Wednesday, February 18, 2015

NEW RELEASES: CANNONBALL ADDERLEY – BIG MAN; HARRY ALLEN / JAN LUNDGREN QUARTET - QUIETLY THERE; APHEX TWIN - COMPUTER CONTROLLED ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS PT 2

CANNONBALL ADDERLEY – BIG MAN: THE LEGEND OF JOHN HENRY

In what would turn out to be the final years of his short life, jazz great Julian “Cannonball” Adderley embarked on a number of ambitious, genre-stretching projects. The last of these was 1975's Big Man, the score for a musical play based on the John Henry (“the steel driving man”) American folk legend. The album was released as a two-LP set with libretto, and featured music from Adderley and his then-current musical associates including brother Nat Adderley, George Duke (using the alias “Dawilli Gonga”), Roy McCurdy, Airto Moreira, Carol Kaye and others. The sessions also made full use of a large string section and chorus, while the primary vocalists in Big Man sang and read their lines in character; the vocal cast included lead vocalist Joe Williams, Randy Crawford (making her professional debut on record here at age 21), and Robert Guillaume (later to win two Emmy Awards for his work on TV series Soap and Benson, and a Grammy Award for his work connected to The Lion King). Long out of print and never before issued on CD, Real Gone Music's reissue of Big Man boasts liner notes by Bill Kopp (Kopp also penned the liners for RGM's first Adderley reissue, The Black Messiah) with quotes from Robert Guillaume, and the full libretto, with remastering by Joe Tarantino. The final artistic statement from a jazz giant! ~ Real Gone Music

HARRY ALLEN / JAN LUNDGREN QUARTET - QUIETLY THERE

A great laidback set from tenorist Harry Allen – nothing fancy, but a great demonstration of Allen's wonderfully old school approach! The group's got an easygoing groove – led by pianist Jan Lundgren – and Allen blows these soulful, spacious solos over the top – with a bit of a Gene Ammons vibe on both the groovers and mellow cuts. Even better, all tracks are compositions by the great Johnny Mandel – whose music works perfectly for this format – and titles include "Emily", "The Shining Sea", "Sure As You're Born", "Cinnamon & Clove", "Suicide Is Painless", and "The Shadow Of Your Smile".  ~ Dusty Groove


APHEX TWIN - COMPUTER CONTROLLED ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS PT 2

The no longer hibernating Aphex Twin follows up 2014's excellent Syro LP with the appropriately-titled Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Part 2 EP – a coolly experimental project that's a lot different that his other recent work, but it's a worthy left turn! It's indeed played with a lot of live instruments – drums, cymbals and all around prominent percussion, piano, strings and more – which feels fresh and alive, even if it is played through computer control. Hypnotic sounds from a modern master.  ~ Dusty Groove


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