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We Free Kings is a 1961 LP by the jazz multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk. His quartet works through a set of bluesy post-bop numbers, with equal bop and soul. The cover photograph was shot by Marvin Glick and the album length is thirty-eight minutes and forty seconds.
To bring this project to fruition he utilized two different bassists and two different pianists. The personnel were: Roland Kirk on tenor saxophone, manzello, flute, stritch saxophone, Charlie Persip on drums, Richard Wyands on piano on tracks 3-5 & 9, Art Davis on double bass on tracks 3-5 & 9, Hank Jones on piano for tracks 1-2 & 6-8 and Wendell Marshall on bass for tracks 1-2 & 6-8.
All of the compositions are by Roland Kirk except track #2 which was composed by Sam Coslow and Arthur Johnston, and track #5 composed by Charlie Parker. The title track, a Kirk composition, is a variation on the Christmas carol “We Three Kings”.
The nine songs that follow were recorded in New York on August 16-17, 1961 for the Mercury record label. The CD editions of the album include a different version of the Parker tune Blues for Alice.
Three for the Festival, Moon Song, A Sack Full of Soul, The Haunted Melody, Blues for Alice, We Free Kings, You Did It, You Did It, Some Kind of Love and My Delight.
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Hammond B3 organist Richard “Groove” Holmes released his album A Bowl Of Soul in 1966 on the Valiant record label. The cover design was by Paul May. The session was produced by Nick Venet.
The original Soul-Jazz LP release seven compositions that featured four on Side A – A Bowl Of Soul, In The Dark, I’m Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town, Night Train, and on Side B – R.F.K. Flies Home, How Long How Long Blues and Roll ‘Em Pete.
An import CD reissue, of which this is the cover photo, includes the eight other songs that were recorded at the same sessions but not released. Blues For Big Fred, Please Send Me Someone To Love, Tobacco Road, See See Rider, Organ Grinder, I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water, Mean Old Frisco Blues and Your Red Wagon.
The album was the result of two sessions in March of 1964. The exact dates are unknown. Holmes was back on both sessions by an orchestra conducted and arranged by Onzy Matthews.
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Introducing The Afro Blues Quintet Plus One is a 1965 recording on the Mira label. The photograph and cover design was by George Whiteman, exemplifies a typical 1960s post-exotica style. Active as a photographer-designer during the Sixties, he produced covers for both jazz and blues artists, such as Jimmy Reed and B.B. King.
An obscure album from an obscure Los Angeles, California based jazz combo, the surprise is finding how much it swings. Possible reasons: the youthful exuberance of its then-22-year-old leader and vibraphonist Joe De Aguero, the clever arrangements of standards and pop tunes, and the live recording (though no date or location is given).
Some reasons why, on the other hand, it’s not as good as it could be: a sameness to the arrangements (similar chord changes and runs in both “Liberation” and “Together” really stand out), soloing that never stakes its claim, missed opportunities to really add the “Afro” (read: African percussion) that makes up half of its name. The main ingredient here is a gospel swing that infects “Jericho” as well as an inventive take on “Walk On By.”
Young compiles on this recording the following eight compositions: Moses, Liberation, The Monkey Time, Summertime, Jericho, Walk On By, Together, and The “In” Crowd. Long out of print, this album is worth hunting down. #jazz #classic #collectible #music
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Larry Young’s Fuel is a jazz fusion album by organist/keyboardist Larry Young, recorded and released on the Arista Records label in 1975. The cover photography was provided by Benno Friedman with art direction and design by Bob Heimall.
The composers on the album included Young, Philips, Santiago Torano, Laura Logan and Fernando Saunders. The album is comprised of seven compositions Fuel for the Fire, I Ching (Book of Changes), Turn off the Lights, Floating, H + J = B (Hustle + Jam = Bread), People Do Be Funny and New York Electric Street Music.
The players on this session were: Larry Young – keyboards, Santiago Torano – guitar, Fernando Saunders – bass and background vocals, Rob Gottfried – drums and percussion, and Laura “Tequila” Logan – vocals
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Black Christ of the andes is a 1963 recording from Mary Lou Williams on the MPS label. Photographer Charles “Chuck” Stewart provided the original cover image for designer Gigi Berendt, however, there was a second image provided for the 2004 reissue. In the mid-to-late 1950s, the jazz composer and pianist retired from public performance for nearly four years. During her hiatus she converted to Catholicism, and the first record she made after her return was a marked departure from her previous work: it was a mass.
In 1962, the Catholic Church canonized a new saint: A Peruvian brother of the Dominican Order named Martin de Porres, the son of a freed slave named Ana Velazquez and a Spanish gentleman who refused to recognize him because he was born with his mother’s dark features. St. Martin de Porres was a gifted healer who was dedicated to the poor — today, he is the patron saint of those who seek racial harmony.
The fourteen tracks on the album are St. Martin de Porres, It Ain’t Necessarily So, The Devil, Miss D. D., Anima Christi, A Grand Night For Swinging, My Blue Heaven, Dirge Blues, A Fungus Amungus, Koolbonga, Forty-Five Degree Angle, Nicole, Chunka Lunka and Praise The Lord.
The opening hymn, “St. Martin de Porres,” begins with a choir singing a cappella. The chords — dense and full of satisfying tensions — showcase Williams’ previously underutilized aptitude for vocal arrangement. As they sing the saint’s name, the choir slows down, masterfully swelling on the vowels as if to prove their devotion. When Williams finally enters on the keys, she does so with an Afro-Latin groove, perhaps a nod to the heritage of the hymn’s subject.
Williams, a leading exponent of stride piano, a difficult style of playing similar to ragtime, was developed in New York City’s Harlem during World War I. As one of the most influential women in jazz, she was a mentor to the likes of Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.
Mary Lou Williams’ Black Christ of the andes is jazz for the soul and an overlooked choral masterpiece that should be a part of every collection.
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