Merry Christmas

http://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/2017/12/various-artists-1997-yule-be-boppin.html

http://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/2015/12/vince-guaraldi-trio-1965-2012-charlie.html

Dimension - 2004 "Loneliness"

Track listing:

01     Ironside     5:22
02     Walking On The Moon     6:05
03     Respectacles     7:02
04     Dancer In The Light     5:27
05     Good-bye My Loneliness     5:19
06     Southside On Oneseventeen     5:30
07     Wonderful Tonight     4:33
08     Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) - "New York City Serenade"     5:10
09     Vanity Story     5:49
10     Historic Medley :- Purple Haze - Chameleon - Electric City     5:49
11     So Far Away     4:45

Personnel:

    Guitar – Takashi Masuzaki
    Keyboards – Akira Onozuka
    Saxophone – Kazuki Katsuta

Peter Erskine - 1986 "Transition"

Peter Erskine has done loads of work with the uber producer/arranger/composer Vince Mendoza. They've collaborated on some of my favourite jazz CDs - More or less all of Vince's solo stuff, Jimmy Haslip's "ARC" and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" so I was wondering how come Vince hadn't worked on any of Peter's albums?

Then I learned about this one browsing amazon.com a few weeks ago, while trying to see if Vince has anything new out. I ordered it without even listening to the sound samples and this album is a testament to the fact that good music never dates. This album was released NINETEEN years ago and it sounds as fresh as if it came out last month! It features some of my biggest heroes - Pete and Vince themselves (of course), with John Abercrombie, Joe Lovano and Bob Mintzer. Brilliant from beginning to end.

Great CD! I have owned this CD for 12 years. Two things to listen for: The variety of the cuts is amazing. It really keeps you suprised. Second, the intensity of Erskins music grabs you. I am not tired of it after 12 years.

Started listening to this CD again after some years - its still as vital and intriguing as I recall the first time - Definitely stands the test of time - outstanding.

The original album cover is very "scary/hairy" photo array of PE, but a great recording, nevertheless.
It's J. Abercrombie, M. Johnson, K. Werner, J. Lovano, B. Mintzer.

I remember Joe talking about making that date, it went down while i was studying with him. He said Erskine had been hanging at a lot of Paul Motian gigs and had really gotten into the trio with Joe and Bill Frisell. Erskine did some very nice writing on this record (he wrote some real melodies) the material covers a fair amount of ground with lots of different moods, but it still has a unified sound.

Recorded direct-to-2-track digital at Power Station Studios, New York City, on October 16 and 17, 1986.

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=Peter+Erskine

 Track listing:

01     Osaka Castle     6:47
02     The Rabbit In The Moon     1:19
03     Corazon     5:04
    Suite: Music From Shakespeare's King Richard II
04     Introduction     1:31
05     Music Plays     7:16
06     Sonnet     2:32
07     Transition     8:02
08     End Hymn     2:39
    -
09     Lions And Tigers And Bears     2:58
10     The Hand Speaks Hold     8:04
11     Smart Shoppers     5:03
12     My Foolish Heart     5:14
13     Orson Welles (Intro)     0:52
14     Orson Welles     5:53

Personnel:

    Drums, Electronic Drums, Gong, Synthesizer, Computer, Producer – Peter Erskine
    Acoustic Bass – Marc Johnson (2)   
    French Horn – Peter Gordon (8)
    Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer – John Abercrombie
    Piano, Synthesizer – Kenny Werner
    Synthesizer – Don Grolnick (tracks: 3, 6, 10, 11)
    Tenor Saxophone – Bob Mintzer
    Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Joe Lovano

Miles Davis - 1972 [2000] "On the Corner"

On the Corner is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Miles Davis. It was recorded in June and July 1972 and released on October 11 of the same year by Columbia Records. The album continued Davis's exploration of jazz fusion, bringing together funk rhythms with the influence of experimental composer Karlheinz Stockhausen and free jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman.

Recording sessions for the album featured a changing lineup of musicians including bassist Michael Henderson, guitarist John McLaughlin, and keyboardist Herbie Hancock, with Davis playing the electric organ more prominently than his trumpet. Various takes from the sessions were then spliced together using the tape editing techniques of producer Teo Macero. The album's packaging did not credit any musicians, an attempt to make the instruments less discernible to critics. Its artwork features Corky McCoy's cartoon designs of urban African-American characters.

