Dale Jacobs

Dale Jacobs Group - Live At Puccini's Singwell SW-0003 (1971)

Must remember not to neglect the blog - so my apologies for the lack of updates.

This post goes out to Gary - I was prompted to remember this little treasure after seeing the cover art posted over at his blog 'El Reza'.

Puccini's in Vancouver was one of those restaurants and clubs that seemed to flourish in the seventies - the culmination of Dale's three year residency there being this superb album. Boy, what I'd give to dine and be witness to these sorts of performances nowadays!

The late Canadian Dale Jacobs blossoms on this live set and shows off his true keyboard dexterity even more so here than on his studio albums. We have true analogue wizardry here, no harsh and sterile 'bad-fusion' but slick, lyrical and beautifully funky instrumentals.

1) Discovery (CBC Radio Olympic Theme)
2) Visions Of Rio
3) Splash
4) Without Reservation
5) What Else
6) It's Only The Perfect Love
7) A Last Look At The Summer

Ambiance

Ambiance - Ebun DaMon DMRS-365 (1979)

Ambiance was a little known jazz fusion group out of Los Angeles who recorded on the small independent DaMon label. Their style incorporates Brazilian and Latin flavours with a righteous and soulful afrocentric jazz edge. Members include Daoud (Alto Sax, lute, Shekere, Flexitone, Agogo, Soprano Sax, etc..), Bob Selvin (Keyboards), Peter Lainson (Guitar, Tambourine), Paul Olguin (Bass), John Delatore (Drums), Sarah Flynn (Vocals) and Elisa Jones (Vocals).

I was prompted to remember this LP after seeing the compilation shared over at http://ileoxumare.blogspot.com - I think you'll agree this album is as strong in depth as that compilation - a solid listen right through without one weak track. A great record and one that deserves more than to languish in obscurity...

1) Bossa Monife
2) After June
3) Camouflage
4) O.F.C.
5) Ebun
6) Turnaround
7) Last Tango

A Flight To Rio

Os 3 Do Rio - A Flight To Rio Guilde Internationale Du Disques/Concert Hall SVS-2431-2431 (1966)

Time for some carnival rhythms!! Hip male harmonising drenched in samba and bossa beats. Both the French and German cover art is included for the completists.

1) A Voz Do Morro
2) A-B-C (Ragg Mopp)
3) Batida Diferente
4) Batucada
5) Estrada Do Sol
6) Fechei A Porta
7) Folha Morta
8) General Da Banda
9) Menino Jogando Bola
10) Minha Saudade
11) Mulata Ye-Ye
12) Peidrita Del Mar
13) Pita Camion
14) So Meu Coracao

The Baron

Baron Von Ohlen Quartet featuring Mary Ann Moss - The Baron Creative World CW-3001 (1973)

"John Von Ohlen is the aristocrat of the drums, and he consistently turns in the noblest performance of them all. I am so proud and pleased that Creative World could be the firm to release The Baron's first recording, because it is a milestone in the field of innovative jazz for small groups. The Baron already has an international reputation among the jazz cognescenti. He has been described as a "powerhouse." That he is. But he has submerged his tremendous talent on this first album with his own quartet, to come up with a sublime whole--he is still the driving force, but the other members of the group are given the opportunity to be heard at their best, and their best is a joy. This album not only demonstrates John's great talent, it is solid proof that he is on his way to becoming a major figure in jazz. " -- Stan Kenton

So many people have asked me for this, I caved in under the pressure. Sublimely mellow jazz funk on Stan Kenton's private label. Enjoy...

