Morgenstern, Dan. [Record Review: Hubert Laws: Wild Flower] 40:12
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, .,, ·;,. unison or trombone and Lenor. And when Sample solos on electric piano. Felder's bass lines are so adventurous the y tend to stea l the show. Throu ghout the whole album , Hooper un derstates and never steps on anyone 's solo. Let 's fact it , there are n't many sensitive drum mer s on the jazz -rock scene today . One of the best guides the Crusaders . The only lap se , and it' s in terms of produc tion, comes on the final track of Side 4. Do You Remt•mber When? For some unexplain able reason , it contai ns a false start and no ending. Yeah, that's right - no ending' - siders STAN GETZ COMMUNICATIONS'72-Verve V6-8807: Com munication '72; Outhouse Blues : Now You've Gone: Back to Bach ; Nursery Rhymes for All God's Children ; Soul Dance ; Redemption ; Flight ; Moods of a Wanderer ; Bonjour Tristesse. Personnel: Getz , teno r sax: unidentified or chestra and voices arranged and conducted by Michel Legrand . Rating:* ** ½ Getz is in his customary superb form on this album composed. arranged and con ducted for him by Mic hel Legrand . In his liner note s (there are also words from Alec Wild er HUBERTLAWS and Stan him self), Legra nd states that the WILD FLOWER-Atlantic SD 1624: Wild Flow album is his "offeri ng to Stan of a musical er; Pensativa ; Equinox; Ashant i; Motherltc Child ; Yoruba. banquet. I wanted to indulge both my own Personnel : Laws. alto flute. soprano flute, pie and Stan's hunger to taste and digest all kinds colo; eiqht violins, four violas . four cellos: Ridl of deli cious things ." ard Davis. Ron Carter, basses ; on track 6 onti Well, appeti te s and palates differ , and I like Laws ; Chick Corea, piano; Gary Burton, vibtl Carter , bass ; Bernard Pu rdie, drums : Mor,g, my musical diet not quite as rich and creamy. Santamaria, congas . Airto, Warren Smith, Ji, On the whole , however , Getz comes through Chambers , percussion . Arranged&conducted b even when the French chef get s too coy . John Murtaugh . Notable moments include the refreshing Rating :** * ** blues sequence on Soul Dan ce, the lyrici sm of Thi s is a beautiful album of music 1h11 N ow You've Gone and Tris tesse (exquisi te defie s categoriza tion yet contain s the elu~iv. sax ophone playing her e!), the supplenes s of · spirit orjau. From all aspec ts- Law s' impec Flight and the blue humor of Outhouse. cable and soulful playing; the super b Sinn Getz is such a master that he can make all writing by Murtau gh and its flawless inltl sorts of music sound good. and he shares with pretation by the cream of New York's snKlio some other great jazzmen the ability to be players ; the consiste ntl y high level of th insp ired by musical settings that without his composition-this is an exceptional achim contr ibut ion would mean very little . If the ment. stuff works for him , it should for us - even if Law s' musicianship and musicality (not a we do prefer our Getz without mayo . ways gifts found in one and the same persor - m o rg enstern are displayed more impressively than on an other album I' ve yet hearu . He favors the alt JOHNNY HARTMAN fl111eh ere. and its warm ~011nclis. 10 me. mor consistent ly pleasing to the ear than that l TODAY- Perception PLP 30: By The Time I Get To Phoenix ; Didn 't We; Games People Play; Bet the more commo nly used C or sop rano Ou11 cha By Golly Wow; Summer Wind; Help Me Make But then , Laws· sou nd never becomes shril It Through The Night ; Folks Who Live On The Hill ; no t even on the piccoh) . And he never idl We've Only Just Begun ; I've Got To Be Me. Personnel : Hartman, vocal: George Coleman , display s the virtuosity nf which he i~ capablt reeds ; Herman Foster, piano ; Roland Prince, gui preferring to make real music . tar; Earl May, bass ; Billy Higgins . drums . John Murt augh, who arranged. coniluctc Rating : **** * and conceived this ;ilbum and also contril Th oug h I'm only familia r with Hartman ' s uted th ree fine compositio ns. has for yew records of the last 15 years. I have to say this been respon sible for some of the most tastefr must be hi s greatest recording to and ski llfull y made mu~i c heard a date- simpl y on the basis that I can't imagine TV - be hind C(lmmercials and in dramatic an how it cou ld be improved. documentary program s as well. Prior to tba Hartman is an exceptional ballad singer he was a more than co mpetent jazz tem with beautiful co ntrol . sen sitiv ity and range. player , and a few yea rs ago made one of It and here he uses exceptional shifts in te nsion still most mu,ic al sy nthe~i zer album~ extan and phrasing 10 completely immer se the lis Blue s C11tre111s( Pol ydo rl . It 's in the natvre c tener in the lyrics, mood and colorin g of the his TV work that it involves little public re nition -maybe th is Lp will help remedy nags. £1'{J/111io11.and their ensemble and soloi ng It . Th ere's liule tire and soul. Everyth ing's too isn't equaled. Tony Smith is a new drum , he string sounds created by Mur taugh are studie d. profe ss ional: not exac tly cold. but mer/vocalist and is al bes t okay. oma tic but not cloying. and they set off the certainly sounding calculated. It' s pleasurable For some rea son. commerciality maybe, , nd of the flute to perfection as well as and yet there 's little comm itment. the music isn't as Latin as once. Dllnce ro My ingenjoyable in and of themse lves. In some Mange lsdorff and Weber come acros s best. Mambo is an all-out Mongo(rito Puente -style ta nces . as on the fine arrangement of Ca i The trombonist is a gruff. blus tery . yet fairly burner. with hot trumpet by Forrest Buchtel. ne's Equinox, the strings eve n make an easygoing player. E ven with his free-form mo And M ere11g11e is elementally Latin, with ~ective rhyth mic contribu tion. {On this ments it's hard to keep from hearing J.J . John chanting and incendiary percussio n. But oth ack. Laws amplifies his nute and uses an son's influence on his work. Weber has a big erw ise. the musi c is almos t more Latin -like tavc divider with ta ste and discretion.) sou nd and swings fairly well. than their super- Latin soul before. Street M,111 ws and Murtaugh restore the oft-abused The saxophonist s se ldom get into anything . is virtually ordinary top-40 hard-rock. M ol' fatherless Child to its essentia l nobilit y. Both men have based their sty les on Coltra ne i11gAwa y is likewise, except the rhythm and a Murtaugh's own pieces. the Debussyesquc roots. with Skidmore also bringing Albert Ay searing solo by Jorge Santana is enoug h to le tune. the interes tingly dissonant A sh(/11/i, ler slightly to mind and Sauer doing some prove it the best of Malo. / D011'1 K nolt' is d the rhyt hmically dense and comp lex Yo Shepp and Sander s th ings. romantic . £ntra11a ro Paradi se is colorf ul. All ba (with an array of pot ent percus sionist s Leader Kriegel plays skillfully. but says for You is si mply dul l. eplacing the string s) impre ssively demon little that' s excit ing or meaningful. Likewi se Em/ution i~ cer tainly testament that the rate the rnnge of a genuine composer. and Taylo r. When he' s not getting harp -like music of Malo is appea ling lo more than the ,s treatment of Pe11s"1ii·a shou ld please sou nds from his Electra electric piano. Taylo r Latin soul/rock audience. Th ey play more lare Fisc her. is making like H ancoc k, Corea and Jarrett. usual hard -rock with style and spirit. But the y Highly recomme nded . -morRe11stem Th e drummer s are okay. Enough said. play their all-out Chic ano street music better. -smi th -boume OLKERKRIEGEL INSIDE: MISSING LINK-B ASF/ MPS 33 MALO BARRYMILES 1431-1: Slums on Wheels; The " E" Again; Zanzi EVOLUTION- Warner Bros. BS 2702: Moving ar; Missing Link; Fur Hector ; Remis; Tarang; Away; I Don 't Know ; Merengue; All for You; SCATBIR0-Mainstream MAL 382: Scatblrd; as tic Plemon ; Jane/tss Abertss ; Pfonk When Dance to My Mambo ; Entrance to Paradise ; Suburban Shuffle ; Llfe-<;vcfe; Arr ows and er; Defin itely Suspicious; Finale . Street Man. Eagles; Skeleton Dance; Latina; First Love. Personnel : Albert Mangelsdorff, trombone Personnel : Jorge Santana, guitar: Ron Smith. Personnel : Miles, acoustic &electric piano, vo tracks 1-4); Alan Skidmore, soprano &tenor Forres1 Buchtel, trumpet : Steve Sherard, trom cal: John Aberc rombie, guitar: Frank Tusa, xes {!racks 1-4); Heinz Sauer, tenor sax {tracks bone & vocals: Ron DeMasi, keyboards & vocals : acoustic&electric bass; Terry Silvertight, drums . 1-4); John Taylor. electric piano : Kriegel, electric . Pablo Tellez, bass & vocals; Arcelio Garcia, Tony Rating:**** cous tic&oc tave guitars: Eberhard Weber, Smith, Francisco Aquabella, percussion & vocals. coustic&electric basses , ta rang ; John Marsha ll There's a lot to like about this al bum : Miles tracks 1-4) or Peter Baumeister, drums: Cees Rating: *** ½ plays the hell ou t of both of his piano s; Aber , percuss ion, vocal.