Artist - Tune - Album
Ramsey Lewis - Les Fleur - Maiden Voyage
Marion Brown - Maimoun - Vista
Chuck Mangione with Esther Satterfield - Soft - Chase the Clouds Away
Ralph Towner & Gary Burton - Drifting Petals - Match Book
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Joro - The Paris Session
Dianne Schuur - Cry Me A River - Talkin ‘Bout You
Clarence Wheeler & The Enforcers - The Heebie Jeebie Dance - The Love I’ve Been Looking For
Charlie Haden with Keith Jarrett - Ellen David - Closeness Duets
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan - Your Smile - Rufusized
Horace Silver - Sanctimonious Sam - Sterling Silver
Stanley Jordan - ‘Round Midnight - Magic Touch
Dionne Warwick - Checkout Time - Very Dionne
McCoy Tyner - For Tomorrow - Inner Voices
Jay Hoggard - Ruby, My Dear - Overview
Alice Coltrane - Journey to Satchidananda - Journey to Satchidananda
Joe Bonner - Angel Eyes - Angel Eyes
John McLaughlin - My Foolish Heart - Electric Guitarist
Fats Waller - Sweet And Slow - Giants of Jazz - Fats Waller
Stevie Wonder - Superwoman - Music Of My Mind
For playlists from all past Sets, please visit jazzgumbo.blogspot.ca
The time I spent in the studio recording and live streaming this set was a sweet and slow evening for sure. I’m grateful that I forgot the iPod at home and had to stick entirely to vinyl. It happens that I’d carried in a few more albums than usual that night, and played from almost all of them. Forgive me that some of the tracks are pretty scratchy. I’ve had some of these albums for decades, and the scratches are almost like the scratches on me – markers of a passage through life, time and perspective, and all that they’ve encompassed.
The scratchiest of these tunes, the first and last, the Ramsey Lewis and the Stevie Wonder, are from probably the first twenty or so albums I ever bought, years before I started taking care of them. I also think that these are among the best tunes in the set.
Ramsey Lewis has never gotten his due, so far as I’m concerned. He’s a masterful pianist, with a style that can be funky, churchy and bluesy. And the composition, “Les Fleur” or “The Flowers” by another over-looked artist, Charles Stepney, casts a hauntingly beautiful mood.
“Music of My Mind” was an extraordinary offering from Stevie Wonder, following closely on the heels of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” – two early 70’s albums that broke new ground as expressions of individual, musical visions. Not only did Wonder write and produce the entire album. He also – with the exception of two solos – plays all of the instruments.
Other Set standouts include McLaughlin’s take on “My Foolish Heart” and the magnificent “For Tomorrow” from McCoy Tyner. Then, there’s Dionne Warwick with the lush and orchestral Bacharach/David tune “Check Out Time”.
And if I were to pick out five more favorites, they’d be just great as these five!
Thrive!
Kirby Obsidian
