Merry Christmas

 

Deodato - 1977 [1989] "In Concert"

Eumir Deodato de Almeida (Brazilian Portuguese: [ẽwˈmiʁ deoˈdatu]; born 22 June 1942) is a Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger and record producer, primarily in jazz but who has been known for his eclectic melding of genres, such as pop, rock, disco, rhythm and blues, classical, Latin and bossa nova.

Deodato has arranged and produced more than 500 records for acts such as Frank Sinatra, Roberta Flack, Björk and Christophe, as well as produced Kool & the Gang's hits "Celebration", "Ladies' Night" and "Too Hot".

Deodato was nominated for three Grammy Awards and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1974 for "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)." The song peaked at number 2 on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 in March 1973. It reached number 3 in Canada and number 7 on the British charts.

The complete title is "Deodato In Concert - Live At Felt Forum".

Recorded Live at the Felt Forum of Madison Square Garden Center (New York, NY, USA) on April 20, 1973. Live Remote recording provided by Record Plant, and engineered by Frank Hubach.

An excellent little live set from Deodato – hard to believe because the sound's just as tight and funky as his studio albums, and possibly even more interesting because he manages to pull it off equally well in a live setting! The record features percussion by Airto, guitar by John Tropea, and vocals by Flora Purim – and those are just the marquee names of a large and amazing grew of great musicians! All tracks are long and complicated, for very hynotic feel throughout. The funkiest number is "Tropea", which has a nice long 8 minute groove – and the set also features a cover of Steely Dan's "Do It Again", plus the tracks "Parana", "Branches", "Baubles, Bangles And Beads" and "Skyscraper". Amazing!

Recorded live in the Felt Forum of New York City's Madison Square Garden in the wake of Deodato's massive 2001: A Space Odyssey hit, this album has a fairly confusing history. Only three selections, "Do It Again," "Spirit of Summer," and "Tropea" were released on the original slapped-together LP In Concert, and these were combined with Airto Moreira's "Parana" and "Branches," which were recorded at the same concert. In the CD-era, the LP was split up; Deodato's tracks were combined with four unreleased tunes from the concert, giving the CD-buyer 35 more minutes of music, while the two Airto tracks were placed on The Best of Airto. The concert wasn't too eventful from the Deodato fan's point of view; his combo competently grooves on, John Tropea provides a tough rock edge, the brass section sounds overloaded and unintegrated in a concert setting, and Bob James adds unnecessary string charts later. The additional CD tracks are reprises of "2001," "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," and "September 13" from Prelude and "Skyscrapers" from Deodato 2 -- which were probably considered too redundant for release in 1974. LP fans will enjoy the Airto tracks, for they are, frankly, more exotically original and invigorating than those of his fellow Brazilians. 

All tracks are performed exclusively by Deodato's band.

Tracks Listing:

Do It Again 6:36

September 13 7:27

Baubles, Bangles And Beads 4:44

Whirlwinds 8:40

Spirit Of Summer 5:32

Skyscraper 12:31

Also Sprach Zarathustra 11:03

Personnel:

Eumir Deodato – Keyboards

John Giulino – Electric Bass

John Tropea – Guitar

Rick Marrota – Drums

Rubens Bassini – Congas

Gilmore Degap – Percussion

Joe Temperley – Baritone

Burt Collins, Joe Shepley – Trumpets

Garnett Brown – Trombone

Weather Report - 1977 [1997] "Heavy Weather"

Heavy Weather is the seventh album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. The release sold about 500,000 copies; it would prove to be the band's most commercially successful album and one of the best sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. DownBeat magazine gave Heavy Weather a 5-star review, and later its readers voted it jazz album of the year.

The lineup for the album consisted of Weather Report founders Joe Zawinul (keyboards, synthesizers) and Wayne Shorter (saxophone), alongside Jaco Pastorius (bass), Alex Acuña (drums), and Manolo Badrena (percussion). It was produced and orchestrated by Zawinul, with additional production by Shorter and Pastorius, and engineered by Ron Malo.

