Home » Jazz Articles » From the Inside Out » One Day in Brazil, 50 Years in Germany
One Day in Brazil, 50 Years in Germany
Tony Adamo
vocalsb.1965
Was Out Jazz Zone Mad
Ropeadope
2018
Some African cultures preserved their history not by the written but by the spoken word, kept by oral cultural historians known as griots. On Was Out Jazz Zone Mad, vocalist Tony Adamo aspires to serve in this same role, as a verbal historian of both official and unofficial African-American jazz and blues culture. This type of jazz jive might wear quickly thin but Adamo writes about jazz and jazz musicians with such detailed intimacy and vision that his words snap, crackle and pop. More often than not, the heart, mind, and soul of Was Out Jazz Zone Mad prove genuine.
It helps immeasurably that Adamo regales such tales in the company of musicians expert in organ-guitar combo, small-club, greasy instrumental funk, led by drummer
Mike Clark
drumsb.1946
Herbie Hancock
pianob.1940
The Headhunters
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1973
Lenny White
drumsb.1949
Mike LeDonne
organ, Hammond B3b.1956
Bill Summers
percussionb.1948
Jack Wilkins
saxophone, tenor1944 - 2023
Donald Harrison
saxophone, altob.1960
Thus inspired, Adamo's lyrical material is often magisterial. His description of saxophonist Joe "Sonic Henderson" cuts as sharp and bright and quick as lightning, and crosses from writing about jazz into writing that IS jazz: "Always diggin' into the hot-cool vocabulary of jazz to come up with notes that aren't always obvious but always fit...floating, thought-provoking sounds that were at times hard liquor jazz mixed with mad sex music..." All the while, this set's core trio—drummer Clark, LeDonne on organ, and guitarist Wilkins—twist up the accompaniment in thick rhythmic knots, with Wilkins playing Melvin Sparks to LeDonne's
Charles Earland
organ, Hammond B31941 - 1999
"Gale Blowin' High" honors jazz activist and trumpeter
Eddie Gale
trumpet1941 - 2020
Sun Ra
piano1914 - 1993
Pharoah Sanders
saxophone, tenor1940 - 2022
In "Too Funky to Flush," Adamo unravels the best jazz tale of them all—the story of the city of New Orleans. Standing hip deep awash in a trio groove that's as deep and broad and powerful as the mighty Mississippi River, he sings the praises of
Dr. John
piano1940 - 2019
Professor Longhair
piano1918 - 1980
"
data-original-title="" title="">AguankoPattern Recognition
Self Produced
2018
" data-original-title="" title="">Aguanko's composer, conguero and bandleader Dr.
Alberto Nacif
congas
Armando Peraza
congasb.1924
Santana
band / ensemble / orchestraAguanko's albums consistently run with the humming, precision consistency of an exquisitely tuned timepiece, and Pattern Recognition is no exception. The opening "Se?or Smoke" (mambo) organically blossoms from its introductory bass line, trailing piano, percussion, bass and drum lines all in perfect balance, with horns emerging like flowers blooming off of their rhythmic vines. Muted trumpet sketches a classic Latin big band sound into the subsequent title track (also a mambo).
"Doctor's Orders" (mambo) spotlights extended Latin jazz reflections from pianist Rick Roe and trombone player Christopher Smith, and winks at Dr. Nacif's "other" profession as a family practitioner who earned his MD from Wayne State University and served as personal physician to Detroit's esteemed trumpeter
Marcus Belgrave
trumpet1936 - 2015
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto1920 - 1955
In fact, it's tempting to wonder if Pattern Recogntion runs a little too smoothly. Running together five mambos out of the first six tracks (no matter how excellently conceived and executed) can create a sonic sameness that sparkles and shines but rolls past without pause or differentiation. Even so, it's a comfortable glide along colorful, beautiful sights and sounds through the kaleidoscopic vision of southeastern Michigan's beacon of Latin jazz heat and light.