1) TERGIVERSATION
Whistle: Baron Von Ohlen
Solo: Steve Allee (electric piano)
2) VONETTA
Solo: Steve Allee (electric piano)
3) IT ONLY HAPPENS EVERYTIME
Vocal: Mary Ann Moss
Solo: Steve Allee (electric piano)
4) BESSIES BLUES
Solo: Claude Sifferlen (acoustic and electric pianos)
5) PEE WEE
Solo: Steve Allee (electric piano)
6) (YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE) A NATURAL WOMAN
Vocal: Mary Ann Moss
Solo: Claude Sifferlen (acoustic piano)
7) ELEANOR RIGBY
Solo: Steve Allee (electric piano)
8) RUNAWAY HEART
Vocal: Mary Ann Moss
Solos: Claude Sifferlen (electric piano); Steve Allee (Farfisa organ)
9) CANDY MAN
Vocal: Mary Ann Moss
Solo: Steve Allee (electric piano)
10) WHY DID I CHOOSE YOU
Vocal: Mary Ann Moss
11) PINNOCHIO
Solos: Steve Allee (electric piano); Claude Sifferlen (organ); Baron Von Ohlen (drums)

Flute & Nut

Harold McNair - Flute & Nut RCA Camden INTS-1096 (UK) (1970)

McNair started out at the Alpha Boys School under the tutelage of Victor Tulloch, whilst playing with Joe Harriott (a lifelong friend who considered McNair his de facto younger brother), Wilton 'Bogey' Gaynair, and Baba Motta's band. He spent the first decade of his musical career in The Bahamas, where he used the name Little G for recordings and live performances. His early Bahamian recordings were mostly in Caribbean musical styles rather than jazz, in which he sang and played both alto and tenor saxophone. He also played a calypso singer in the 1958 film Island Women. In 1960, he went to Miami to record his first album, a mixture of jazz and calypso numbers entitled Bahama Bash. It was around this time that he began playing the flute, which would eventually become his signature instrument. Initially he had some lessons in New York, but he was largely self taught. He departed for Europe later in 1960.

Like many other West Indian jazz musicians of the 1950s and 1960s (eg Harriott, Dizzy Reece and Harry Beckett), McNair moved to Britain. However, before arriving in London, he toured Europe with Quincy Jones and worked on film and TV scores in Paris. Once in London, he quickly gained a reputation as a formidable player on flute, alto and tenor saxophone, leading to a regular gig at Ronnie Scott's nightclub.
His playing drew the admiration of bass player Charles Mingus, who was in London to shoot the 1961 motion picture All Night Long. McNair was part of a quartet Mingus formed to rehearse with during his stay in Britain. Unfortunately, the band never played live in front of a paying audience, due to a ban imposed by the UK Musicians' Union on US musicians in British nightclubs. A recording of the band exists, playing the earliest recorded version of the now famous Mingus composition Peggy's Blue Skylight, but it has never been released, despite featuring in the movie itself. The Musician's Union ban was lifted later in 1961, leading to a residency by US tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims at Ronnie Scott's club. Ironically, McNair's own quartet were also on the bill, resulting in two of his performances appearing on the album made to commemorate the gigs, Zoot Live at Ronnie Scott's. Around the same time, he also recorded with the drummer Tony Crombie and the percussionist Jack Costanzo.

McNair briefly returned to The Bahamas, where he cut his first all jazz LP Up In The Air With Harold McNair, before settling back in London permanently. His first UK album as a leader, 'Affectionate Fink', was made for the fledgling Island Records in 1965. The session saw him team up with Ornette Coleman's then current rhythm section of David Izenzon (bass) and Charles Moffett (drums), for a set of standards played with hard swinging intensity. McNair equally featured his tenor sax and flute on this session, delivering virtuoso performances on both. His next (self titled) album, cut for RCA in 1968, was another classic and featured probably his most famous composition, 'The Hipster', which has become a perennial fixture on the playlists at jazz clubs and was included on Gilles Peterson's Impressed Vol.2 compilation of 1960s British jazz.
His next album was 1970's Flute and Nut (RCA), which featured big band and string arrangements by John Cameron. This was quickly followed up in the same year by The Fence, which moved in the direction of jazz fusion. Another self-titled album was issued posthumously by the B&C label in 1972, which mixed tracks from the 1968 RCA album with later, unreleased recordings. Notable recorded works as a jazz sideman included sessions with the jazz-rock/big band ensemble Ginger Baker's Air Force and John Cameron's Off Centre. He also recorded with visiting Americans including vocalists Jon Hendricks and Blossom Dearie, drummer Philly Joe Jones and saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis.