The album opens with "Birdland", which on its own became a significant commercial success, unusual for an instrumental composition, and would go on to become a jazz standard. The melody had been performed live by the band as part of "Dr Honoris Causa", which was from Joe Zawinul's eponymous solo album. "Teen Town", a Pastorius composition where his bass takes the lead instrument role, is often considered a highlight of the album and of Pastorius's career. "Rumba Mamá", a percussion and vocals feature for Manolo Badrena and Alex Acuña, was recorded live at a summer 1976 concert in Montreux, Switzerland, which was also the subject of a DVD released in 2007.

Dan Oppenheimer said in a June 1977 review for Rolling Stone that he felt the band had moved away from their earlier music, losing a lot of the space, melodies and airy feel that set them apart from other jazz-rock bands, but gaining a new bassist who "has been instrumental in developing their busier, talkative style", and that while their music previously "went up and up only, becoming more ethereal as it went, the new bottom makes all the difference in the world".

This is simply one of the best jazz albums ever. The line up collaboration is perfect.Joe Zawinul on keys, Wayne Shorter on sax, Alex Acuna drums, Manolo Badrena percussion and Jaco Pastorius whose brilliance on a fretless bass in the '70s is again captured timelessly. Each track has a journey of its own with these guys. Birdland (a jazz standard) and TeenTown are classics. The latter featuring a blistering fretless bass line as the lead instrument. The whole album is absolutely outstandingly executed and timeless. Unbeatable driving music.

Weather Report's biggest-selling album is that ideal thing, a popular and artistic success -- and for the same reasons. For one thing, Joe Zawinul revealed an unexpectedly potent commercial streak for the first time since his Cannonball Adderley days, contributing what has become a perennial hit, "Birdland." Indeed, "Birdland" is a remarkable bit of record-making, a unified, ever-developing piece of music that evokes, without in any way imitating, a joyous evening on 52nd St. with a big band. The other factor is the full emergence of Jaco Pastorius as a co-leader; his dancing, staccato bass lifting itself out of the bass range as a third melodic voice, completely dominating his own ingenious "Teen Town" (where he also plays drums!). By now, Zawinul has become WR's de facto commander in the studio; his colorful synthesizers dictate the textures, his conceptions are carefully planned, with little of the freewheeling improvisation of only five years before. Wayne Shorter's saxophones are now reticent, if always eloquent, beams of light in Zawinul's general scheme while Alex Acuña shifts ably over to the drums and Manolo Badrena handles the percussion. Released just as the jazz-rock movement began to run out of steam, this landmark album proved that there was plenty of creative life left in the idiom.

Tracks Listing:

1. Birdland (5:57)

2. A Remark You Made (6:51)

3. Teen Town (2:51)

4. Harlequin (3:59)

5. Rumba Mama (2:11)

6. Palladium (4:46)

7. The Juggler (5:03)

8. Havona (6:01)

Personnel:

Joe Zawinul – ARP 2600 on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", Rhodes electric piano on all tracks except "Birdland", "Rumba Mamá", and "Havona", Yamaha grand piano on "Birdland", "Harlequin", "The Juggler", and "Havona", Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", "Palladíum", and "The Juggler", vocals on "Birdland", melodica on "Birdland" and "Teen Town", guitar and tabla on "The Juggler".

Wayne Shorter – Soprano saxophone on all tracks except "A Remark You Made" and "Rumba Mamá", tenor saxophone on "Birdland", "A Remark You Made", and "Palladíum"

Jaco Pastorius – Fretless bass on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", mandocello on "Birdland" and "The Juggler", vocals on "Birdland", drums on "Teen Town", steel drums on "Palladíum"

Alex Acuña – Drums on all tracks except "Teen Town" and "Rumba Mamá", congas and tom-toms on "Rumba Mamá", handclaps on "The Juggler"

Manolo Badrena – Tambourine on "Birdland", congas on "Teen Town", "Rumba Mamá", and "Palladíum", vocals on "Harlequin" and "Rumba Mamá", timbales on "Rumba Mamá", percussion on "Palladíum" and "The Juggler"

Santana - 1974 "Borboletta"