Rob Dixon
saxophoneCoast to Crossroads
Self Produced
2018
"The album is called Coast to Crossroads because I'm based in Indiana, the Crossroads state, but I also work a lot on the West Coast and East Coast," explains saxophonist
Rob Dixon
saxophoneMike Clark
drumsb.1946
Charlie Hunter
guitarb.1967
Ernest Stuart
trombonePersonal connections between the three principals enable their musical connections to flow richly and deep: Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Famer Dixon played saxophone for guitarist Hunter on three different tours, and for Clark on the drummer's 2010 solo album Carnival of Soul (Owl) plus the
The Headhunters
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1973
Fans of classic
Houston Person
saxophone, tenorb.1934
King Curtis
saxophone1934 - 1971
Bernard Purdie
drumsb.1939
Annotator Bill Milkowski notes that trombonist Ernest Stuart plays "
Fred Wesley
tromboneb.1943
Pee Wee Ellis
arrangerb.1941
But Dixon's two covers blow Coast to Crossroads completely off the map. His saxophone cuts as quick and dapper as Terrence Trent D'Arby's original soulful vocal on "Wishing Well," the number one pop hit from D'Arby's 1987 Columbia debut; and his slow-burning arrangement stomps "California Love" (written by Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Roger Troutman for Shakur's 1996 monster All Eyez on Me [Death Row]) into a bump and grinding blues.
Dixon draws the closing curtain with a romantic, unaccompanied solo reflection of the dreamy "It Could Happen to You."
Amaro Freitas
pianoRasif
Far Out Records
2018
In the small coastal city of Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco,
Amaro Freitas
piano
Chick Corea
piano1941 - 2021
Rasif is Freitas' love letter to (and a colloquial spelling of) his hometown, but the name of that jazz bar looms much larger than the name of his hometown over his second release. It captures Freitas' profoundly rhythmic and percussive piano playing to grand effect. But Rasif also presents a program of powerful originals, thunderous and soulful and thick with all the harmonic, rhythmic, emotional and spiritual complications of life, entirely spoken in blues and jazz and gospel but put together into a new language—just like the music written by the namesake of that Brazilian jazz bar.
For example, "Trupé" opens in resonant percussion, a tribal sound that (double) bassist Jean Elton carves into a merciless circular riff; Freitas' piano enters by splashing colorful notes on top of their rhythm like drops of impressionist paint; bass and piano twirl from counterpointing to doubling and then splash into a Spanish dance. The end of "Trupé" sounds less like a closing and more like the trio finally caught and wrestled its ferocious music to the ground.
"Aurora" represents the sun's single-day journey in a three-part suite that begins lightly and ends slowly but burns in the middle, all clearing space for Freitas' more melodic side to shine through. The title track honors and reflects the natural beauty of his native Brazil, with his piano first cascading from note to note like a butterfly, then shifting into strummed chords that nearly sound like a harp accompanying the bassist, all rendered in a very warm and welcoming touch.
Freitas is an amazing rhythm pianist throughout. "Dona Eni," his reconstruction of Brazil's bai?o rhythm, jackhammers an impossible beat until it finishes by slamming headlong into the solid brick wall of its closing chord, and it seems impossible to fully describe or explain his flurry of bass and midrange tones that blanket "Mantra" thick and heavy.
Rasif is not jazz piano trio music. It IS music from a three-piece led by piano, but Freitas' vision writes this small ensemble into much bigger sound. His stern form and romantic purpose in "Plenilunio" strongly suggest Rachmaninoff but then loosen like a balloon that floats into a Brazilian jungle and ends in a tropical thunderstorm.
Charles Mingus
bass, acoustic1922 - 1979
Various Artists
variousMPS: 50 Years
MPS
2018
In 2018, MPS—Musik Produktion Schwarzwald—Records, Germany's first jazz label, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Pianist
Oscar Peterson
piano1925 - 2007
George Duke
piano1946 - 2013
Red Garland
piano1923 - 1984
Wolfgang Dauner
piano1935 - 2020
Horst Jankowski
b.1936
George Shearing
piano1919 - 2011
Monty Alexander
pianob.1944
Stephane Grappelli
violin1908 - 1997
Didier Lockwood
violin1956 - 2018
Have you ever been in the mood when you turned on the television not to watch anything specific but to scroll through the channels to see what different things were on? Jazz compilations are great for that kind of mood. Because it offers an abundance of jazz styles—from Brazilian to hard-bop, from large ensembles to solo guitarists—this one is better than most.
You can spin through MPS: 50 Years to catch first-rate performances by first-ballot jazz hall of famers.
Joe Henderson
saxophone1937 - 2001
Chick Corea
piano1941 - 2021
Ron Carter
bassb.1937
Billy Higgins
drums1936 - 2001
Elvin Jones
drums1927 - 2004
Michael Stuart
saxophoneb.1948
John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
As his trumpet plays cat and mouse with its opening lines, you get a pass if you mistake
Freddie Hubbard
trumpet1938 - 2008
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
Richard Davis
bass, acoustic1930 - 2023
Louis Hayes
drumsb.1937
Eddie Daniels
clarinetb.1941
Spin again to hear different approaches to the guitar, from "Piano na Mangueira" (played on the Brazilian choro [mandolin] by Hamilton de Holanda) to
Baden Powell
guitar, acoustic1937 - 2000
Joe Pass
guitar1929 - 1994
Eberhard Weber
bassb.1940
Keep spinning. You might discover artists you wish you knew more about. I sure did.
