Don “Sugarcane” Harris – Sugar Cane’s Got The Blues (1972) (MPS 1977)

Don “Sugarcane” Harris – Sugar Cane’s Got The Blues
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | FLAC |  300 dpi scans | Jazz, Rock
1.74 GB (24/192) + 934 MB (24/96)
1977 MPS Records  ||  Orig. rel. 1972

Is the stunning cover art the best thing about this record? The album documents when fiddle wizard* Don “Sugarcane” Harris played the Berlin Jazz Festival with a lineup that featured Robert Wyatt on drums and Volker Krieger on guitar.  Terje Rypdal also guests on one odd song choice here, Song For My Father.

Continue reading

Larry Coryell – Live At The Village Gate (1971)

Larry Coryell – At The Village Gate (1971)
Vanguard VSD-6573 – Vinyl transferred at 192 khz 32-bit floating point

Most of the Vanguard material that Larry Coryell recorded is pretty distinct from the kind of music he would later become known for.  More raw, psychedelic, and bluesy than his later shred-it-to-bits fusion flexing, and with a leaner, more stripped-down sound due do its (mostly) trio format.  Is there such a thing as a jazz power trio?  If so, I guess that’s what this is. Continue reading

David Sancious and Tone – Transformation (The Speed of Love) (1976 Epic)

David Sancious and Tone – Transformation (The Speed Of Love)
1976 Epic Records PE 33939| Genre:  Fusion, Jazz-rock, Progressive rock

If, like me, you thought that Incident on 57th Street and New York City Serenade were the high points of Bruce Springsteen’s early career, then you should probably give your attention to musical polymath and chameleon David Sancious.  Sancious was keyboardist for the E. Street Band on their first two albums, and contributed to the title track of Born To Run.  I think it would be a safe claim to say that his sensibility probably helped sculpt the “epic” sound they were crafting, particularly on the longer songs, but if you have The Boss too firmly in mind when putting on this record, you might be jarred by just how dissimilar it seems.  I’ve always been a champion of things eclectic, but Sanscious might be too eclectic for his own good at times.  With his virtuosity on multiple instruments taking front and center stage, it is hard not to marvel at least a little at the breadth of vision, but sometimes they straddle the grey area between stylistic transcendence and plain confusion.  His debut record for Epic (Forest of Feelings, 1975) was produced by none other than legendary jazz-fusion drummer Billy Cobham, and at times the music comes close to holding its own with Return To Forever or Weather Report or Mahavishnu Orchestra, and at other times sounding a bit like a slightly funky Rush without the benefit of no horrible lyrics (everything here is instrumental).

Continue reading

Airto – Fingers (1973) (CTI Records 6028)

Airto – Fingers
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192 kHz | FLAC |  Art scans at 300 dpi
1.4GB (24/192) | 865 MB (24/96)
CTI Records 6028| Genre: Fusion, Latin Jazz, Jazz Rock

This post was intended to go up over the weekend as a commemoration to wrap up the Festas Juninas.  “Fingers” is really is a masterpiece from Airto Moreira, one of the progenitors of jazz fusion, with lots of help from future members of the Uruguayan group Opa and, of course, his wife Flora Purim. It is less “out” than his solo records up to this point but still retains enough traces of his wild urges toward surprise and experimentation to keep things interesting. The compositions, about half of which are contributed by Opa members, are accessible enough to instantly grab your attention but are always offering new nuances on repeated listens. How many edgy Latin-Jazz-Fusion albums actually contain EARWORMS in their grooves? This album has tunes you will be whistling to yourself for weeks afterward, in particular the track “Parana.” (more below) Continue reading

Larry Coryell – Coryell (1969) – Special Blog 10th Anniversary Post!

