Miles Davis - 1957 [2005] "Round About Midnight"

Miles Davis ‎– 'Round About Midnight
Recording sessions took place at Columbia Studio D on October 26 1955, and at Columbia's 30th Street Studio on June 5 and September 10 1956. 'Round About Midnight' is widely recognized by jazz critics as a landmark album in hard bop and one of the greatest jazz albums of all time.

With the release of the spectral title tune, and the efforts of the Columbia marketing and publicity departments behind him, a thirty-year old Miles Davis entered into a period of extraordinary artistic maturity and growth. And Miles instinctively knew how to cultivate his star quality. Looming behind those shades, was the diffident, sensitive anti-hero--proud and defiant--who only spoke to his audience through his horn, and turned his back on them when the other soloists were blowing.

The combination of attitude and intellect was irresistible. Beginning with ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT and proceeding through a remarkable succession of famous recordings over the next 30 years, Miles Davis became one of the greatest soloists, arrangers and talent scouts in the history of American music. People who didn't own a single jazz record came to know his name--Miles was a jazz icon.

His famous intro on the title tune is based on mentor Dizzy Gillespie's arrangement, and Miles' tone, always a strong point, has here matured into something deeply personal and unique. His provocative use of space and silence--matched only by Lester Young, Billie Holiday and Thelonious Monk--sets up the famous release and Coltrane's agitated statement. Here and on the Prestige recordings, Coltrane found his voice as Miles' foil, while "The Rhythm Section" (pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones), became the most celebrated in jazz--capable of smooth, bouncy delicacy ("Dear Old Stockholm," "All Of You" and "Bye Bye Blackbird"), hard swing ("Tadd's Delight") and relentless complexity (Charlie Parker's contrapuntal "Ah-Leu-Ch"). A masterpiece.

At the Newport Jazz Festival in 1955, Davis performed the song "'Round Midnight" as part of an all-star jam session, with the song's composer Thelonious Monk, along with Connie Kay and Percy Heath of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Zoot Sims, and Gerry Mulligan. Davis's solo received a positive reception from many jazz fans and critics. His response to this performance was typically laconic: "What are they talking about? I just played the way I always play." George Avakian of Columbia Records was in the audience, and his brother Aram persuaded him that he ought to sign Davis to the label.

Davis signed with Columbia and formed his "first great quintet" with John Coltrane on saxophone. 'Round About Midnight was his first album for the label. He was still under contract to Prestige, but he had an agreement that he could record material for Columbia to release after the expiration of his Prestige contract. Recording took place at Columbia studios; the first session was on October 26, 1955 at Studio D, during which the track "Ah-Leu-Cha" was recorded with three numbers that did not appear on the album. This is the first studio recording of the quintet. The remainder of the album was recorded during sessions on June 5, 1956 ("Dear Old Stockholm", "Bye Bye Blackbird" and "Tadd's Delight") and September 10, 1956 ("All of You" and the titular "'Round Midnight") at Columbia's 30th Street Studio. During the same period, the Miles Davis Quintet was also recording sessions to fulfill its contract with Prestige.

These Miles Davis sessions for Columbia, from 1955 and 1956, are usually overshadowed by a quartet of albums (Relaxin', Workin', Steamin' and Cookin') Davis recorded for the Prestige label in the same period and with the same band.

Davis and a new quintet, including a then little-known saxophonist called John Coltrane, hastily cut those great discs to discharge their contractual obligations to Prestige before moving to Columbia. It turned out to be the most inspired period of work for one of the most inspired groups in jazz history. The spare and elliptical trumpet phrasing of Davis hypnotically contrasted with the striving ferocity of Coltrane's tenor sax, and a jazz rhythm section (this one included drummer Philly Joe Jones) had never before sounded so unerringly swinging and yet so effortlessly and provocatively flexible. Moreover, Davis was on his way to being unofficially elected the crown prince of cool. He had triumphantly returned to playing after a layoff to disentangle from heroin, and with his shades, sharp suits and imperious manner, he looked every inch a young man who had come back with the keys to the city for modern jazz.