Warren WiebeOriginal Demos
Contante & Sonate
2018
From the accounts of nearly everyone who heard him, Warren Wiebe was "a singer's singer." After kicking around in several bands between his native San Diego and Los Angeles, songwriters Burt Bacharach and David Foster ran across Wiebe's pure tone and apparently effortless range, and Wiebe became the go-to demo singer for many of southern California's most successful songwriters. "We were kind of like Edger Bergin and Charlie McCarthy, only I was the dummy and Warren made me come alive onstage," Foster reflected after Wiebe's 1998 passing.
But the downside of "a singer's singer" is that few people outside the songwriting industry got to hear Warren Wiebe sing. He sang backup on many others' hit records. He sang a charming duet with Gloria Estefan ("Is It Love That We're Missing") on
Quincy Jones
arranger1933 - 2024
Warren Wiebe: Original Demos, released in 2018 in a limited edition of 1000 numbered units, fills this gap with brilliance and heart. Containing previously unreleased music written and performed by Foster, Bacharach, Tom Snow and many others, it celebrates both Wiebe's vocal prowess and his memory. One of its most compelling features is the companion booklet which features composer's notes on each tune along with this love note from Contante & Sonate head executive Gabriel Raya: "Warren Wiebe wasn't just gifted with the most gorgeous voice imaginable. He had that essential ingredient which makes a singer unique: soul."
Foster shares a telling memory in his notes to "The Colour Of My Love," which Celine Dion recorded as the title track for her 1993 (Epic) release. After listening to Wiebe's demo version, Foster writes, she told the composer, "I can't sing that song after that man; he has the most incredible voice I have ever heard." That voice is powerfully clear and clean and crisp and sweet, like the succulent first bite of some heavenly fruit, in this "demonstration" performance.
Wiebe's voice finds and fills every nuance of every note behind every word in Bacharach's "Never Take That Chance Again" (co-written with Tonio K.) like musical honey. It climbs this melody, including Bacharach's trademark melancholic yet hopeful horns, and then soars off the peak of its chorus into powerful and potent soul pop balladry. (
Diane Schuur
vocalsb.1953
Tim Feehan wrote "Make A Wish" for the public competition to write the official song for Canada's 125th anniversary in 1992, and it brings a sparkling and cheery conclusion to this bright songfest. You can nearly hear Wiebe's voice smile as it dances and leaps over lyrics so hopeful and full of promise. If only we could "Make A Wish" to hear Warren Wiebe sing once more.
Tracks and Personnel:
Was Out Jazz Zone Mad
Tracks: Rain Man; Sonic Henderson; B.B. Kings Blues on Fire; Birth of The Cool; General T.; Boogaloo the Funky Beat; Card Dealer; Gale Blowin' High; Too Funky to Flush; Jax Bulldog Priest; I'm Out the Door; Let The Devil Pay My Way; Fly Jump or Die.
Personnel: Tony Adamo: vocals, spoken word; Mike Clark: drums; Donald Harrison: saxophone; Bill Summers: percussion; Lenny White: drums; Michael Wolff: piano; Richie Goods: bass; Tim Ouimette: trumpet; Mike LeDonne: organ; Jack Wilkins: guitar; Delbert Bump: organ; Elias Lucero: guitar; Roger Smith: keyboards; Kyron Kirby: drums; Wayne De La Cruz: organ; Chris Pimentel: guitar; Vince Littleton: drums.
Pattern Recognition
Tracks: Se?or Smoke; Pattern Recognition; Re-Vision; Doctor's Orders; Los Ni?os; Metaphorically Speaking; Mojo Mohito; Noche Y Luna; Corazon Suave; Late Night Religion.
Personnel: Alberto Nacif: composer, congas; Jose "Pepe" Espinosa: timbales, guiro, bongo; Patrick Prouty: bass; Rick Roe: piano; Russell Miller: saxophones, flute; Anthony Stanco: trumpet, flugelhorn; Christopher Smith: trombone.
Coast to Crossroads
Tracks: Yo; Memphis Bus Stop; Millions; California Love; San Leandro; Wishing Well; Black Mountain; Nag Champur; Flat Tire Blues; 87 MPH; It Could Happen to You.
