Herbie Mann Returns To The

By 1961, flutist Herbie Mann was really starting to catch on with the general public. This release, a follow-up to his hit At the Village Gate (two songs are from the same gig while three others actually date from seven months earlier), features Mann in an ideal group with either Hagood Hardy or Dave Pike on vibes, Ahmed Abdul-Malik or Nabil Totah on bass, drummer Rudy Collins and two percussionists. Mann really cooks on four of his own originals, plus "Bags' Groove," blending in the influence of African, Afro-Cuban and even Brazilian jazz.

Herbie Mann was quite unpredictable in the 1960s - from one album to the next, you never knew if he would embrace hard bop, bossa nova, Latin jazz, soul-jazz, or whatever else he was in the mood for. He could be commercial one minute, esoteric and experimental the next. One of Mann's more commercial LPs from that period, The Beat Goes On, is a generally funky, groove-oriented soul-jazz effort with strong Latin leanings. Much of the material brings to mind Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers, and comparisons to Pucho are unavoidable on cuts that range from Mann's "More Rice Than Peas, Please" to a version of Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On" and a Latin boogaloo interpretation of Joe Liggins' "The Honeydripper" (which features King Curtis on tenor sax). Afro-Cuban rhythms are a high priority, although Mann gets into more of a bossa nova groove on vibist Dave Pike's "Dream Garden." Jazz purists hated this release, but let them say what they will - this LP is full of highly infectious grooves and makes a great party album.

Herbie Mann ‎- Jasil Brazz (1987) {RBIC 1401}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 259 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 121 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1987 RBI | RBIC 1401
Jazz / Latin Jazz / Crossover Jazz / Flute

Herbie Mann makes another of his periodic returns to Brazilian fare on this CD, but the country the ever-restless flutist visits is contemporary Brazil, not echoes of the bossa nova past. A lovely place it is, too, full of melodic, evocative material from the pens of Djavan and Ivan Lins, inspiring Mann to sail lightly and playfully like a kite above the modern samba beat. This was 1987, so the backing textures are mostly digital synthesizers, but Mark Soskin's touch is light, and he doesn't interfere with the grooves.

For fans of Gil Evans, Miles Davis & Jazz! Monday Nights is not only the first studio recording of the Gil Evans Orchestra in over forty years, it also offers some of the most audacious and electrifying music of the new millennium. The late Gil Evans was one of the most respected orchestrators in jazz history and his fabled collaborations with Miles Davis, including Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain and Porgy and Bess, set the gold standard for modern jazz arranging. Accordingly, Evans played a key role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz fusion.