Borboletta is the sixth studio album by the American Latin rock band Santana. It is one of their jazz-funk-fusion oriented albums, along with Caravanserai (1972), and Welcome (1973). Non-band albums by Carlos Santana in this style also include Love Devotion Surrender (1973) with John McLaughlin and Illuminations (1974) with Alice Coltrane, Jack DeJohnette and Jules Broussard. The guitarist leaves much room to percussion, saxophone and keyboards to set moods ("Spring Manifestations"), as well as lengthy solos by himself ("Promise of a Fisherman") and vocals ("Give and Take", a funky guitar-led song). The record was released in a metallic blue sleeve displaying a butterfly, an allusion to the album Butterfly Dreams (1973) by Brazilian musician Flora Purim and her husband Airto Moreira, whose contributions deeply influenced the sound of Borboletta. In Portuguese, borboleta means "butterfly".

This album is unfortunately too often over looked, but represents yet another highlight in the group's discography and a shot at equalling (but not really close) Caravanserai's perfection. Named (I think) on a rare blue Central American butterfly (the background shot is a close-up of its wing's structure), this album is all too discreet for its own good.

Starting on the same birdsong and sheep herd landscapes than its inspiration (but written by jazz-rock great Airto Moreira), you just know you will be in for another superb Santana ride as right after the intro, the first few mid-eastern scales of Canto De Flores directly lead you to heaven. As usual with Santana albums, happiness radiates from every pore of the vinyl record groove and Life Is Anew and Give And Take (both sung and hyper positive) are some of the better sung jazz-rock (I am usually not really a fan of that "thing"), and the vocals do help setting its own feel as opposed to its inspiration. On a lesser level, One With The Sun, while still lovely, is maybe one sung-track too many in a row, but I might be just a bit over-nitpicky. 

Aspirations quickly repairs this slight flaw with its splendidly cosmic calmness. After the great Practice What You Preach instrumental, one more sung tracks (I must say that Leon Patillo's voice is quite pleasing) the excellent Mirage, the impressive Here and Now is quite a departure from what Santana had us used to and segues into the highly fusional Flor De Canela, before the album climaxes in the lengthy Promise Of A Fisherman, which is not lying in its promise to the listener: although nothing never heard before, we are dealing with one of the last truly great lengthy Santana instrumental here. The closing Airto Moreira-penned track is rather anecdotical, but does close the album in the same intriguing manner it openned.

One of the thngs that differentiates this album from the ultimacy (if you'll allow the creation of a new word for that album) of Caravanserai is Greg Rollie's absence >> both his organs and his voice are aptly replaced and almost equalled. But really, this album has very few to envy to it either, so I will round up its rating to the upper unit, making it also a five star.

Original bassist David Brown returned to replace Doug Rauch and vocalist/keyboardist Leon Patillo joined. After the album's completion, drummer Michael Shrieve left, to be replaced by Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, who had guested on parts of the album.

Track listing:

01 Spring Manifestas (Sound Effects) 1:05

02 Canto De Las Flores 3:45

03 Life Is Anew 4:30

04 Give And Take 3:46

05 One With The Sun 4:20

06 Aspirations 5:12

07 Practice What You Preach 4:39

08 Mirage 4:43

09 Here And Now 3:01

10 Flora De Canelo 2:20

11 Promise Of A Fisherman 6:05

12 Borboletta 2:50

Total Time: 49:53

Personnel:

Carlos Santana – guitar (3-5, 7–11) percussion (2, 9), congas (7), gong (8), vocals (11), producer

Leon Patillo – vocals (3–5, 7, 8), piano (8), electric piano (3, 5), organ (4)

Flora Purim – vocals (1, 11)

Jules Broussard – soprano and tenor saxophones (4, 6, 9, 11)

Tom Coster – piano (4, 9), Hammond organ (7, 10, 11), electric piano, Fender Rhodes (2, 9–11), organ (3, 5, 6, 8), Moog synthesizer (4, 8), producer

Stanley Clarke – bass guitar (6, 9–11)

David Brown – bass guitar (2, 4, 5, 7, 8)

Michael Shrieve – drums (2–5, 7, 8), producer

Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums (6, 9)

Airto Moreira – drums (10, 11), percussion (12), sound effects (1), triangle (11), vocals (12)

Armando Peraza – percussion, congas (2, 4–6, 8, 11), bongos (3, 6, 11), soprano saxophone (10)

José Areas – timbales (4), congas (2, 3)

Michael Carpenter – echoplex (2)

Danny Gatton - 1994 "88 Elmira St."