On the Corner was in part an effort by Davis to reach a younger African American audience who had left jazz for funk and rock and roll. Instead, it became one of his worst-selling albums and was scorned by jazz critics at the time of its release. It would be Davis's last studio album of the 1970s conceived as a complete work; subsequently, he recorded haphazardly and focused instead on live performance before temporarily retiring from music in 1975.

The critical standing of On the Corner has improved dramatically with the passage of time. Many outside the jazz community later called it an innovative musical statement and forerunner to subsequent funk, jazz, post-punk, electronica, and hip hop. In 2007, On the Corner was reissued as part of the 6-disc box set The Complete On the Corner Sessions, joining previous multi-disc Davis reissues.

Following his turn to fusion in the late 1960s and the release of rock- and funk-influenced albums such as Bitches Brew (1970) and Jack Johnson (1971), Miles Davis received substantial criticism from the jazz community. Critics accused him of abandoning his talents and pandering to commercial trends, though his recent albums had been commercially unsuccessful by his standards. Other jazz contemporaries, such as Herbie Hancock, Cecil Taylor, and Gil Evans defended Davis; the latter stated that "jazz has always used the rhythm of the time, whatever people danced to". In early 1972, Davis began conceiving On the Corner as an attempt to reconnect with the young African-American audience which had largely forsaken jazz for the groove-based music of Sly and the Family Stone and James Brown. In an interview with Melody Maker, Davis stated that

    "I don't care who buys the record so long as they get to the Black people so I will be remembered when I die. I'm not playing for any white people, man. I wanna hear a black guy say 'Yeah, I dig Miles Davis.'"

On the Corner was partly inspired by the musical concepts of Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Also cited as an influence by Davis was the work of experimental composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, in particular his forays into electronic music and tape manipulation. Davis was first introduced to Stockhausen's work in 1972 by collaborator Paul Buckmaster, and the trumpeter reportedly kept a cassette recording of the 1966–67 Hymnen composition in his Lamborghini sports car. Some concepts from Stockhausen that appealed to Davis included the electronic sound processing found in Hymnen and the 1966 piece Telemusik, and the development of musical structures by expanding and minimizing processes based on preconceived principles—as featured in Plus-Minus and other Stockhausen works from the 1960s and early 1970s. Davis began to apply these ideas to his music by adding and taking away instrumentalists and other aural elements throughout a recording to create a progressively changing soundscape. Speaking about Stockhausen's influence, Davis later wrote in his autobiography:

    I had always written in a circular way and through Stockhausen I could see that I didn't want to ever play again from eight bars to eight bars, because I never end songs: they just keep going on. Through Stockhausen I understood music as a process of elimination and addition.

The work of Buckmaster (who played electric cello on the album and contributed some arrangements) and the "harmolodics" of saxophonist Ornette Coleman would also be an influence on the album. In his biography, Davis later described On the Corner with the formula "Stockhausen plus funk plus Ornette Coleman." Using this conceptual framework, Davis reconciled ideas from contemporary art music composition, jazz performance, and rhythm-based dance music.

Could there be any more confrontational sound in Miles Davis' vast catalog than the distorted guitars and tinny double-timing drums reacting to a two-note bass riff funking it up on the first track from On the Corner? Before the trumpet even enters the story has been broken off in the middle -- deep street music melding with a secret language exchanged by the band and those who can actually hear it as music. Here are killer groove riffs that barely hold on as bleating trumpet and soprano sax lines (courtesy of Dave Liebman on track one) interact with John McLaughlin's distortion-box frenzy. Michael Henderson's bass keeps the basic so basic it hypnotizes; keyboards slowly enter the picture, a pair of them handled by Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, as well as Ivory Williams' synthesizer. Finally, Colin Walcott jumps in with an electric sitar and there are no less than five drummers -- three kits (Al Foster, Billy Hart, and Jack DeJohnette), a tabla player, and Mtume. It's a four-tune suite, On the Corner is, but the separations hardly matter, just the shifts in groove that alter the time/space continuum. After 20 minutes, the set feels over and a form of Miles' strange lyricism returns in "Black Satin." Though a tabla kicks the tune off, there's a recognizable eight-note melody that runs throughout. Carlos Garnett and Bennie Maupin replace Liebman, Dave Creamer replaces McLaughlin, and the groove rides a bit easier -- except for those hand bells shimmering in the background off the beat just enough to make the squares crazy. The respite is short-lived, however. Davis and band move the music way over to the funk side of the street -- though the street funkers thought these cats were too weird with their stranded time signatures and modal fugues that begin and end nowhere and live for the way the riff breaks down into emptiness. "One and One" begins the new tale, so jazz breaks down and gets polished off and resurrected as a far blacker, deeper-than-blue character in the form of "Helen Butte/Mr. Freedom X," where guitars and horns careen off Henderson's cracking bass and Foster's skittering hi-hats. It may sound weird even today, but On the Corner is the most street record ever recorded by a jazz musician. And it still kicks.

