Hermeto Pascoal - Slaves Mass (1977)

Wanted to give Hermeto Pascoal's music a try after that post of Live-Evil, so here's a jazz fusion classic with plenty of authentic Brazilian flavour thanks to the array of great guest musicians.  Recording in Los Angeles, Pascoal jammed with Weather Reporters Alphonso Johnson and Chester Thompson for one aspect of the album - lengthy fusion improvs led by Pascoal's electric piano.  Only one of these sessions made the album - the stunning opener Mixing Pot (Tacho) - but this CD reissue captures two more as bonus tracks, and at around fifteen minutes apiece both are welcome additions here.

The other lineup on the album centred around Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, married at that time and having shared history with Pascoal in the group Quarteto Novo.  They are joined by Ron Carter on bass and first introduced on the ritualistic, experimental title track - Airto is credited with "live pigs" here, which must've been an interesting recording session.  Side one of the album is filled out by the sunny, melodic Little Cry For Him (Chorinho Pra Ele), which reminded me of Egberto Gismonti circa Circense, and a composition in tribute to Cannonball Adderley that features flute, percussion and varispeed voices.

In another Gismonti similarity, this time to Dança Das Cabeças, Side two of Slaves' Mass starts out with solo piano, in the dazzling runs of Just Listen (Escuta Meu Piano).  The lovely and languid That Waltz (Aquela Valsa), with interplay between Pascoal's soprano sax and Raul De Souza's trombone, gives a bit of a breather before the final track.  The twelve minutes of Cherry Jam (Geleia De Cereja) are a straight trio performance between Pascoal, Carter and Moeira, and run through plenty of electric piano, sax and percussion solos to give a fantastic close to a highly recommended album.  As mentioned earlier, the three bonus outtakes are all worth hearing - a short track that features Pascoal on accordion and vocals, then two lengthy Johnson/Thompson workouts.

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Miles Davis - Live-Evil (1971)

First in a three-Friday look at some of the many double-live albums released by Miles Davis in the 1970s (already posted: Agharta, see list below).  This one does actually include short tracks of studio material, three of them by Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal and recorded in June 1970; Pascoal also contributes vocals, percussion and electric piano to those pieces.  All the rest are live recordings from The Cellar Door in Washington DC, 19 December 1970.  Joining Miles on stage were Gary Bartz, John McLaughlin (a quick end-of-residency addition), a rare electrified Keith Jarrett before he swore off amplified keyboards, and a cracking rhythm section of Michael Henderson, Jack DeJohnette and Aitro Moreira.

The album title, and a couple of the track titles, come from the mirror-text effect on the vinyl gatefold: MILES DAVIS LIVE = SELIM SIVAD EVIL.  Sivad is the first lengthy live jam - might that be Jarrett's (in)famous vocalising halfway through? Could be Airto.  What I Say turns up the tempo for an even funkier exploration - Jarrett sounds like he's about to play LA Woman in the intro there.  The brief studio tracks by Pascoal are mellow, drifting drones, and completing Record 1/CD1 is a studio take of Gemini/Double Image by Davis/Zawinul, which actually dates back to February 1970.  That last one adds Khalil Balakrishna on electric sitar, and all the studio material adds Chick & Herbie to the keyboard section.

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Over on Disc 2, Selim provides a quick overture in the form of a Pascoal piece sounding similar to the other two, then it's Live Evil all the way in the two remaining long tracks.  Funky Tonk does what it says on the tin, with plenty of Jarrett grooves, McLaughlin solos and storming percussion.  To close, Inamorata is a great straight-ahead funk jam, with the "Narration By Conrad Roberts" being a brief voice-over poem near the end by the titular actor, for reasons I've never quite seen explained.