What makes this Round About Midnight package different from earlier Columbia issues of the same material is that the six tracks from the original LP are now augmented, not only by bonus studio takes but by Miles Davis's famous duet with Thelonious Monk from the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival, and previously unissued concert material from the quintet's tour early the following year.

The appearance at Newport, with Davis an informal guest, was the episode that restarted the trumpeter's stalled career. Playing on Monk's composition Round About Midnight, he curls slow notes around the pianist's hammer-and-anvil chords as an intro, plays a quick, dancing figure and then a long, arching sound to bring himself within range of the theme. He keeps sidestepping the melody and simultaneously hinting at it, with soft hovering sounds and shrugging upward slides, and typically balances sighing, suspended sounds with lightly blown double time. Monk, meanwhile, keeps threatening to bring the piece to a dead halt, with grumpy, full-stop chords and preoccupied, boogieing figures. It's a classic jazz collaboration, and after that performance everybody wanted to know the 29-year-old Miles Davis all over again. Recruiting his brilliant quintet soon followed.

The studio material also kicks off with the title track, this time featuring the trumpeter's famous muted sound in slow, weaving counterpoint with Coltrane. Charlie Parker's vivacious Ah-Leu-Cha is a dialogue between the horns and drums, Bye Bye Blackbird an object lesson in tantalising behind-the-beat timing, and a nimble Two Bass Hit and Bud Powell's boppish Budo are among the studio tracks added from the same period.

But it's the live material on the second disc that is the most absorbing. Apart from the Newport performance, six tracks from a 1956 concert in Pasadena catches the freshly ignited energy of this new group, with Davis often operating in the fast, twisting bebop-rooted style that preceded his more famous free-modal and fusion approaches of the decades to follow. The empathy of the whole group on theme statements and the driving presence of Jones is clear on an account of Walkin' in which Davis brilliantly deploys only a sparing selection of notes and pauses. There's a lovely ballad account of It Never Entered My Mind and a breakneck jitter through Dizzy Gillespie's Salt Peanuts. Impresario Gene Norman's short interview with Davis inadvertently sounds hilariously like an old Lenny Bruce sketch, which all adds to the period interest.

 Track listing:

CD 1
01     'Round Midnight     5:55
02     Ah-Leu-Cha     5:53
03     All Of You     7:01
04     Bye Bye Blackbird     7:53
05     Tadd's Delight     4:26
06     Dear Old Stockholm     7:49
07     Two Bass Hit     3:45
08     Little Melonae     7:18
09     Budo     4:14
10     Sweet Sue, Just You     3:39

CD 2
1     'Round Midnight     5:54
    All Selections Below Recorded Live 2/18/56
    All Previously Unreleased
2     Introduction By Gene Norman     1:37
3     Chance It (aka Max Is Making Wax)     4:34
4     Walkin'     9:24
5     Gene Norman & Miles Davis     1:06
6     It Never Entered My Mind     5:17
7     Woody 'N You     5:46
8     Salt Peanuts     4:35
9     The Theme     0:19

Personnel

    Miles Davis – trumpet
    John Coltrane – tenor saxophone
    Red Garland – piano
    Paul Chambers – double bass
    Philly Joe Jones – drumset

Newport personnel bonus disc track one

    Miles Davis – trumpet
    Zoot Sims – tenor saxophone
    Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone
    Thelonious Monk – piano
    Percy Heath – double bass
    Connie Kay – drumset

Various Artists - 1996 "The Panasonic Village Jazz Festival"

Track listing / Personnel:

01     Stanley Turrentine   -  Terrible T    
02     Mingus Big Band   -  O.P. (Oscar Pettiford)    
03     Dizzy Gillespie   -  Tour de Force    
04     McCoy Tyner  -   Up Against The Wall    
05     Tito Puente  -   Nostalgia In Times Square    
06     Kenny Burrell   -  When Lights Are Low    
07     Roy Haynes   -  Like This    
08     Eddie Harris  -   The Grand Strut    
09     Steve Turre  -   Rhythm Within    
10     Benny Carter With Dianne Reeves And Joe Williams   -  We Were In Love    
11     Abdullah Ibrahim  -   Kofifi    
12     Maria Schneider Orchestra  -   Giant Steps

McCoy Tyner - 1973 [1990] "Enlightenment"

Enlightenment is a live album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Milestone label. It was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on July 7, 1973 and features Tyner in performance with Azar Lawrence, Joony Booth and Alphonse Mouzon.