Larry Coryell – Coryell
1969 Vanguard Apostolic VSD 6547 | Vinyl rip in 24 bit 196 khz | Art at 600 and 300 dpi
Jazz-Rock / Jazz-Funk / Soul / Fusion / Psychedelic

I’ve been holding back on posting about this album until I could commemorate the 10th ANNIVERSARY of this blog.  It’s a very special record to me from the great guitarist Larry Coryell, who passed away in 2017.  It’s unique in that it captures him in a kind of transition between his time playing in the psychedelic rock group The Free Spirits and his future as an icon of jazz fusion, in the pre-Bitches Brew era when that genre was still fresh and nascent.  And it’s soul-shaking, mind-melting grooviness from start to finish.  I like to imagine that Hendrix heard this album and  decided to shelve the Experience on the spot and start up his Band of Gypsies.  Bernard “Pretty” Purdie on the drums and Chuck Rainey on bass are holding down a solid soul groove  here, which just elevates the vibe to transcendent levels. Continue reading

CTI All-Stars – CTI Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl: Live Two (1977)

CTI All-Stars – Live Two (Summer Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl)
Vinyl rip in 24 bit 192 khz | Photos and art scans at 300 dpi
1977 CTI Records – CTI 7077

01 Blues Force 7:01 (Stanley Turrentine)
02 Rock Steady 10:30 (Aretha Franklin)
03 Theme From Love Story / Pavane / Fire And Rain 14:01 (Francis Lai, G. Faure*, James Taylor)
04 People Make The World Go Round 6:05  (Linda Creed, Thomas Bell)

Credits

Bass – Ron Carter
Drums – Jack DeJohnette
Flute – Hubert Laws
Guitar – George Benson
Keyboards – Bob James, Deodato, Johnny Hammond
Percussion – Airto
Saxophone – Grover Washington, Jr., Hank Crawford, Joe Farrell, Stanley Turrentine
Trumpet – Freddie Hubbard
Vibraphone – Milt Jackson
Vocals – Esther Phillips

Engineer – David Palmer
Design [Album] – Sib Chalawick
MC – Leonard Feather, Rick Holmes
Photography By – K’Abe
Producer – Creed Taylor
Recorded By – Wally Heider

Matrix / Runout (Runout A): 87738A1
Matrix / Runout (Runout B): 87738B11

RIPPING INFO
CTI 7076 vinyl; Pro-Ject RM-5SE with Audio Tecnica AT440-MLa cartridge; Speedbox power supply); Creek Audio OBH-15; Audioquest King Cobra cables; M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard ; Adobe Audition at 32-bit float 192khz; clicks and pops removed with Click Repair on light settings, manually auditioning the output; further clicks removed with Adobe Audition 3.0; dithered and resampled using iZotope RX Advanced. Converted to FLAC in either Trader’s Little Helper or dBPoweramp. Tags done with Foobar 2000 and Tag and Rename.


The second volume of the contractual-obligation-trilogy, CTI Summer Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl, delivers the same kind of deal as the first, which you can read about in last week’s post.  I don’t have a tremendous amount to say about it.  “Blues Force” gives an opportunity for Milt Jackson to do his thing on the vibraphone.  In the last post I had said this volume would contain a version of the theme from The Thomas Crown Affair, “Windmills Of Your Mind” – well, I lied.  I got my Michel Legrand confused with my Francis Lai.  They both have similar, wistful melodies, so that’s my excuse.  Opening up the second side of the LP, it becomes a medley with some Renaissance jazz in “Pavane” and winds up with an almost-stirring “Fire and Rain.”  Freddie Hubbard again leads the group on the album’s closer with “People Make The World Go Round.”  Not to discourage anyone’s enthusiasm but I reiterate what I said in the first post – these live records are pleasant enough but I would mostly rather here a studio release from any of the many titans on this stage, they are just more compelling.  The third volume should be up this weekend, which features two  tracks (not one, as misspoken last week) featuring the great Esther Phillips on vocals, who gets credited on the first two LPs because it cost too much to customize the album credits on these.

Anybody who reads this blog and has some money to spare – please donate it to the relief efforts in Puerto Rico, that colonial property of the US who a certain asinine toddler just mocked instead of mobilizing support for humanitarian aid.  I’m not in the habit of endorsing specific charitable organizations, most have their pros and cons and it’s your choice.  Stay sane out there!


password: vibes