Disc 1 link

Disc 2 link

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Miles Davis at SGTG:
Conception
Walkin'
Blue Moods
Bags' Groove
Miles Ahead (with Gil Evans)
Sketches Of Spain (with Gil Evans)
Quiet Nights (with Gil Evans) 

A Tribute To Jack Johnson
On The Corner

Big Fun
Agharta

Weather Report - s/t (1971)

A low-key start for one of jazz fusion's most high profile groove machines, especially considering the Bitches Brew alumni involved.  Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter's decade and a half as WR mainstays began here with fellow founder Miroslav Vitouš, drummer Alphonse Mouzon and percussion from Airto Moreira, Don Alias & Barbara Burton.

Weather Report's still striking debut is a journey into the possibilities of group improvisation and sound manipulation, right from the ambient shimmer of Milky Way, which Robert Christgau memorably likened to "a carrilon approaching a time warp".  Next, Vitouš' distorted bass underpins the first rhythmic drive of the album, with Zawinul's effects-laden electric piano prefiguring his all-consuming adoption of synths.  Other highlights include Zawinul's Orange Lady, also recorded with Miles, and the spacious grooves of the last three tracks that would point the way forward for Weather Report.

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Stanley Turrentine - Salt Song (1971)

Sometime in the late 90s, I couldn't sleep and turned on the radio.  What I randomly encountered in the wee small hours was a beautifully mellow piece of orchestrated jazz, led by a saxophone and featuring a gospel choir refrain of "I told Jesus, I told Jesus" - and I was hooked.  Found the album a few years later, on one of the first mp3 blogs I ever followed; which blog that was escapes me now, but the album's remained an enduring favourite.

Stanley Turrentine (1934-2000) spent the first decade of his career on Blue Note, before signing to Creed Taylor's newly independent CTI imprint.  Salt Song was Turrentine's second album for CTI, and arguably his best, with his gently breezy tone seemingly made for the in-house arrangements of Eumir Deodato.  I remember including Salt Song's opener, Freddie Hubbard's Gibraltar, on a mix CD for a DJ mate who was a Bob James obsessive, and he absolutely loved it.  Eric Gale's slinky guitar part is almost an equal lead instrument over the Carter & Cobham groove.

The album's second half starts in upbeat Latin mode, with the Milton Nascimento-penned title track, and ends with another muscular groove (and a great Gale solo) in Storm, the only Turrentine original.  In between is another lush ballad, I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do, which had also been done by Astrud Gilberto on her album of the same name.  CD remasters add another Nascimento tune, Vera Cruz - as mentioned on Friday - which dated back to the Spring of 1971, and the sessions for Turrentine's (sort of) collaboration with Gilberto.  All of which brings us neatly to the album below...

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bonus post: Gilberto With Turrentine

...and to Astrud Gilberto's only album for CTI.  If intended as a full collaboration with Turrentine as per the title, in the end only three tracks featured both artists, and only further track featured Stanley Turrentine.  Unhappy with the way the album was going, Gilberto then walked out on the sessions, leaving Vera Cruz instrumental, and the other instrumental track To A Flame featuring neither headline artist.

So if this album ended up as a bit of a 'could have been' - I'd certainly have loved to hear Astrud sing one of my favourite Stephen Stills songs - what remains is still a great listen for anyone who enjoys the CTI ensemble in its heyday.  The first two tracks, a Bacharach/David song then a Deodato arrangement of a Brazilian tune, certainly set up a potentially classic Astrud Gilberto album, and she's in fine voice throughout.

P.S. Just learned of the passing of João Gilberto, bossanova pioneer and Astrud's ex-husband - RIP.

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Keith Jarrett - Expectations (1972)

Another Jarrett post with a twist: instead of the usual record label that's released his every whim over the past five decades, here's Keith with the label (CBS) that took a punt on him by releasing a double album, no less, then unceremoniously dropped him as soon as it hit the shelves.  Who knows why - poor sales?  Expectations certainly isn't a bad record - it's a hugely ambitious blueprint for Jarrett's eclectic confidence as a player and arranger, and from this distance, a cornerstone of his discography.  Oh well, CBS's loss was Manfred Eicher's gain - and Ed Michel's, as Impulse would pick up Expectations' core quartet for the rest of the 70s.

