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Gil Mellé – The Andromeda Strain OST (1971)

Gil Mellé – The Andromeda Strain (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Original release 1971 KAPP Records
2017 Jackpot Records – Limited Edition RSD
Vinyl rip in 24-bit/192kHz |  Web art + scans
Genre: electronic / experimental | 1971
Jackpot Records ~ JPR-044

Dr. Vibes’ 12 Days of Christmas – Day 3 – Probably the eeriest soundtrack for any film that was not  technically in the horror genre, Gil Mellé really broke ground in electronic music on this soundtrack for this classic science-fiction thriller adapted from the Michael Crichton novel. Apparently he “created his own instruments” to make some of these compositions.  I’m not sure what that really means but the  results are definitely otherworldly.   I have a habit of being fans of soundtrack albums without ever getting around to seeing the associated film, and that was the case with this title until just a few years ago.   Although reissued in Japan several times on vinyl, for the longest time this was only available digitally as a CD-R on the grey-market / bootleg label Creel Pone.  It finally got a limited official release about 8 years ago that is now also pretty rare.  So I was pretty happy to see it on a list o special releases for Record Store Day in 2017.  Jackpot Records deserves some credit for staying faithful to the original deluxe packaging (which I did not place on my scanner, sorry).  But I sort of wish they just made a normal round EP, because I suspect getting these hexagonal things off the presses isn’t easy — my brand-new copy had a big-ole scratch on it as soon as I opened it.  But I think I got a pretty good transfer.

Gil Mellé – The Andromeda Strain OST (1971)

Herbie Mann – Live at the Whisky A Go Go (1969)

Herbie Mann – Live at the Whisky A Go Go
Vinyl rip in 24 bit 192 khz | Art at  300 dpi
1.22 GB 24-192 khz| 24 bit 96 khz – 611 MB | 211 MB 16-bit 44.1 khz
Atlantic SD 1536 | Released 1969 | Soul-jazz / jazz-funk / fusion

Dr. Vibes’ Twelve Days of Christmas – Day 2:
I am not sure that anyone feels as passionately one way or another about Herbie Mann as they do about, say, marmite or The Grateful Dead, but he certainly seems to divide people.  Adjectives like “lightweight” and “phony” have been thrown around when I’ve posted his work here.  His recording output was prolific and many titles are very common, lining the cut-out bins of many a trusty record shop.  But one thing is hard to deny – he sure could put together a solid lineup when he wanted to.  I mean just look at the list of musicians on this.  Miroslav Vitous and Roy Ayers? Sonny Sharrock?  Since I mentioned him in yesterday’s 12 Days of Christmas post, I figured this album would provide some continuity.  But in truth Sharrock is pretty under-utilized – he plays chunky rhythm guitar through all but the last few minutes of the album, where he takes an abrupt free jazz solo on Rufus Thomas’ “Philly Dog”.  Makes me laugh a little every time I hear it.  The first side of the album is a stretched out jam of a song written by Chris Hills (of the group Everything Is Everything) which appeared on a Vanguard Apostolic album in the same year of 1969.  So I guess it is no coincidence that group’s second (and final) studio album was produced by Herbie Mann and issued on his vanity label, Embryo Records.

Herbie Mann – Live at the Whisky A Go Go (1969)

George Freeman – New Improved Funk (1974) (with Von Freeman)

George Freeman – New Improved Funk
1974 Groove Merchant GM 519
Vinyl rip in 24 bit 192 khz | Art at  300 dpi
Soul Jazz –  Hard bop – Jazz
24-bit 192 khz – 1.55GB | 24 bit 96 khz – 902 MB | 238 MB 16-bit 44.1 khz

12 Days of Christmas – Day 1:  Except for the opening title track (all two minutes of it), this is a lot more of a straight soul-jazz album than the title would imply. It’s good stuff though, with great tenor playing by the late Von Freeman throughout the whole endeavor. Bobby Blevins on the organ chugging along like a mad lorry driver (“crazy trucker”).  George’s guitar playing can switch back and forth from Albert King-like, single-note runs laden with vibrato to angular scronking ala Sonny Sharrock within the same tune (Exhibit A: “Big Finish”, which closes out the first side of the LP…..George Freeman – New Improved Funk (1974) (with Von Freeman)

Kenny Burrell – Have Yourself A Soulful Little Christmas (1966)

Kenny Burrell – Have Yourself A Soulful Little Christmas
1966 Cadet Records LPS 779
This Reissue 2003 Verve Records / Cadet – EU Pressing

A warm little record to shepherd you through the cold days of Yuletide and the malaise of piped-in holiday music.  It’s a statistical fact that most Christmas albums are crap.  They also have historically made up a mindbogglingly large proportion of record sales throughout the history of recorded music.  So, apply your analogy of choice – 100 monkeys with typewriters, stopped clocks that are right twice a day — and you are bound to get some good ones hidden among the dregs.  This Cadet soul-jazz offering from Kenny Burrell is one of those.

Kenny Burrell – Have Yourself A Soulful Little Christmas (1966)

Walter Wanderley Trio – Chegança (1966) (1971 reissue)

The Walter Wanderley Trio – Cheganca
Original release 1966 on Verve
1971 Reissue MGM Records
Series: MGM Latino Series – 10,010 MGS 610

Like many musicians looking for reprieve from the turmoil of mid-60s Brazil, keyboardist Walter Wanderley had left the country and settled in the United States.   He emigrated at the behest of Creed Taylor and made half a dozen albums for Verve. Most of them can be classed under ‘lounge’ or ‘exotica’ music, which has its own charms, although often as sweet as the half ton of bagged sugar featured on the front of this album.  But “Chegança” is more like the bossa-jazz records Wanderley made in Brazil and has much less of the Creed Taylor background-music schmaltz factor.   The whole band grooves together.  There is appropriately unsubtle cuica playing on O Ganso (“The Goose”)  The highlight, though,  is still the organ playing.  Have a listen to the solo in “Você e eu” below.Walter Wanderley Trio – Chegança (1966) (1971 reissue)

Gene Chandler & Jerry Butler – Gene & Jerry, One & One (1970)

Gene Chandler & Jerry Butler – Gene & Jerry, One & One
Vinyl rip in 24 bit 96 khz | Art at  300 dpi
Mercury Records SR 61330 | Released 1970 | Soul – Funk

Here we have two masters of soul in a short collection of gems which, to my knowledge, has never been issued on CD.  I have featured the laid-back funk track “Sho’ Is Groovin’” on the radio and in one of my podcasts, but a person could pretty much take their pick of great tunes here.   The album is overshadowed a bit by Butler’s magnificent “Sings Assorted Sounds with Friends and Relatives,” released the same year (with some arrangements by Donny Hathaway) but there’s no reason for soul fans to skip this.

Gene Chandler & Jerry Butler – Gene & Jerry, One & One (1970)