 Track listing:

1. On The Corner, New York Girl, Thinkin' One Thing And Doin' Another, Vote For Miles 19:59
2. Black Satin     5:20
3. One And One     6:09
4. Helen Butte - Mr. Freedom X    23:18

Personnel - Recording dates:

June 1, 1972
Miles Davis (tpt); Dave Liebman (ss); John McLaughlin (el-g); Chick Corea (el-p); Herbie Hancock (el-p); Harold I. Williams (org, synth); Collin Walcott (el-sitar); Michael Henderson (el-b); Jack DeJohnette (d); Billy Hart (d);
Al Foster (d); Badal Roy (tabla)

June 6, 1972 - July 7, 1972
Miles Davis (tpt); Carlos Garnett (ss on track 2, ts on track 4); Bennie Maupin (bcl on track 2); David Creamer (el-g on tracks 2, 3, 4); Herbie Hancock (el-p, synth); Chick Corea (el-p); Harold I. Williams (org, synth); Collin Walcott (el-sitar on tracks 3, 4); Khalil Balakrishna (el-sitar on track 2); Michael Henderson (el-b); Jack DeJohnette (d); Billy Hart (d); Al Foster (d); Badal Roy (tabla, handclaps)

Larry Coryell - 1998 "Major Jazz Minor Blues"

A jazz-rock pioneer during the late '60s and '70s, Larry Coryell was also a strong performer in a straight-ahead setting, as evidenced by his recordings for Muse during the latter half of the '80s. Major Jazz Minor Blues reissues ten titles from those records, most in a trio setting, and finds him reacting well with sidemen including bassists Stanley Cowell and George Mraz and pianists Kenny Barron and Billy Hart. The disc captures two of his best originals from the era, "Tender Tears" and "No More Booze, Minor Blues," plus Coryell's surprisingly nuanced versions of "'Round Midnight," "My Shining Hour," and "Sophisticated Lady."

From an artist whose career has spanned jazz-rock, electric fusion, and mainstream jazz, this straight-ahead session from 55-year old guitarist Larry Coryell is a welcome chapter. Backed by piano, bass and drums, four of the guitarist's 1980's Muse recordings are revisited to produce this album of re-issued material; the ten tracks come from Toku-Do, Equipoise, Shining Hour, and Comin' Home. Pianists Stanley Cowell, Kenny Barron, and Albert Dailey provide doubled melody lines, bop-derived solo work, and varied accompaniment. Bassists Buster Williams and George Mraz interweave melodies with the guitarist and provide intricate accompaniment. Drummers Beaver Harris, Billy Hart, and Marvin "Smitty" Smith trade, converse, solo, and enhance the session.

Coryell and Williams engage in some interesting guitar-bass interplay on Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays" and Williams' own "Toku Do." "Sophisticated Lady" is performed as a lovely ballad guitar solo piece, and Thelonious Monk's ballad " `Round Midnight" includes a stirring guitar cadenza at the end. Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring," Dave Brubeck's "The Duke," and John Coltrane's "Moment's Notice" each include stellar mainstream guitar work and afford the listener an opportunity to appreciate what Coryell does best. Using Johnny Mercer's "My Shining Hour" as a vehicle for upbeat sentiment, the leader highlights the album with his lyrical pick work, fours from Marvin "Smitty" Smith, and an exciting piano solo from Kenny Barron. Coryell has written extensive liner notes for this 65-minute straight-ahead "best of" album, offering his recollections of the four recording sessions and sharing valuable anecdotes for each tune. Recommended.