This is one of the great McCoy Tyner recordings. The powerful, percussive, and highly influential pianist sounds quite inspired throughout his appearance at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival. Azar Lawrence (on tenor and soprano) is also quite noteworthy and there is plenty of interplay with bassist Juney Booth and drummer Alphonse Mouzon. But Tyner is the main star, whether it be on his three-part "Enlightenment Suite," "Presence," "Nebula," or the 25-minute "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit."

Richard Cook and Brian Morton, authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz, opine that Enlightenment and the 1974 live album Atlantis are "two huge, sprawling concert recordings which will drain most listeners: Tyner's piano outpourings seem unstoppable, and Lawrence comes on as an even fierier spirit than [Sonny] Fortune, even if both are in thrall to Coltrane. The Enlightenment set, cut at Montreux, is marginally superior, if only for the pile-driving 'Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit."

Few musicians are able to make their music feel as urgent or sound as epic as McCoy Tyner was able to in his prime, and nowhere does he do it more definitively than on this live set recorded at the Montreaux Jazz festival In 1973, which captures the impassioned, cerebral majesty of his studio work and transfers it to the stage with full potency, particularly during the twenty-five minute closer "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit", which has since gone on to become Tyner's signature song. Absolutely mind-blowing in its intensity, I think it would be virtually impossible to find another live album that matches the sound and fury that these four musicians produced on this date.

By the time Enlightenment was released in 1973, McCoy Tyner had already been an integral part of the legendary John Coltrane Quartet, appeared on - as both a leader and sideman - a slew of classic Blue Note and Impulse! LPs and then in 1972 made the move to Milestone records where he remain for nearly a decade. With Milestone he would release a string of outstanding records, the earliest of which (including Enlightenment) would play an important part in cementing his status as one of the giants of jazz piano.

I've read that after leaving the Cotrane Quartet, Tyner supposedly struggled artistically for a few years, although I've never picked up on that from his Blue Note albums. Certainly he found a distinctive voice once he joined Milestone, with records like Sahara, Song For My Lady, Sama Layuca and Enlightenement standing out in the early '70s jazz landscape with their mix of modal, post bop and progressive jazz ideas blended together in fresh and exciting ways. Tyner and his bandmates are nearly fearless in their presentation during this period. The undeniable spiritual aspect to his recordings from this time only brings another level of complexity and emotion to the proceedings.

Steve Metaliz, writing for Down Beat, noted that:

    since the death of Coltrane, it's been the pianists who've been on the cutting edge of the music's development.... Enlightenment testifies to the brilliant sound of [Tyner's] endeavors. Tyner's inside the instrument, as Coltrane was with the sax, drawing from it colors, textures, and intensities unprecedented in jazz. No wonder the sidemen tend to get lost in the shuffle a bit. Tenor saxophonist Azar Lawrence in particular sometimes seems overwhelmed by the energy emanating from the keyboard; but on the whole he acquits himself well in a role in which it was understandably difficult to retain a distinctive voice. Drummer Al Mouzon deserves special note; his crisp drumming is a good foil for Tyner's shattering polyphony. Enlightenment is a celebration of the epoch of the pianists and also of a musician who has never ceased to grow.

Track listing:

1     Presenting The McCoy Tyner Quartet     1:19
2     Enlightenment Suite, Part 1: Genesis     10:02
3     Enlightenment Suite, Part 2: The Offering (Solo Piano)     4:00
4     Enlightenment Suite, Part 3: Inner Glimpse     10:04
5     Presence     10:35
6     Nebula     9:39
D     Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit     24:05

Personnel:

    Bass – Joony Booth*
    Drums – Alphonse Mouzon
    Piano, Percussion – McCoy Tyner
    Saxophone – Azar Lawrence

Gene Harris - 1999 "Alley Cats"

Alley Cats is vintage Harris. Recorded live at Jazz Alley in Seattle, the album features the leader’s quartet (guitarist Frank Potenza, bassist Luther Hughes and drummer Paul Kreibich) along with veteran saxophonists Red Holloway and Ernie Watts. Harris and the saxmen establish the energy level here, and they don't hold anything back.