That 'American Quartet' of Jarrett, Motian, Haden & Redman are expanded here by Airto Moreira on percussion and the underrated Sam Brown on stinging, firey guitar, with occasional string and brass additions.  After a quick orchestral curtain-raiser, Expectations gets going with the latin groove of Common Mama, a mode that will be returned to in late highlight Sundance.  Hitting a looser blues/gospel groove makes Take Me Back another highlight, and the freer jams are essential too.  There's a ton of Dewey Redman on Bring Back The Time When (If), and a rare organ performance from Jarrett on the side-long Nomads.  Notwithstanding the fact that the string dubs don't always gel, Expectations is essential Jarrett from the first minute to the 77th.

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Antonio Carlos Jobim - Urubu (1976)

When it comes to Jobim, as much as I love the sunny, sparkling crispness of Stone Flower, and the gorgeous perfection of Wave makes it possibly my favourite album of all time, this one from 1976 is fast catching up.  By the mid 70s, Jobim and Claus Ogerman's talents and ambition had reached a new level of maturity, complexity and subtlety.  This might not make Urubu an easy record to get into, but it is one that knocks you flat with more wonderful surprises with every listen.

It's a well structured album too - four songs with vocals, then four instrumental mood pieces making up the old side one/side two split.  Even at the outset of the song half, there's no obvious hook to draw you in or sumptuous flourish, just 40 seconds of solo berimbau scraping away before the twilit arrangements usher in Jobim and Miúcha's duet about an anthropomorphic trip through the tropics.  This is followed by three wonderful romantic songs which made me think of similar era Serge Gainsbourg, if only production-wise in Jobim's close-miked, instantly recognisable voice and the dense, languid orchestration.

The old Side 2, the instrumental suite, is the real prize here though.  There's that famously untranslatable word in the first title - saudade - that indicates right away that this piece is going to be Jobim's most ambitious tribute yet to his home nation, and it's a masterpiece.  Saudade Do Brasil, and in fact all of the three tracks to follow, sound as if they're superior soundtrack music to a documentary film - one that takes in Brazilian history, society and culture in a breathtaking sweep.  Musically, it's endlessly rewarding on repeated listens - I'm currently marveling afresh at the way the flutes lead the journey through the eight-minute Arquitetura De Morar.  Hugely recommended.

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Wayne Shorter feat. Milton Nascimento - Native Dancer (1975)

For Wayne Shorter's first solo album since the takeoff of Weather Report, it was perhaps inevitable that the great saxman would continue in a similar fusion groove - and Native Dancer is certainly that.  What lifts it into another dimension entirely though is that Shorter didn't just follow through on his desire to make a Brazilian-influenced album, he got Airto Moreira in on percussion and the gorgeous voice of Milton Nascimento up front and centre.

The result was a damn fine album that sounds almost as authentically Brazilian as it does mid-70s jazz fusion.  On the four non-Nascimento tracks, Shorter breezes through the grooves with Herbie Hancock acting as the perfect foil (and composer of closing track Joanna's Theme) on piano.  And with summer officially kicking off, copious amounts of Fender Rhodes are mandatory, at least in my ears - the main electric pianist here is another Brazilian, Wagner Tiso.

Brazilian music in general from the 60s onwards is another summer must-have in my book, as longtime readers will be aware (more in the coming weeks naturally), and the star of Native Dancer has to be Milton Nascimento - this album was my introduction to his unique, soaring voice.  The remaining five compositions on the album are Nascimento's, picking from the cream of his catalogue up til then.  Milagre Dos Peixes gets anglicized to Miracle Of The Fishes here (but still with the Portuguese lyrics) and gets a fine MPB-jazz fusion makeover, as do Ponta De Areia, Lilia and more.  From The Lonely Afternoons actually reminds me of late 80s Pat Metheny Group sans guitar solos.  Grab a caipirinha and download.

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