Herbie Mann

In 1978, Herbie Mann came out with two very different LPs. The more improvisatory Brazil: Once Again fulfilled his need to record a serious Brazilian jazz-pop album, while Super Mann is a commercial disco effort that finds Patrick Adams doing most of the producing. The two LPs aren't anything alike – while the instrumental Brazil: Once Again makes extensive use of the flutist's jazz chops, Mann doesn't do any improvising on Super Mann. This album isn't about his virtuosity as a soloist – it's all about the beat and the groove. So naturally, Super Mann was trashed in the jazz press by critics who made the mistake of judging it by jazz standards and wouldn't have known a good disco record from a bad one. Judging Super Mann by disco standards, one hears an LP that is uneven and isn't in a class with Chic, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, or Sister Sledge but has its moments. While "Jisco Dazz" and "Rock Freak" are mechanical, stiff, and forgettable, Mann gets into a nice samba/disco groove on "Etagui" and demands attention with a speeded-up version of the haunting "Body Oil" (which he had previously recorded for 1975's Waterbed).

Nice, more light than emphatic Afro-Latin and jazz mixture by flutist Herbie Mann and composer/vocalist Joao Gilberto from 1965. The two make an effective team, with Gilberto's sometimes sentimental, sometimes impressionistic works effectively supported by Mann's lithe flute solos.

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.

America/Brasil is a rollicking, celebratory album that keeps Herbie Mann on the winning streak he started with the release of Peace Pieces in 1995. Recorded during a week of concerts to mark his 65th birthday in April 1995, this disc is much stronger than its immediate predecessor, Celebration, also taken from the same week of live concert performances at New York's Blue Note jazz club. The material here is superb, and the playing top-notch. As the title implies, the emphasis here is on Mann's Brazilian side, but there are touches of the non-Brazilian with Bill Evans' "Peri's Scope" and Miles Davis' "All Blues." "Summertime" is recast in an Afro-Cuban mode with Paquito D'Rivera sharing the solo space on alto sax. However, lengthy Brazilian showstoppers are placed at the beginning, middle, and end of this wonderful disc. The opening "Keep the Spirits Singing" is propelled by the polyrhythmic pulse of percussionists Cyro Baptista and "Café," and the 17-minute title track finale features trumpeters Randy Brecker and Claudio Roditi, trombonist Jim Pugh, and guitarist Romero Lubambo.

This edition presents, for the first time ever on CD, the only two LPs by Herbie Mann and his New York Jazz Quartet in their entirety. This short-lived group would only record one third and last album on which two percussionists were added, transforming the group into a sextet. The NYJQ presented an unusual instrumentation for jazz, consisting of Mann on reeds (flute, alto flute, clarinet and tenor sax), Joe Puma on guitar, Dutch player Mat Mathews on accordion, and Whitey Mitchell on bass. The two albums compiled here are New York Jazz Quartet (Elektra 115, later reissued on LP as Adam's Theme), and Music for Suburban Living (Coral CRL57136).

The immodest title of this one carries a double connotation; it was probably the first album of jazz in which the leader recorded entirely on bass clarinet and, less significantly, the first Riverside album recorded on the West Coast. The first achievement - which Mann and producer Orrin Keepnews thought of three years before Eric Dolphy broke out his bass clarinet on records - ought to be more widely known, but the usual prejudices among critics regarding Mann's subsequent popularity among record buyers have decreed otherwise. In any case, Mann phrases on the bass clarinet pretty much the way he does on flute, with a definite personality, plenty of swing, and a airy outlook that makes the instrument sound less sinister…

During the 1960s and '70s, Herbie Mann continually searched for new playing contexts in which to place his flute. In December 1973, he traveled to London for five days of recording with a group of British rock musicians. The result was London Underground, an album tilted much more in a rock direction than the soul and R&B-drenched recordings he had been making for the previous five years. Highlights on this album include the Rolling Stones' "Bitch" (then-Stone Mick Taylor played guitar on this album), Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air," and "Paper Sun," from the Traffic canon. The real highlight, however, came about with the addition of Stephane Grappelli on the Donovan pop hit "Mellow Yellow."

Flutist Herbie Mann's first recording as a leader (seven selections from 1954 originally on a 10" LP plus four others cut in 1956) has been reissued on CD with three alternate takes added on. Even back in 1954, Mann (who doubles here on flute and alto flute) had his own sound. The music (featuring either Benny Weeks or Joe Puma on guitar in a piano-less quartet) is essentially straight-ahead bop and finds Mann playing quite melodically and with swing. This set is a good example of Herbie Mann's early style before he started exploring various types of world musics.

This Bethlehem LP matches together flutists Herbie Mann and Sam Most in a fine bop program with guitarist Joe Puma, bassist Jimmy Gannon and drummer Lee Kleinman. The music consistently swings lightly and, other than an original apiece from Puma and Most, the selections are all standards; highlights include "Fascinating Rhythm," "Let's Get Away from It All" and "Seven Come Eleven." Most often takes honors, but Mann is also in fine form on these Russ Garcia arrangements.