Personnel: Rob Dixon: saxophone; Charlie Hunter: guitar; Mike Clark: drums; Ernest Stuart: trombone.
Rasif
Tracks: Dona Eni; Trupé; Pa?o; Rasif; Mantra; Aurora; Vitrais; Plenilunio; Afrocatu.
Personnel: Amaro Freitas: piano; Hugo Medeiros: drums, percussion; Jean Elton: double bass; Henrique Albino: baritone sax, flutes, clarinet.
MPS: 50 Years
Tracks: Blues for Liebestraum (Joe Henderson); Suspicious Child, Growing Up (Volker Kriegel); The Devil Made Me Write This Piece (Don Ellis); I Love You (The Oscar Peterson Trio); Running (China Moses); Au Right (George Duke); Little Lady (Elvin Jones Jazz Machine); Glei?ende Helle (Erik Leuth?user); O Astronauta (Baden Powell); Stina (Django Deluxe & NDR Bigband); Brown Skin Girl (Monty Alexander); Unfolding (Malia); Blues for Duane (Freddie Hubbard); Ode to Billy Joe (Joe Pass); Afro Black (Nicola Conte Spiritual Galaxy); Piano na Mangueira (Hamilton de Holanda); Sconsolato (Mark Murphy); Body and Soul (Rolf Kühn).
Personnel: Joe Henderson (Blues for Liebestraum); Volker Kriegel (Suspicious Child, Growing Up); Don Ellis (The Devil Made Me Write This Piece); The Oscar Peterson Trio (I Love You); China Moses (Running); George Duke (Au Right); Elvin Jones Jazz Machine (Little Lady); Erik Leuth?user (Glei?ende Helle); Baden Powell (O Astronauta); Django Deluxe & NDR Bigband (Stina); Monty Alexander (Brown Skin Girl); Malia (Unfolding); Freddie Hubbard (Blues for Duane); Joe Pass (Ode to Billy Joe); Nicola Conte Spiritual Galaxy (Afro Black); Hamilton de Holanda (Piano na Mangueira); Mark Murphy (Sconsolato); Rolf Kühn (Body and Soul).
Original Demos
Tracks: The Colour Of My Love (David Foster); Live Each Day (David Foster); Never Take That Chance Again (Burt Bacharach & Tonio K.); Love Made Me Wait (Burt Bacharach & Tonio K.); A Little Thing Called Life (Steve Dorff); The Echo Of Your Whisper (Steve Dorff); You're Welcome In My Life (Tom Snow); Spend A Little Time With You (Tom Snow); 17 Years (Gardner & Fuller); Nothing That I Wouldn't Do (Gardner & Fuller); The Day I First Saw You (Guy Thomas); Lorelei (Guy Thomas); Don't Tell My Heart (Tim Feehan); Make A Wish (Tim Feehan).
Tags
From the Inside Out
Chris M. Slawecki
tony adamo
Tony Adamo
Mike Clark
Herbie Hancock
the headhunters
Lenny White
Mike LeDonne
Bill Summers
Elias Lucero
Jack Wilkins
Donald Harrison
Melvin Sparks
Charles Earland
Eddie Gale
Sun Ra
Arkestra
Pharoah Sanders
Dr. John
Professor Longhair
Irving Mayfield
Aguanko
Alberto Nacif
Armando Peraza
Santana
Marcus Belgrave
Charlie Parker
Rob Dixon Trio
Rob Dixon
Charlie Hunter
Ernest Stuart
Houston Person
Junior Walker
King Curtis
Bernard Purdie
Fred Wesley
Pee Wee Ellis
Terrence Trent D'Arby
Amaro Freitas
Chick Corea
Jean Elton
Charles Mingus
Various Artists
oscar peterson
George Duke
Red Garland
Wolfgang Dauner
Horst Jankowski
George Shearing
Monty Alexander
Don "Sugarcane" Harris
Stephane Grappelli
Didier Lockwood
Jean- Luc Ponty
Joe Henderson
Ron Carter
Billy Higgins
Elvin Jones
Michael Stuart
Pat LaBarbera
John Coltrane
Freddie Hubbard
Miles Davis
Roland Hanna
Richard Davis
Louis Hayes
eddie daniels
Baden Powell
Joe Pass
Eberhard Weber
Warren Wiebe
Burt Bacharach
David Foster
Gloria Estefan
Quincy Jones
Celine Dion
Tom Snow
Diane Schuur
Tim Feehan
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