Emel Sayin

Bill Hardman - Sayin' Something (1961) {Savoy–Fresh Sound FSR1661 rel 2012}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 313 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 118 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1961, 2012 Savoy / Fresh Sound Records | FSR 1661
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Trumpet

By the time trumpeter Bill Hardman made his leader debut for Savoy with this album, his grasp of the contemporary bop idiom had established him as a prolific and reliable sideman. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1933, he gigged with Tadd Dameron while a teenager, and recorded rhythm and blues with Tiny Bradshaw between 1952 and 1954. He played with Charles Mingus in 1956, along with alto sax Jackie McLean, and their friendship led to a McLean album introducing Bill, Jackies Pal, recorded that summer.

One of the great blues albums of the early '80s, Classified captures the legendary New Orleans pianist James Booker not long before his premature death at the age of 43 on November 8, 1983. Recorded in a series of sometimes problematic sessions in 1982 – producer Scott Billington details them in his terrific liner notes on the 2013 reissue of the record, which is remixed and expanded – Classified appeared just a few months before Booker's death, so it's hard not to read it as something of a final statement.

Terence Trent D'Arby had a difficult 1990s, the nadir of which was probably the desperate mating call Supermodel Sandwich with Cheese from his 1995 album Vibrator. But he has started the new century with a clean slate, changing his name to Sananda Maitreya and launching his own label. The artful blend of soul, rock and funk is reassuringly familiar, though. D'Arby/ Maitreya still exercises a Prince-like control over songwriting, arrangement and production, rendering it a one-man show, but that's no bad thing with an artist of his ability. Drivin' Me Crazy packs enough lust into three funky minutes to satiate his most ardent fans (or "lightbeings", as he calls them), and the outstanding Suga Free pairs dark balladry with an operatic choir. Even the banjo-plinking O Divina comes good in the end, swelling into a Motownesque chorus. A snazzy comeback.