ATLANTA JAZZ FESTIVAL
The Atlanta Jazz Festival takes place over the Memorial Day Weekend at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, GA. It is regarded as one of the largest free jazz festivals in the country.
Their mission is to expose and entertain a diverse audience of jazz aficionados, young jazz enthusiasts and aspiring musicians to the rich heritage and variety of Jazz as an authentic form of American music.
Admission: Free
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
This week the Jazz Voyager is choosing from the library of rare gems seldom heard on this side of the pond. Thanks to the internet, as you listen to the twenty-nine minutes of the album, remember to keep vigilant about the safety of your health and others. On the turntable is the hard bop Jazz De Chambre, a 1954 recording by double bassist Buddy Banks.
Buddy Banks, originally a saxophonist who switched to bass, had arrived in Europe after World War II. On this session he is accompanied by drummer Roy Haynes, pianist Bob Dorough, and guitarist Jimmy Gourley. The leader takes the spotlight in a subtle take of Yesterdays, though a strange clicking mars an otherwise swinging “I Love You.” Banks’ group also offers serviceable interpretations of modern pieces like Gerry Mulligan’s Line for Lyons and Milt Jackson’s Bag’s Groove.
The album was recorded at Geneix Studio in Paris, France and was produced by Frank Ténot. The liner notes were provided by Alain Tercinet with English translation by Martin Davies.
Tracks | 32:56- A Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie / Frank Paparelli) ~ 4:26
- Almost Like Being In Love (lan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe) ~ 3:19
- Bag’s Groove (Milt Jackson) ~ 3:47
- Yesterdays (Otto Harbach / Jerome Kern) ~ 3:29
- I Love You (Cole Porter) ~ 5:58
- Line For Lyons (Gerry Mulligan) ~ 3:46
- You Go To My Head (J. Fred Coots / Haven Gillespie) ~ 4:29
- Buddy Banks Blues (Buddy Banks) ~ 3:27
- Bob Dorough ~ piano
- Buddy Banks ~ double bass
- Jimmy Gourley ~ guitar
- Roy Haynes ~ drums
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
This week the ever vigilant Jazz Voyager is watching this new version of the virus creeping back to once again exploit humanity’s complacency relative to the collective health. People are still dying, maybe not at the rate over the past two years but dying. So in the spirit of staying healthy, I am selecting a classic funk~fusion album from the shelves and placing it on the turntable to take a renewed listen. This week it is the album Man-Child by Herbie Hankcock.
It is the fifteenth studio album by the jazz pianist. Recorded between 1974 and 1975, it was released on August 22, 1975 by Columbia Records, it was the final studio album to feature The Headhunters. The album was produced by David Rubinson and Hancock, and was recorded at Wally Heider Studios and Funky Features in San Francisco, California as well as Village Recorders and Crystal Studios in Los Angeles, California.
Departing from the music of his early career, Herbie gives us one of his most funk-influenced albums. Utilizing more funk based rhythms around the hi-hat, and snare drum, the tracks are characterized by short, repeated riffs by both the rhythm section, horns accompaniment, and bass lines. With less improvisation, more repetition of riffs along with brief solos, he re-introduces the electric guitar to this new sound.
The core group of The Headhunters was Paul Jackson, Bill Summers, Harvey Mason, Bennie Maupin, and Mike Clark (who replaced Harvey Mason post-1974). Hancock had toured and recorded with them for the previous three years. This was their final album as a group.
Tracks | 45:17- Hang Up your Hang Ups (Hancock, Melvin Ragin, Paul Jackson) ~ 7:29
- Sun Touch ~ 5:12
- The Traitor (Hancock, Ragin, Louis Johnson, Wayne Shorter) ~ 9:38
- Bubbles (Hancock, Ragin) ~ 9:03
- Steppin’ In It ~ 8:42
- Heartbeat (Hancock, Ragin, Jackson) ~ 5.16
- Herbie Hancock ~ piano, keyboards
- Bud Brisbois ~ trumpet
- Jay DaVersa ~ trumpet
- Garnett Brown ~ trombone
- Dick Hyde ~ trombone, tuba
- Wayne Shorter ~ alto and soprano saxophones
- Bennie Maupin ~ soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, alto and bass flutes, saxello, percussion
- Jim Horn ~ flute, saxophone
- Ernie Watts ~ flute, saxophone
- Dewayne McKnight, David T. Walker ~ guitar
- Wah Wah Watson ~ synthesizer, voice bag, guitar
- Henry E. Davis ~ bass guitar
- Paul Jackson ~ bass guitar
- Louis Johnson ~ bass guitar
- Mike Clark ~ drums
- James Gadson ~ drums
- Harvey Mason ~ drums
- Stevie Wonder ~ harmonica
- Bill Summers ~ percussion
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
Once again the Jazz Voyager selects another rare gem from the stacks in his library and dusting it off places it on the turntable for another listen. This week it is an album by James Moody titled Great Day. The album was recorded on two simultaneous sessions, June 17 -18, 1963 at the Nola Penthouse Studio in New York City, produced by Esmond Edwards and released the same year on the Argo Records label.
The saxophone and flute work from Moody is always reliable and excellent for the avid listener. He has a penchant for switching from soul jazz to hard bop to mainstream, as he plays straight-ahead originals, standards, and ballads.
Benny Golson wrote the liner notes, Don Bronstein designed the cover and Esmond Edwards painted the cover art. The Great Day sessions historical significance is it is the first documented encounter for Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, who would go on to lead the Thad Jones~Mel Lewis Orchestra.
Tracks | 33:06 All compositions by Tom McIntosh, except as indicated- Great Day ~ 4:00
- The Search ~ 4:35
- Let’s Try ~ 3:22
- One Never Knows (John Lewis) ~ 5:18
- Opales’que (Dennis Sandole) ~ 5:01
- Blues Impromptu (James Moody) ~ 5:30
- Malice Toward None ~ 5:20
- James Moody ~ alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute
- Johnny Coles, Thad Jones ~ trumpet
- Hubert Laws ~ flute
- Hank Jones, Bernie Leighton ~ piano
- Jim Hall ~ guitar
- Richard Davis ~ bass
- Mel Lewis ~ drums
- Tom McIntosh ~ arranger, conductor, composer
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