JIM HALL- Concierto / Big Blues / Studio Trieste
BGOCD1342
STANLEY TURRENTINE - Sugar / Gilberto with Turrentine / Salt Song
BGOCD1345
BGO (Beat Goes On) records seem to be making something of a speciality out of re-issuing Creed Taylor’s CTI catalogue and a fine job they are making of it too. These double CD sets come with elegant slip cases and booklets stuffed with original liner notes and art work as well as insightful analytic essays by Charles Waring, a contributor to MOJO and Record Collector magazines. Taylor, who, amongst his many achievements, founded Impulse records and worked as a producer for the Verve and A&M labels established CTI in or around 1969 with the aim of enhancing the commercial attractiveness of jazz music which was becoming increasingly radical as artistic expression veered towards the avant-garde. For this he has been vilified in certain quarters for having watered down the vitality of the music and sanding the edges off its expressive qualities, producing easy-listening pablum for the popular market, an accusation that, given the calibre and integrity of the featured musicians, is hardly sustainable notwithstanding the high gloss sheen of the recorded sound which emphasises bass ‘n drums, the occasional adaptation of popular classics and the striking pop style graphics of the sleeve art.
BGOCD1342
STANLEY TURRENTINE - Sugar / Gilberto with Turrentine / Salt Song
BGOCD1345
BGO (Beat Goes On) records seem to be making something of a speciality out of re-issuing Creed Taylor’s CTI catalogue and a fine job they are making of it too. These double CD sets come with elegant slip cases and booklets stuffed with original liner notes and art work as well as insightful analytic essays by Charles Waring, a contributor to MOJO and Record Collector magazines. Taylor, who, amongst his many achievements, founded Impulse records and worked as a producer for the Verve and A&M labels established CTI in or around 1969 with the aim of enhancing the commercial attractiveness of jazz music which was becoming increasingly radical as artistic expression veered towards the avant-garde. For this he has been vilified in certain quarters for having watered down the vitality of the music and sanding the edges off its expressive qualities, producing easy-listening pablum for the popular market, an accusation that, given the calibre and integrity of the featured musicians, is hardly sustainable notwithstanding the high gloss sheen of the recorded sound which emphasises bass ‘n drums, the occasional adaptation of popular classics and the striking pop style graphics of the sleeve art.
Each double CD set comprises three separate sessions adding alternate takes and bonus tracks to the original playlists and all date from the seventies. Guitarist Jim Hall’s three albums feature a variety of well-known names from the cooler end of the jazz spectrum like Chet Baker, Paul Desmond and Art Farmer with significant contributions in the rhythm section by Ron Carter and Steve Gadd. The highlight of the first album is a Don Sebesky arrangement of the famous second movement from Rodrigo’s `Concierto de Aranjuez which has an even more pronounced jazz pulse than the more celebrated `Sketches in Spain` version by Gil Evans and Miles Davis whilst in the blues oriented second album with Art Farmer another classical piece - Ravel’s `Pavanne`-is given a convincing jazz make-over. Like its partners the third album, which features flautist Hubert Laws and further flights of finely crafted eloquence from Chet Baker, gives us another effective and far from effete classical transcription in `Swan Lake` and a fascinating take on the Miles Davis piece `All Blues` which as it advances takes on the staccato rhythmic characteristics of Ravel’s `Bolero`. I can’t imagine anyone not finding these performances utterly delightful.
Those who know the virile tenor sax playing of Stanley Turrentine from his Blue Note recordings may consider him miscast in the svelte settings of Creed Taylor’s musical vision and I’d have to agree that the Astrid Gilberto session is a bit of an oddity with Turrentine, though sharing the billing, only appearing on four of the tracks of which several feature a string orchestra. If you like Gilberto’s style of singing and the idiom she inhabits then there is much to enjoy in this respect but some of the material is a bit lightweight like Harry Nilsson’s banal `Puppy Song`. Elsewhere Turrentine gets to strut his stuff with more of his characteristically lusty authority and in the company of the fiery trumpet playing of Freddie Hubbard and George Benson’s masterful guitar work on the first session he turns in some hard-nosed soul-bop ‘n blues excursions including a powerful interpretation of Coltrane’s `Impressions’. His rich vibrato also manages to rescue the third session from becoming submerged beneath various embellishments including a gospel choir, more strings, electric pianos, sound effects and all-pervading Lat-Am percussion. Given Creed’s avowed enthusiasm for Latin American forms especially the Bossa Nova it isn’t surprising that these rhythms predominate with the title track taking the form of a relaxed Bossa before morphing into an overheated samba. Turrentine survives it all with his signature sound intact.
Though I clearly prefer the Jim Hall sessions the Turrentine disc has its moments and having acquired a few of these BGO /CTI re-issues over the years I can honestly say that they are not without merit and contain many highly enjoyable and enduring performances giving lie to the oft expressed notion the seventies was a low point in the history of jazz.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Those who know the virile tenor sax playing of Stanley Turrentine from his Blue Note recordings may consider him miscast in the svelte settings of Creed Taylor’s musical vision and I’d have to agree that the Astrid Gilberto session is a bit of an oddity with Turrentine, though sharing the billing, only appearing on four of the tracks of which several feature a string orchestra. If you like Gilberto’s style of singing and the idiom she inhabits then there is much to enjoy in this respect but some of the material is a bit lightweight like Harry Nilsson’s banal `Puppy Song`. Elsewhere Turrentine gets to strut his stuff with more of his characteristically lusty authority and in the company of the fiery trumpet playing of Freddie Hubbard and George Benson’s masterful guitar work on the first session he turns in some hard-nosed soul-bop ‘n blues excursions including a powerful interpretation of Coltrane’s `Impressions’. His rich vibrato also manages to rescue the third session from becoming submerged beneath various embellishments including a gospel choir, more strings, electric pianos, sound effects and all-pervading Lat-Am percussion. Given Creed’s avowed enthusiasm for Latin American forms especially the Bossa Nova it isn’t surprising that these rhythms predominate with the title track taking the form of a relaxed Bossa before morphing into an overheated samba. Turrentine survives it all with his signature sound intact.
Though I clearly prefer the Jim Hall sessions the Turrentine disc has its moments and having acquired a few of these BGO /CTI re-issues over the years I can honestly say that they are not without merit and contain many highly enjoyable and enduring performances giving lie to the oft expressed notion the seventies was a low point in the history of jazz.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