The Story

"88 Elmira St." showcases the ferocious technical ability of guitarist Danny Gatton, who has absorbed every significant American guitar style into his beautifully eclectic, inimitable and soulful guitar voice. "88 Elmira St.", Danny's major label debut, presents an eleven piece cross section of this man's musical versatility. Highlights include the infectious opener "Funky Mama", and the Beach Boys cover, "In My Room", done in true Gatton instrumental fashion.

88 Elmira St. is a 1991 album by guitarist Danny Gatton. The album was Gatton's fifth, but his first on a major record label—Elektra. The instrumental album covers a number of genres, including jazz, country, rockabilly, and blues.

When Gatton signed to Elektra, their only stipulation for his first album on the label was that it should be solely instrumental. On presenting his ideas for the album to the label, they suggested he cut his version of the Simpsons theme tune. The manualist flatulence at the end of the recording may have been Gatton's response to the label's suggestion.

The album's title, 88 Elmira St., is a reference to Gatton's home as a child. Gatton stated that at the time of producing the album, he "was playing Scotty Moore's original guitar [...] It's a Gibson ES-295, and I bought it trashed out twelve years ago. It sounded incredibly good; it had some magic in it, but I didn't know it was Scotty's. Then Billy Hancock kept offering me all kinds of money for it, way more than it should have been worth, so I said, 'What's the deal?' He said, 'I think you've got Scotty Moore's guitar there.'" Similarities to Moore, Al Casey and James Burton can be heard on the album.

After years of knocking around the Washington, D.C.-area circuit, local guitar legend Danny Gatton finally got to cut his first album for a major label. It was indeed worth the wait, spot-welding blinding speed and immaculate chops that went in a million different directions (jazz, country, rockabilly, blues, you name it) to a musical sensibility that made this all-instrumental album a whole lot more than just yer average fretboard wanking jam-fest. Gatton's Telecaster really shines on diverse material ranging from Martin Denny's "Quiet Village" to the roadhouse shuffle "Funky Mama" to the off-the-wall rendition of the theme to The Simpsons. Kudos to Elektra for having the corporate balls to put this out; short, chunky, and middle-aged, Danny Gatton was a bona fide guitar hero for the '90s, putting the lie to the hard canard that only speedburner metal mega-hair dudes can make the front covers of the guitar mags.

Track listing:

01. "Funky Mama" Big John Patton 5:41

02. "Elmira St. Boogie" Danny Gatton 4:03

03. "Blues Newburg" Danny Gatton 4:10

04. "Quiet Village" Les Baxter 4:49

05. "Red Label" Chris Battistone, Danny Gatton 5:05

06. "In My Room" Gary Usher, Brian Wilson 4:53

07. "The Simpsons" Danny Elfman 3:17

08. "Muthaship" Danny Gatton, Billy Windsor, Stephen Windsor 4:39

09. "Pretty Blue" Danny Gatton 6:07

10. "Fandangus" Danny Gatton 3:06

11. "Slidin' Home" Danny Gatton 4:54

Total length: 50:44

Personnel:

Danny Gatton Guitar, Slide Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, 5-String Banjo, Lap Steel, 5-String Bass on "Quiet Village", Handclaps on "Pretty Blue", Second Guitar on "The Simpsons", Production, Arrangement

Bill Holloman Arrangement, Saxophones (Tenor, Alto, Baritone), Trumpet, Clarinet, Trombone, Hammond B-3 Organ, Vibes, Piano, Handclaps on "Pretty Blue", Yamaha DX7, Roland D50

Shannon Ford Drums, Percussion, Hand-D-Gas on "The Simpsons"

John Previti Upright Bass, 5-String Bass, Ripper Bass

Tommy Lepson Hammond B3 Organ on "Quiet Village"