Track listing:

01     Moment's Notice     6:03
02     The Duke     4:45
03     'Round Midnight     8:43
04     Joy Spring     6:41
05     Yesterdays     5:35
06     No More Booze, Minor Blues     3:32
07     Tender Tears     8:07
08     My Shining Hour     5:00
09     Toku Do     6:57
10     Sophisticated Lady     5:02

Personnel:

    Guitar – Larry Coryell
    Bass – Buster Williams, George Mraz
    Drums – Beaver Harris, Billy Hart, Marvin "Smitty" Smith
    Piano – Albert Dailey, Kenny Barron, Stanley Cowell

Yuval Ron - 2019 "Somewhere in This Universe, Somebody Hits a Drum" Review

Hello friends and music aficionado's.
I received an email from a friend of mine and GREAT player Mr. Yuval Ron. He has a new CD coming out and I would like to share some links for you.

For starters, check out some of his earlier work so you can see what a killer player he is:

Futuristic Worlds Under Construction (see Bandcamp)
Residence Of The Future (also BC)
Flags - Single / video feat. Tammy Scheffer on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ5XI-ld_a0

I also did once a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Contusion" if you'd like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXSXQmmv6-s

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Here's the email with links to his stuff!

 Hi Stan!

Nice chatting with you again :)

So as mentioned I've got some exciting news which I think might interest you. My new album "Somewhere in This Universe, Somebody Hits a Drum" featuring Marco Minnemann on drums has been recently released alongside a music video and guitar transcriptions book. The overall genre is different than what you might remember from my former band Yuval Ron & Residents Of The Future. It can be described as "Cinematic Prog" as it combines intricate instrumental compositions, extended soloing and a big, film-like background production of orchestral lines, soundscapes and sound effects. The album got some great feedback from audience and music media so far.

https://yuvalron.bandcamp.com/album/somewhere-in-this-universe-somebody-hits-a-drum-ft-marco-minnemann

I'd like to take this opportunity and ask if you'd be interested to review this album on Jazz-Rock-Fusion-Guitar?

Here you can find a couple of examples of the music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGVX6JSf1Ic
 
On the blog please share the Bandcamp link
https://yuvalron.bandcamp.com/album/somewhere-in-this-universe-somebody-hits-a-drum-ft-marco-minnemann

You can also embed the Youtube video of course if you'd like:
https://youtu.be/dGVX6JSf1Ic

I hope you'll enjoy the music and look forward to hearing from you.

With musical regards,
Yuval Ron

Traffic - 1973 [2003] "On The Road"

On The Road is the second live album (two LPs, reissued on one CD) by English rock band Traffic, released in 1973. Recorded live in Germany, it features the Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory lineup plus extra keyboardist (for live performances) Barry Beckett.

The initial U.S. release of On the Road (Island/Capitol) 1973 was as a single LP consisting of: "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" (edited to 15:10), "Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory", "(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired", and "Light Up or Leave Me Alone".

The whole album, which was originally a two disc vinyl album, is on one disc. The tracks are long and extended, and given a jazz feel; but never boring. One of the best Traffic albums ever. This was recored live in Germany. If you like traffic, this ones a real winner. It's just as exciting today, as it was the day it was released.

Backed by Muscle Shoals sidemen, Winwood, Capaldi, and Wood rock like never before. Traffic songs that were already great were transformed into extended jazzy jams with interesting interplay between all the players. A funky groove unites all the separate tracks, making this a great driving album or a soundtrack for doing housework. Too bad the sidemen split from Traffic after this, since the album promised potential future development that might have significantly altered the direction of contemporary music. As it is, it's a lesser-known gem in the rock archive that is absolutely necessary for any true music fan of 70's progressive rock.

The 1973 line-up of Traffic was captured on disc with the appropriately-named On The Road, the group’s live album which entered the UK chart on 24 November that year. In America, the initial release was a single-LP set of four extended performances, but at home, it merited a double-disc edition, with six tracks including three from the then-current studio set Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory.

Founder members Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood were joined on the 1973 tour by their Ghanaian percussionist of recent times, Rebop Kwaku Baah, plus collaborators David Hood (bass), Roger Hawkins (drums) and Barry Beckett on organ and piano. They began the year with an extensive North American tour, then a European leg included visits to such cities as Bologna, Vienna and Frankfurt.