1) The Umbrella Man
2) The Night Has A Thousand Eyes
3) You Are Too Beautiful
4) Barnes Bridge
5) Nomadic Joe
6) Herb Green
7) My Romance
8) Burnt Amber

Curt Cress Clan

Curt Cress Clan Atlantic ATL-50079 (1975)

So sorry for the lack of updates, I've been unwell and recovery has been slow. There's much I'd like to post in the forthcoming weeks (work & health permitting) so stay tuned.

Anyhow, time to get back into the swing of things with Curt Cress' funky debut LP.

Along with Udo Lindenberg, Mani Neumeier, Harald Grosskopf and Carsten Bohn, Curt Cress belongs to the most famous group of German drummers. He started his recording career at the age of 17 in the progressive rock group Orange Peel. Later he worked mainly with jazz-rock in groups like Passport, Atlantis and Emergency.

After four successful years, he left Doldinger's Passport in 1977 to form Snowball. In between, he had recorded this, his first solo album Curt Cress Clan with Volker Kriegel (guitar), Kristian Schultze (keyboards), Dave King (bass) and Ack van Rooyen (fluegelhorn). Nice line-up and the music doesn't disappoint - much sought after by beat diggers and Kraut Rock fans alike.

1) Cyclone
2) From The Back
3) Fields
4) Shuffle On Out
5) Delphine
6) 451271
7) No Answer
8) Moving Right Along
9) Funk Off

Natural Sources

Ronald Snijders - Natural Sources Private Pressing 6812 245 (Holl) (1977)

Ronald Snijders is considered to be the most swinging flutist in the Netherlands (Jazz magazine Jazz nu), and the inventor of African Surinam kawinajazz. He was born in Paramaribo, Suriname in 1951 and started to play the flute at the age of seven, influenced by his professionally flute playing father. In his youth he also practised guitar, sax, some piano and percussion, playing popular music, classical music, Brazilian music plus jazz.

In september of 1970 he settled in Delft, the Netherlands to study civil engineering, but about five years later he was a professional selftaught musician. Among his awards shines the Press prize at the prestigious NOS jazzconcours of 1973 in Laren, won with a flute solo. The legendary bandleader Boy Edgar who was presiding the jury said: Ronald Snijders has extreme skill and creativity. Jazz pianist Chick Corea wrote of him in 1976: You're a great flutist and an excellent composer…I'm sure people here in the United states will like your music a lot. And as jazz journalist Rudy Koopmans put it some years later: the most brillant fluteplayer in the field of improvised music in the Netherlands (Volkskrant).

Ronald Snijders produced and released twenty albums with innovative compositions of his own, varying in style from North American jazz and fusion to new African Caribbean jazz (among which Surinam kasekojazz and kawinajazz), Brazilian grooves and other worldjazz. Furthermore he played on albums of the Dutch Willem Breuker collective (in which he worked between 1974 and 1976), the partly Surinam Fra Fra big band and the Moroccan Weshm.

This, his debut release on his own Black Straight Music label, is a true collectors item. Not only does he play every instrument on the album, he is composer, producer and album art designer! Smooth, dense and spacey funky jazz with an exotic Brasilian-tinged flavour is order of the day. The man ticks every box here...enjoy!

1) Skin Source
2) Seven Wings
3) Galibi
4) Exchanged
5) Dagoe Sji Jorka
6) Busy Street
7) Todo Bere
8) Roseille
9) Temple Of Faith
10) Brazilian Blue