Herbie Mann

Herbie Mann - First Light - The Family of Mann (1973) {2014 Japan Fusion Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-28032)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 249 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 90 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remaster
© 1973, 2012 Atlantic / Warner Japan | WPCR-28032 / 8122-79568-5
Jazz / Fusion / Soul Jazz / Flute

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Pretty great stuff – and a record that's often hidden amidst the flurry of so-so Herbie Mann albums from the mid 70s – but is well worth seeking out! The Family Of Mann group is one organized by Herbie Mann, and featuring Steve Gadd on drums, Pat Rebillot on keyboards, Tony Levin on bass, and David Newman on reeds along with Herbie – a combo who backed up Mann on some other records from the time, but who really get to shine center stage here! The band has a strong electric groove on their best moments – with kind of a choppy fusion groove, but one that's tight too – almost funky, at a level that's somewhere near cop/crime soundtrack work of the time. Rebillot's keyboards are great, as always.

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.

Herbie Mann - Waterbed (1975) {Atlantic Japan WPCR-28033 rel 2014}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 234 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 87 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1975, 2014 Atlantic / WEA / Warner Japan | WPCR-28033 | 24bit remaster
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Flute

Features 24 bit digital remastering. Comes with a mini-description. A sweet electric set from the great Herbie Mann – one of his best of the time! Like a number of his contemporaries recording jazz for Atlantic, Herbie had moved pretty firmly into a funky soul mode by the mid 70s – adding in lots of electric instrumentation and vocals to keep up with the success of some of the bigger-selling jazz albums of the time. Oddly, this approach actually sounds pretty darn good to us – especially having the hindsight of over 25 years to get over the shock of any sort of perceived "sell out". The players are all pretty tight, and Herbie manages to keep things pretty hip on all tracks, sticking to his roots in Latin-influenced playing. The record features remakes of "Comin Home Baby" and Joe Cuba's "Bang Bang", plus a version of Astor Piazzolla's "Deux Xango", and the orignals "Paradise Music", "Body Oil", and "Waterbed".