Harris' goal for Alley Cats was to get funky, and his ensemble surely accomplishes that objective on tunes like the Crusaders' "Put It Where You Want It," Cannonball Adderley's "Jive Samba" and an extended version of the soulful Eddie Harris composition "Listen Here." But Alley Cats also demonstrates Gene Harris' considerable versatility on keys. On Ernie Watts' fast-paced original "Bird's Idea," the pianist delivers a furious bop solo. On "Magic Lady," he embellishes a rapid Latin-soul groove. He comps beautifully behind daughter Nikki's vocals on "You've Changed." Then he trades bluesy runs with organist Jack McDuff on "Walkin' With Zack" and "Listen Here."

Stylistically, Alley Cats covers a lot of ground: soul-jazz, mainstream, a hint of gospel, bluesy jazz, occasional Latin grooves, a bop tune and a ballad. Leader Harris' fiery piano work is as soul-drenched as ever. Normally a tenor player, Watts blows alto on four tracks here. Alley Cats is hot stuff.

Too many artists have gone their entire careers without providing any live albums, but that hasn't been a problem for Gene Harris whose live recordings from the 1980s and 1990s ranged from unaccompanied solo piano to big-band dates.

Arguably, the best live album he gave listeners in the 1990s was Alley Cats; recorded live at Jazz Alley in Seattle on December 11-12, 1998, this CD finds Harris' working quintet (Harris on piano, Frank Potenza on guitar, Luther Hughes on bass, and Paul Kreibich on drums) joined by such accomplished soloists as Red Holloway (tenor sax), Ernie Watts (alto and tenor sax), and Jack McDuff (organ). Many inspired moments occur, and a 65-year-old Harris really goes that extra mile on gems ranging from Nat Adderley's "Jive Samba" and Benny Golson's "Blues March" to Joe Sample's "Put It Where You Want It" (which, in the 1970s, was introduced by the Crusaders before being covered by the Average White Band).

A talented but underexposed singer (underexposed in the 1990s, anyway) who has recorded R&B albums but is quite capable of handling jazz, Harris' daughter Niki Harris is featured on earthy performances of "You've Changed," "Please Send Me Someone to Love," and "Guess Who." McDuff, meanwhile, brings his gritty, down-home Hammond B-3 to two songs: Eddie Harris' "Listen Here" and Gene Harris' "Walkin' With Zach." Soul-jazz enthusiasts will definitely want this excellent CD.

Pianist Gene Harris again lays down soulful, bluesy, funky grooves on his 21st album for Concord. Recorded live at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle, the aggregation includes saxophonists Ernie Watts and Red Holloway, and organist Jack McDuff working new magic on familiar charts.

Standout tracks feature Harris’ dynamic gospel-funk form on “Put It Where You Want It,” Holloway and Watts in tenor tandem on Benny Golson’s “Blues Walk” and Brother Jack’s dazzling B-3 on Eddie Harris’ “Listen Here.” Other stellar moments: Watts’ searing alto on Nat Adderly’s “Jive Samba,” and the combination of Holloway’s tender tenor and audacious Niki Harris, the leader’s vocalist-daughter, on “Please Send Me Someone to Love.” The well-meshed rhythm section has Frank Potenza on guitar, Luther Hughes on bass and Paul Kreibich on drums. These cats have created a jazz-blues classic.

If you like your jazz tinted with gospel, blues and soul, you gotta love Gene Harris' two-fisted piano work.

Track listing:

1     Put It Where You Want It     5:34
2     Magic Lady     4:05
3     Blues March     10:56
4     Bird's Idea     4:44
5     Walkin' With Zach     6:50
6     Jive Samba     5:48
7     You've Changed     6:11
8     Guess Who     5:21
9     Listen Here     11:36
10     Please Send Me Someone To Love     4:51

Personnel:

    Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Ernie Watts
    Bass – Luther Hughes
    Drums – Paul Kreibich
    Guitar – Frank Potenza
    Organ – Jack McDuff*
    Piano – Gene Harris
    Tenor Saxophone – Red Holloway
    Vocals – Niki Harris*

Herbie Hancock - 1979 [1986] "The Best Of Herbie Hancock"

Herbie Hancock is One Of The Baddest Musicians Ever! His Sound&Groove Here is Tight.He Can Play So Many Different Musicial Styles it will Drive you Crazy.He Gets Funky Here,Jazz,Pop,Soulful So Many Elements From this Genius.Watermelon Man&Chameleon are Timeless Songs.Very Essential Collection.

