Fabiano Orchestra

Fabiano Orchestra - Butterfly Island Franck R Records 8.8002 (1979)

Cracking jazz fusion by the Jean-François Fabiano Orchestra out of Guadeloupe on a French only pressing. Deep spacey keyboard noodling and Rhodes solos courtesy Dominique Bérose, lively melodic horn lines, lyrical guitar licks and worldless females interspersed with tracks of a more West Indian bent. Top draw..!

1) Half Moon Bay
2) Fo Ça Changé
3) Créole
4) Rastaman Rock
5) West Indian Meditation
6) Butterfly Island
7) Fusion (Manahattan Pulse)
8) Pointe Des Chateaux

Doug Lucas

Doug Lucas - Niara RKM 97036 (1975)

Spiritual funky fusion from Brussels, Belgium by trumpeter Doug Lucas in a 'Placebo' fashion. All tracks penned by Lucas with a band featuring Yvan DeSouter (Bass) and Frank Wuyts (Keyboards). The album was reissued in the same year on Shadybrook Records in the States and was produced by Bruno Castellucci who can be heard on percussion duties.

1) Niara
2) Home Won't Know Me
3) Kinshasa Chant
4) One For You
5) When It Be The Morning
6) As If We Knew

Diane Tell

Diane Tell Pleiade 2424 165 (1977)

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, b Quebec City, to a Canadian father and US mother, 24 Dec 1957. Her childhood was spent between Paris, Montreal and Val-d'Or, Que. She studied violin and classical guitar at the CMM, and jazz guitar at Saint-Laurent College.

She hosted radio shows on Montreal station CKOI and, when she began singing, opened for Rick Derringer, Chris de Burgh and Leo Sayer. She sang in bars of Montreal's West End prior to recording her first album. Her romantic lyrics coupled with melodies inspired by jazz and South American music charmed critics immediately. Following a one-year stay in New York, she launched her second LP featuring the hit 'Gilberto'.

'Gone are the wooden clogs and prehistoric skirts, gone are the homespun recordings where spontaneity covered up for lack of technique, gone is the musical macrame and the political guilt feelings: Diane Tell heralds the era of technocrats and professionals, image-makers and career-builders,' Nathalie Petrowski wrote in Le Devoir (Montreal).

For her debut release, Diane Tell's beautiful Brasilian tinged pop-jazz album is sung entirely in French against a sophisticated selection of melodies.

1) Les Cinémas-Bars
2) Un Verre d'Amour
3) Bien
4) En Pleurer Ou En Rire
5) La Valse
6) Je N'En Peux Plus
7) Rendez-Vous
8) Mon Métier
9) La Vieille Mort
10) Un Nuage De Mots
11) La Vallée De La Mort

Nick Ayoub

Nick Ayoub Jazz Quintet - The Music Of Nick Ayoub Radio Canada International RCI-455 (1977)

Saxophonist, oboist, english hornist, composer, b Trois-Rivières, Que, of Lebanese parents, 7 Sep 1926, d Montreal, 2 May 1991. Raised in Montreal he took up in turn clarinet, tenor saxophone, oboe, english horn, and flute, and studied with Arthur Romano at the CMM. Studies in oboe followed with Harold Gomberg of the New York Philharmonic.
Ayoub began his professional career in 1943, soon playing tenor saxophone in the dance or jazz bands of Johnny Holmes, Maynard Ferguson, the saxophonist Freddie Nichols, and the trombonist Jiro 'Butch' Watanabe. Though a leading studio musician in Montreal by the early 1950s, and occasionally an oboist (and less frequently a saxophonist) with the MSO, he remained active in jazz. An Ayoub quintet performed at the 1963 Montreal Jazz Festival and other Ayoub bands (usually with trumpeter Alan Penfold and pianist Art Roberts) appeared in Montreal clubs, in concert and on various CBC radio jazz programs through the 1970s.

Lovely deep and exotic jazz here released only in Canada. Funky modal grooves are interspersed with more contemplative, searching jazz cuts. A very fine album that deserves far wider recognition.

Ayoub fl, english horn, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, Penfold trumpet, Roberts piano, Angelillo double-bass, Masson drums.

1) Spanish Walk
2) Desert Boots
3) Kittens
4) Put It Out
5) Jazz Concertino Peridot
6) Jazz Concertino Turquoise
7) Jazz Concertino Opale
8) Jazz Concertino Saphir
9) Little Joey

Peaceful Morning

Rupert Cobbett - Peaceful Morning Soul Deep DM-776 (1976)

Another private press out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Eight original tracks - plenty of breezy beats and nice fender rhodes. You know the score..!

