in one of Cal Tjader's groups along the way. Totico was not as well known, and did not focus solely on music. Here's his obit in the NY Time:

Loading…

www.nytimes.com

It's a revered document of authentic Cuban rumba rhythms in NYC, influencing the emerging Nuyorican Latin music scene and paving the way for boogaloo and salsa.

 

[Rudy]

I started listening to wjzz in the car in the late seventies and early eighties. That was my into to Pat Metheny Group.

I didn't pay Metheny much attention other than catching some of the songs on WJZZ, but the real breakthrough came in the mid 90s when I borrowed Letter from Home from the library. After a couple of weeks I was out at the used record store picking up a few older titles.

 

[Rudy]

This album is growing on me a little more. There are still a few duds, like the unrelated instrumental "To a Flame" which has neither Gilberto nor Turrentine participates on. It's a nice filler track but doesn't really fit (beyond Deodato's arrangement). The album ends with two duds though--I've never liked "Love Story" and this version in Portuguese doesn't make it any better. And the Bacharach "Where There's a Heartache" certainly needs to go away. Replace those two with something similar to "Brazilian Tapestry, (composed by Deodato) and others like "Zazueira," "Traveling Light," and "Ponteio," tracks which really take flight and soar. Turrentine's billing is curious as he only appears on four tracks, and only on some sparse solos. Wish he'd put his mark on a few of the others.

The following has remained in rotation the past couple of weeks, along with a few others.



Unfortunately, Blue Note hasn't yet reissued his Street Lady or Stepping Into Tomorrow albums, so I'm waiting to see what this year's upcoming Classic Vinyl series will offer. I did find Street Lady on a Music On Vinyl pressing--the record itself is immaculate (as MOV titles typically are), but this sounds at best like it's a tape copy. Stepping Into Tomorrow was a VinylMePlease title but that was from a few years ago and prices are stupid money these days.

The Gilberto/Turrentine above is the green MOV pressing and it, too, is flawless.

 

[Rudy]

I missed out a couple of years ago when War's Greatest Hits album was reissued--Kevin Gray cut it using his tube cutting chain and it's supposed to sound really good. Can't touch a sealed copy for under $75 these days. I just saw that Analogue Productions is releasing a 45 RPM cut on March 16, this one mastered by Ryan K. Smith (Sterling Sound). Don't know if I'll get that one or not--"Low Rider" has to be one of the funkiest songs ever recorded, yet I'm not all that familiar with the rest of the songs on the album.

Cannonball Adderley's album with Bill Evans, Know What I Mean?, was also just released by Craft yesterday. Not all that familiar with it, but I'm a big fan of Evans, and I've always liked Adderley's alto.

Lots of Latin though...I'll list a few once I get more time. Haven't been near a computer the entire week, with a lot of catching up to do.

 

[rockdoctor]

I missed out a couple of years ago when War's Greatest Hits album was reissued--Kevin Gray cut it using his tube cutting chain and it's supposed to sound really good. Can't touch a sealed copy for under $75 these days. I just saw that Analogue Productions is releasing a 45 RPM cut on March 16, this one mastered by Ryan K. Smith (Sterling Sound). Don't know if I'll get that one or not--"Low Rider" has to be one of the funkiest songs ever recorded, yet I'm not all that familiar with the rest of the songs on the album.

Cannonball Adderley's album with Bill Evans, Know What I Mean?, was also just released by Craft yesterday. Not all that familiar with it, but I'm a big fan of Evans, and I've always liked Adderley's alto.

Lots of Latin though...I'll list a few once I get more time. Haven't been near a computer the entire week, with a lot of catching up to do.

Low Rider is a great song. I never get tired of it.