In the second half of the Seventies, Herbie Hancock put most of his energy into advancing the state of jazz/funk in the world. Initially (i.e., Headhunters), Hancock’s exploration of funk led to one of the more exciting musical adventures in modern music. Over time, however, the experiment began to feel formulaic as Hancock moved his experiment from the laboratory to the dance floor.

This compilation provides a brief summary of a very fertile period that included several crossover hits, all of which are included here. You’ll find the insidiously funky “Chameleon” from Headhunters, the lovely jazz/funk hybrid of “I Thought It Was You” from Sunlight, the epic “Hang Up Your Hang Ups” from Man-Child and the indestructible “Doin’ It” from Secrets. Also included here are two tracks from Hancock’s most recent effort, Feets Don’t Fail Me Now: “Tell Everybody” (here presented in its disco mix version) and “Ready Or Not” (replaced by “You Bet Your Love” in the UK, where it was a Top 20 hit).

FDFMN found Hancock shifting toward disco music, which has not endeared it to music critics, although there’s little question that Hancock elevates the medium even if the sum result seemed like slumming to some. Although Hancock did release a few more disco albums into the new decade, their achievements are superseded by what’s here. When this compilation was released on CD in the 80s, digital technology was perceived as its own value-add, and so Columbia simply re-issued it with the same six tracks. The decision not to expand on this in the last 25 years speaks to a cooling interest in Hancock’s funk phase. The Best of Herbie Hancock remains a good, succinct entrypoint into one of Hancock’s most creative (if least understood) periods.

Track listing:

1. Doin’ It (Remix) (Melvin Ragin/Ray Parker Jr.) (6:43)
2. I Thought It Was You (Herbie Hancock/Jeffrey Cohen/Melvin Ragin) (8:55)
3. Chameleon (Paul Jackson/Harvey Mason/Bennie Maupin/Herbie Hancock) (7:38)
4. Hang Up Your Hang Ups (Herbie Hancock/Melvin Ragin/Paul Jackson) (7:27)
5. Ready Or Not (Ray Parker Jr./Jeffrey Cohen) (6:30)
6. Tell Everybody (Disco Version) (Hancock/David Rubinson/Jeffrey Cohen/Bruce Good) (7:48)

Personnel:

Herbie Hancock with Art Baldacci (background vocals), Leon “Ndugu” Chancler (drums on track 2), Michael Clark (drums on track 4), Fred Dobbs (background vocals), Coke Escovedo (timbales on track 5), Sheila Escovedo (percussion, timblaes, congas on tracks 5 & 6), James Gadson (drums, backround vocals on tracks 1 & 6), Paul Jackson (bass on tracks 3 & 4), Don Kerr (background vocals), Chris Mancini (background vocals), Harvey Mason (drums on track 3), Bennie Maupin (saxes, flute, bass clarinet on tracks 3 & 4), Byron Miller (bass on tracks 2), Kenneth Nash (percussion), Ray Obiedo (guitar on track 6), Ray Parker Jr., (guitar, drums, background vocals on tracks 1, 2 & 5), Raul Rekow (congas on track 2), Bill Summers (percussion on tracks 3 & 4), The Waters: Oren, Maxine, Julia and Luther (vocals, background vocals on tracks 5 & 6), Eddie Watkins (bass on track 6), Wah Wah Watson (guitar,  bass, voice bag vocals on tracks 1, 2 & 4). Produced by David Rubinson & Friends, Inc. and Herbie Hancock; associate producers: Wah Wah Watson (track 1), Jeffrey Cohen (tracks 5 & 6); engineered by Fred Catero, David Rubinson, Michael Fusaro (track 1), Don Miley (track 6), Tim Rivers (track 6), Jeremy Zatkin (track 3).