If you like today's funky rhythms, but miss the sounds of legitimate jazz then relax and listen to Rupert Cobbett. Although there is a definate jazz "sound" to Cobbett's music the word doesn't begin to get into the soul of the man's genius. It is more an experience than a sound. It swings like a cool breeze on a hot Jamaican night then mellows to greet the sundrenched "peaceful morning". Lay back and let it sink into your soul.
(taken from the original liner notes)

Rupert Cobbett - keyboards; Bill Prince - horns; Arlin Strader - percussion; Gary Phillips - bass; Produced by Dave Chiodo.

1) Ain't Done Nothing
2) A Song
3) December 18th
4) Se Sau
5) Where Are You Now
6) Blues For Dave
7) There's No End
8) Peaceful Morning

Ghetto Mysticism

Stanton Davis' Ghetto-Mysticism - Brighter Days Outrageous Records #2 (1977)

Any common musical adjective applies here - celestial, cosmic, spaced-out fusion, deep spiritual jazz, afro, poly-rhythmic funky soul, yada yada...

Original private '77 press out of Somerville, Massachusetts although recorded a year or two earlier, trumpeter Stanton Davis assembles a whacked-out melting pot of good grooves here touching a variety of bases. A pretty good listen right through.

Stanton Davis - fluegelhorn, trumpet (4,5), vocal (1,2,5,8,9), percussion (1), prepared piano (3), mellotron & string synthesizer (6); Leonard Brown - soprano sax (1,2,7,8,9); tenor sax (3,4,5), percussion (1,5,6); Bill Pierce - soprano sax (5), alto flute (3); Jerome Harris (listed as "Jerry Harris) - guitar (1,2,5,7,8,9), bass guitar (3,4,5,6), vocal (1,8,9); "King" Wellington - calypso guitar (5); Lee Genesis - vocal (1,4,5,8,9); J.O. Wharthon - vocal (1,5); Armstead Christian - vocal (2,7,8,9); Rénée Franklin - vocal (1,2,7,8,9); Jeannine Otis - vocal (5,8,9); Dan Windham - spoken word (9); Alan Pasqua - keyboards (1,3,4,5,6); Delmar Brown - keyboards (1,2,4,5,7,8,9), vocal (1,2,5,7,8,9); Mark Styles - synthesizer (3); Jeff Anderson - bass guitar (1); Craig Carter - bass guitar (2,7,8,9); Vinnie Johnson - drums (1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9), percussion (2,7,8,9); Les Lumley - congas (1,2,4,5,7,8,9), percussion (3); Keith Copeland - percussion (2); Alyrio Lima Cova - percussion (4,5)

1) Things Cannot Stop Forever (Poon Tang Tally-Wacky)
2) Space-A-Nova I
3) Play Sleep
4) Brighter Days/Brighter Daze
5) Funky Fried Tofu
6) Nida
7) Space-A-Nova II
8) High Jazz
9) High Jazz Reprise

'I wish to dedicate this album to all who can hear their Heartbeat, But especially to those that have heard the heartbeat of another as well. Brighter Days/ Brighter Daze'.
-Stanton Davis Jr.-

CD Reissue coming out on March 15th 2011
http://culturesofsoulrecords.com/

Aquarius

Aquarius - Aquarius Continental 1.07-405-098 (1976)

Here's a delicious slice of Bossa goodness, beautiful soulful vocals set to a dreamy backdrop of arrangements by Raymundo Bittencourt.

This one commands high prices and it's easy to see why within moments of touching the needle down! You may recognise some of the tunes, although the arrangements differ from those on the Burnier & Cartier LP. No Cláudio Cartier here, but you needn't worry, the same breezy vocal appeal comes from Octávio & Sonia Burnier (a la Ronie Mesquita & Central Do Brasil).

Raymundo Bittencourt (acoustic guitar, drums, vocal, arrangements); Octavio Burnier (electric guitar, vocal); Leonardo Luiz (piano); Alberto Arantes (bass) and Sonia Burnier (lead vocal) - all the ingredients are in place and if ever there were an album that embodies that groovy Brasilian spirit that is so in-demand now, this is it! Download now - thank me later.

1) Só Tem Lugar Pra Você
2) A Rã
3) Carolina
4) Falsa Baiana
5) Beijo Partido
6) Só Louco
7) Chega De Saudade
8) Tamanco No Samba
9) Europanema
10) Saudade Da Bahia
11) Atire A Primeira Pedra
12) Tibidabo
13) Pink Bar