The whole of side one of the UK double album was taken up with an epic, 20-minute performance combining ‘Glad’ and ‘Freedom Rider.’  In addition to the title track from Shoot Out…, the set included its fellow LP tracks ‘Tragic Magic,’ composed by Wood, and the Winwood/Capaldi co-write ‘(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired.’ On The Road concluded with ‘Light Up Or Leave Me Alone’ and the title track from the same 1971 album Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys, which itself ran to 17 minutes.

Reportedly released as an effort to undercut bootleggers following a world tour, Traffic: On the Road was the band's second live album in three years. The album chronicled a late edition of the band in which original members Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood were augmented not only by percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah, but also by a trio of session musicians from the famed Muscle Shoals studio, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, and Barry Beckett. The studio pros lent a tightness and proficiency to their characteristic free-form jams, and though they sometimes sounded like they couldn't wait to get the songs over with, the tunes went on and on, four clocking in at over ten minutes. That might have been okay if the choice of material had been more balanced across the band's career, but 1971's Welcome To the Canteen had treated earlier efforts, and the 1973 tour was promoting Shoot Out At the Fantasy Factory, from which three of the six selections were drawn. Unfortunately, that album was not one of Traffic's best, and the live versions of its songs were no more impressive than the studio ones had been. Traffic: On the Road featured plenty of room for soloing by some good musicians, but it was the logical extreme of the band's forays into extended performance, with single tunes taking up entire sides on the original LPs. It's not surprising that, after this, Traffic shrunk in size and returned to shorter songs. [Though best known in its two-LP version, Traffic: On the Road was initially released in the U.S. as a single LP containing only four tracks.]

The album reached number 40 in the UK and number 29 in the USA.

Track listing:

1. Glad / Freedom Rider (20:49)
2. Tragic Magic (8:30)
3. (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired (10:20)
4. Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory (6:40)
5. Light Up Or Leave Me Alone (10:30)
6. Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys (17:35)

Total Time: 74:24

Personnel

    Steve Winwood – guitar, lead vocals (1, 3, 4, 6), piano
    Chris Wood – flute, saxophone
    Jim Capaldi – percussion, lead vocals (5), drums (4)
    Rebop Kwaku Baah – percussion
    Barry Beckett – organ, piano
    David Hood – bass
    Roger Hawkins – drums

Chick Corea - 1972 [1993] "Sundance"

Sundance is an album recorded by Chick Corea and originally released on the Groove Merchant label in 1972. In 2002, Blue Note Records re-released all tracks from this album, together with all tracks from 1969's Is and alternate takes from both albums as The Complete "Is" Sessions. Sundance features Chick in his prime early period, building with each new track a sound that was instantly recognizable. The lineup is a who’s-who of jazz masters: Jack DeJohnette, Hubert Laws, Woody Shaw, Horace Arnold, Dave Holland and Bennie Maupin. The music is pure Chick: playful and searching, never content with the expected.

Recorded during the same period as Is, Sundance has four very advanced (if forgettable) Chick Corea compositions interpreted by a septet that includes trumpeter Woody Shaw, Hubert Laws on flute, and Bennie Maupin on reeds. Actually, this is a lesser Corea item with plenty of rambling moments (although it is generally not as free as Is) and is recommended mostly to completists of the pianist who are interested in his early development.

This album is what free form jazz is all about, it is music that wanders with purpose meaning that it sounds like it is not really going in a particular direction then it all comes together with perfect timing. Imagine a soundtrack where you keep falling down hill, and every cymbal crash is you hitting a bump, or some other obstacle as you keep tumbling further downward such as the song "Wind song". This is an instrumental record so it is great to read to especially if it is an energetic story such as a thriller, or detective/ private eye story.

Track listing:

    "The Brain" (Chick Corea) – 10:09
    "Song of Wind" (Corea) – 8:05
    "Converge" (Corea) – 7:59
    "Sundance" (Corea) – 10:02

Personnel:

    Chick Corea – piano
    Hubert Laws – flute, piccolo flute
    Bennie Maupin – tenor saxophone
    Woody Shaw – trumpet
    Dave Holland – bass
    Jack De Johnette – drums
    Horace Arnold – drums