McCoy Tyner - 1974 [2001] "Sama Layuca"

Sama Layuca is a studio album by American jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, released in 1974 by Milestone Records. It was recorded on March 26, 27, and 28, 1974, with sidemen John Stubblefield, Gary Bartz, Azar Lawrence, Bobby Hutcherson, Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Guilherme Franco and Mtume.

Reviewing for The Village Voice in 1974, Robert Christgau said the album's best music "breathes with a lushness and lyricism that never cloys". He found the melodies, harmonies, and polyrhythms to be "sensuous without coming on about it" and felt that Tyner's minor flaws as a pianist, including "Tatumesque flourishes", are "less egregious in an ensemble setting like this one."

Pianist McCoy Tyner is heard at the height of his powers throughout this rewarding set. He contributed all five compositions and has a colorful and diverse group of major players at his disposal to interpret them: vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, altoist Gary Bartz, Azar Lawrence on tenor and soprano, John Stubblefield doubling on oboe and flute, bassist Buster Williams, drummer Billy Hart and both Mtume and Guillerme Franco on percussion. The results (which include a brief Tyner-Hutcherson duet on "Above the Rainbow") are quite rewarding and serve as a strong example of McCoy Tyner's music.

Sama Layuca dates from 1974, and sees Tyner in an octet format, teaming up with Lawrence, old duet partner vibist Bobby Hutcherson, Gary Bartz, John Stubblefield and a monster rhythm section of Buster Williams, Billy Hart and percussionists Mtume and Guilherme Franco.

The results are exhilarating; Tyner's compositions are unsurprisingly modal excursions, topped off with faintly exotic horn themes and driven by insistent,afro-latin rhythms. Lawrence (on tenor and soprano) and altoist Bartz are clearly at home; Lawrence'sfruity, robusttenor and airy soprano blends Coltrane's fiery yearning with a floating attack worthy of Wayne Shorter, while Bartz is typically wondrous, full of surprise and fire (check his questing solo on the closing "Paradox").Both players provide an abject lesson in getting the mostout of soloing over one or two chords.

Hutcherson was possibly the only vibist around who could survive in the heat generated by such a lineup. His crystalline voicings are showcased on the two lower key numbers; the impressionistic "Above the Rainbow" (a duet with the leader), and the stately "Desert Cry". Switching to marimba on the hyperspeed latin groove of "La Cubana", Hutcherson more than holds his own, firing off rhythmically twisty, harmonically probing lines before playing call and response with Franco's cowbells.

Tyner's playing walks his usual line between tough and tender, from the swelling, limpid arpeggios of "Above the Rainbow" to the percussive splash and dark intervals of his solo on "La Cubana". The expanded lineup holds the pianists's tendency to overcook his solos in check; despite the length of some of the pieces ("Paradox" clocks in at over 16 minutes) this isn't the testosterone fuelled sprawling solofest you might expect. Solos are kept short and sweet, and the frequent shifts in texture and instrumental combinations keep things interesting.

Most of all it's Tyner's rhythmic sense and his powerhouse left hand that provide the excitement when locking with the irresistible grooves that Williams, Hart, Mtume and Franco whip up. I bet there were a few sore fingers after this session, but the music here won't leave your ears sore. Recommended.

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

Track listing

All songs composed by McCoy Tyner.

1.    "Sama Layuca" - 8:37
2.    "Above the Rainbow" - 3:02
3.    "La Cubaña" - 10:26
4.    "Desert Cry" - 4:57
5.    "Paradox" - 16:27

Personnel

    McCoy Tyner: piano
    John Stubblefield: oboe, flute
    Gary Bartz: alto saxophone
    Azar Lawrence: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
    Bobby Hutcherson: vibes, marimba
    Buster Williams: bass
    Billy Hart: drums
    Guilherme Franco: percussion
    James Mtume: percussion

Pat Metheny - 1992 "Secret Story"

Secret Story is an album by Pat Metheny released in 1992. that won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 1993. All of the music is composed by Metheny (shared credit on one track), and it is one of his most ambitious and successful studio ventures, integrating elements of jazz, rock, and world music. On the performing side, it includes collaborations with the Pinpeat Orchestra of the Royal ballet of Cambodia, the London Orchestra and its conductor Jeremy Lubbock, the Choir of the Cambodian Royal Palace, Toots Thielemans, and Lyle Mays.

