donderdag 29 oktober 2009

Jimmy Ponder - All Things Beautiful


Here an album of guitar player Jimmy Ponder, published in 1978 by the LRC (Lester Recording Catalog) label.
This label of Sonny Lester is notorious for its soulful jazz-funk. Maybe a little too much strings and choirs sometimes, but it really grooves. Listen to tracks 2, 3, 5 (Chasing that Face!!) and 6.

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Gary Boyle - Electric Glide


After playing with Jullie Driscoll and Brian Auger, Gary Boyle made three albums with the British jazz-rock formation Isotope. In the mid-seventies he started a solo career. Until now he made - to my knowledge - six albums under his own name.
This is his second one, recorded in 1977. It features guitarists Gary Moore and Robert Awhai and Simon Phillips on drums.
For the lover of some good guitar-fusion.

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woensdag 28 oktober 2009

Yma Sumac - Voice of the Xtabay


It is no exaggeration to say that Yma Sumac possessed one of the most extraordinary voices of our times.
This beautiful Incan princess plays her fabulous four-octave range with such a variety of emotions and tonal color that the result is a unique experience.
Born high in the Peruvian Andes in 1922, a descendant of the last of the Incan kings, she started recording in Argentina in 1943. Some years later she moved to New York and was signed by Capitol Records in 1950.
In the late 1990s Sumac's profile rose again when songs of her were used in films, samples and commercials.
Yma Sumac died on November 1, 2008.
This exotic 'Hollywood-style' recording is from 1950.


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Ghetto Blaster - People


The first time I heard this album of the African/French band Ghetto Blaster, I thought it was a revived fresh Fela Kuti recording. Later I discovered that this band is a co-existence between some French musicians, who went to Lagos, Nigeria, and three ex-members from Fela & Egypt '80, added with more Nigerian musicians.
This is Afrobeat as it should sound. Recorded in Paris, France in 1985.


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zondag 18 oktober 2009

Chet Baker - The Touch of Your Lips




On this album, just accompanied by bass (Niels-Henning O. Pedersen) and guitar (Doug Raney), Chet Baker is at his best. His sound is fabulous, voice as well as trumpet.
Some 20 years ago a dear friend brought this record to my attention. The friend passed away, but this recording stays forever in my collection. For that, I´m still grateful to him.
This album was recorded in 1979 on SteepleChase Records, after his second or third comeback, in a time he mostly recorded in Europe.

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Gary Bartz Ntu Troop - Harlem Bush Music Uhuru




Alto and Soprano Sax player Gary Bartz (born 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA) played in the sixties with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Charles Mingus, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln.
In 1970, when he also played with Miles Davis´ new electric band, he formed his own Ntu Troop ensemble. The group got its name from the Bantu language: NTU means unity in all things, time and space, living and dead, seen and unseen. 
Anyway, the music is more than ok! Track #2 is one of my favourites. It swings like hell. 
This album is from 1971.


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zaterdag 3 oktober 2009

Kazumi Watanabe - Mobo


A double rhythm-section on this track from the album Mobo by the Japanese guitarist Kazumi Watanabe.
Marcus Miller with Omar Hakim and Sly Dunbar with Robbie Shakespeare are leading Kazumi and tenor saxofonist Michael Brecker through this ´out of this world´ piece, entitled Mobo#2.

Mobo#2

vrijdag 2 oktober 2009

Orchestra Baobab - Pirates Choice


Orchestra Baobab is from Dakar, Senegal. Their music sounds like ´a West-African rumba with Cuban influences´. The alto sax does a great part on this album. Just listen to #1, Utrus Horas, and you´ll concur.

1. Utrus Horas
2. Coumba
3. Ledi Ndieme M´Bodj
4. Werente Serigne
5. Ray M´Bele
6. Soldadi