The opening song, "Above the Treetops", is an adaptation of a Cambodian spiritual song; other pieces, such as "Antonia", take influence from Eastern Europe. Japanese pianist and singer Akiko Yano appears on "As a Flower Blossoms", earning the only co-writing credit on the album. Yano had previously collaborated with Metheny on "Good Girl", "Lots of Love", and "Love Life", from her 1991 album Love Life, and on two Metheny covers: "'It's for You'" on Welcome Back (1989) (which also featured Metheny performing on two additional songs) and "Praise" on Super Folk Song (1992). Orchestral arrangements for the album were conducted by Jeremy Lubbock.

“The New York Times called Pat Metheny’s 1992 Grammy Award-winning Secret Story the most sweepingly ambitious album that the jazz guitarist has yet recorded...a nearly 80-minute world-music suite with symphonic underpinnings. If the album functioned then, in the words of critic Stephen Holden, as part travelogue and part soundtrack for a nonexistent film, then this expanded and re-mastered edition can best be described as the director’s cut. Composer and guitarist Metheny revisited and restored five previously unreleased tracks in the studio over the last year, and he’s collected them on a bonus disc. More pastoral in tone than most of the original material on Secret Story and with a decidedly cinematic, orchestral feel these tracks are like the deleted scenes from a deeply evocative yet wordless narrative feature. Back in ’92, Metheny declared that Secret Story was unlike anything I’ve ever done. It’s the largest in scope – 80 people were involved in the record – but it’s also the most intimate record I’ve done.”

Metheny took Secret Story on a concert tour, and a video recording of a live performance at New Brunswick, New Jersey, was issued. This film, also called Secret Story, was re-released on DVD in 2001.

The album was certified gold by the RIAA on December 1, 1995

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

Track listing

All tracks are written by Pat Metheny except where noted.

01.    "Above the Treetops"    2:43
02.    "Facing West"    6:05
03.    "Cathedral in a Suitcase"    4:52
04.    "Finding and Believing"    10:00
05.    "The Longest Summer"    6:34
06.    "Sunlight"    3:53
07.    "Rain River"    7:09
08.    "Always and Forever"    5:26
09.    "See the World"    4:48
10.    "As a Flower Blossoms (I Am Running to You)" (Pat Metheny/Akiko Yano)    1:53
11.    "Antonia"    6:11
12.    "The Truth Will Always Be"    9:15
13.    "Tell Her You Saw Me"    5:11
14.    "Not to Be Forgotten (Our Final Hour)"    2:22

Personnel

    Pat Metheny – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
    Ryan Kisor – trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9)
    Mike Metheny – trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9)
    Michael Mossman – trumpet, flugelhorn (track 9)
    Dave Bargeron – trombone, tuba (track 9)
    Tom Malone – trombone (track 9)
    Dave Taylor – bass trombone (track 9)
    John Clark – French horn (track 9)
    Andy Findon – flute (track 7)
    Toots Thielemans – harmonica (tracks 8 and 11)
    Lyle Mays – piano, keyboard (tracks 2 and 6)
    Gil Goldstein – accordion (tracks 4, 7, and 9)
    Skaila Kanga – harp (track 13)
    Charlie Haden – double bass (tracks 1 and 8)
    Steve Rodby – double bass, bass guitar (tracks 4-7, 9, and 11)
    Will Lee – bass guitar (tracks 4, 6, and 12)
    Anthony Jackson – contrabass guitar (track 9)
    Steve Ferrone – drums (tracks 3–5 and 12)
    Sammy Merendino – drums (track 6)
    Paul Wertico – drums (tracks 4–5, 7–9, and 11)
    Danny Gottlieb – cymbal roll, percussion (tracks 3 and 11)
    Armando Marçal – percussion (tracks 1–7, 9, and 12)
    Naná Vasconcelos – percussion (tracks 1, 4–5, and 10–12)
    Mark Ledford – vocals (tracks 3 and 4)
    Akiko Yano – vocals (track 10)