Horace Arnold

Sundance is an album recorded by Chick Corea and originally released on the Groove Merchant label in 1972. In 2002, Blue Note Records re-released all tracks from this album, together with all tracks from 1969's Is and alternate takes from both albums as The Complete "Is" Sessions. Sundance features Chick in his prime early period, building with each new track a sound that was instantly recognizable. The lineup is a who’s-who of jazz masters: Jack DeJohnette, Hubert Laws, Woody Shaw, Horace Arnold, Dave Holland and Bennie Maupin. The music is pure Chick: playful and searching, never content with the expected.

Robin Kenyatta - Until (1968) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27317}
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© 2013 Atlantic / Warner Japan / Rhino / Vortex | WPCR-27317 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Hard Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Saxophone

Features 24bit digital remastering. Comes with a description. One of the earliest albums as a leader from reedman Robin Kenyatta – and a set that's also one of his most compelling too! There's a definitely freer sound here than on some of Robin's smoother sets from the 70s – a vibe that's somewhere near the space of Impulse Records in the post-Coltrane years, and which is right at home on Atlantic's Vortex label subsidiary.

The Complete "Is" Sessions were recorded during Chick Corea's tenure with Miles Davis, along with bassist Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette. Recorded over three days in New York, the final product came out as two albums on different labels "Is," "This," "Jamala," and "I," were issued as Is on Solid State, and the remaining cuts came out as Sundance on Groove Merchant "The Brain," "Song of the Wind," "Converge," and the title cut. Blue Note has assembled not only the two released recordings on this double-CD package, but the alternate takes as well, to offer a complex, very remarkable portrait of the chemistry that occurred when that trio engaged Woody Shaw, Bennie Maupin, Hubert Laws, and additional drummer Horace Arnold.

This 1979 date by tenor saxophonist Billy Harper is one of his most transcendent. Rife with his deep study of Coltrane's modalism, and his own deep knowledge of the blues and Eastern music, Harper and his quintet take on three extended pieces: "Soran Bushi-B.H." comes in at over 12 minutes, while "Cry Of Hunger," is over 20; both work out of extended harmonic architectures to place improvisation as a new element (remember, this was 1979), as an extension of the jazz "song." Trumpeter Everett Hollins, pianist Fred Hersch – who was by this time already in full command of his great reach and complex sense of harmonic engagement – Louis Spears on bass, and drummer Horace Arnold delve deep into Harper's muse and come out with a record that sounds like a suite.

Billy Harper - Somalia (1993) {Evidence ECD 22133-2}
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© 1993 Evidence Music | ECD 22133-2
Jazz / Modal Music / Post-Bop / Saxophone

The passionate tenor saxophonist Billy Harper had not been heard on record as a leader in quite a few years when this superlative Evidence CD was released in 1995. Harper (who is joined by trumpeter Eddie Henderson, pianist Francesca Tanksley, bassist Louie Spears, and both Newman Taylor Baker and Horace Arnold on drums) brings back the spirit of John Coltrane, performing a very spiritual and generally intense set of music. The five originals are highlighted by the title cut, "Quest" and the nearly 22-minute "Thy Will Be Done." This CD contains some of Billy Harper's finest playing in years.

Recorded and released after a two-year stint in Europe, Until marks alto saxophonist Robin Kenyatta's American debut as a leader, after sideman tenures with Sonny Stitt, Bill Dixon, and Archie Shepp. For anyone (of the few) who followed the rather obscure reedman's career, this set - originally released on the Atlantic jazz subsidiary Vortex and produced by Joel Dorn - is indicative of the restless nature of Kenyatta's career on his own records: he was not only interested in, but attempted to play, the entire range of jazz. For starters, there are three different units scattered across the album. The opener, "Until," written by Barry Miles, is a tender, straight-ahead ballad that showcasesKenyatta's alto accompanied by pianist Fred Simmons, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Horace Arnold…

Billy Harper - Soran-Bushi, B.H. (1977) {Denon ‎Japan C38-7007 rel 1982}
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© 1977, 1982 Denon ‎/ Nippon Columbia Japan | C38-7007
Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

One of the best-ever Billy Harper records from the 70s – and one of the rare sessions of his that only ever came out in Japan! Billy is in incredible form throughout – and plays with a stunning sense of imagination and creativity on the 3 long tracks that make up this LP – stepping out with brilliant post-Coltrane energy that fires up his tenor, and takes him to the skies on these wonderfully long, creative solos. He's playing here with Harold Mabern on piano, Everett Hollins on trumpet, Billy Hart on drums, and Greg Maker on bass – and the session's got that warm spiritual sound that characterizes his best work – but also has a lot of hard-blowing solos with the haunting searching quality that keeps us coming back to Billy's work again and again over the years. Titles include "Loverhood", "Trying to Get Ready", and his classic, the title cut, "Soran-Bushi BH".

This CD starts with a fantastic interpretation of 'La Fiesta,' the most popular song of Chick Corea. After that top-class musicians take part: Woody Shaw, Benny Maupin (Keith Jarrett), Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette perform on 'Moment's Notice,' 'Sundance' and other songs.

A key figure in the development of jazz's new direction in the late '60s and '70s (thanks in large part to his contributions to Miles Davis' pioneering fusion work), Chick Corea has since become one of the most influential musicians of the genre. The tracks on EARLY DAYS were recorded in 1969. Around the same time, the Davis Quintet was recording the epochal IN A SILENT WAY and BITCHES BREW. The material here, featuring sidemen Woody Shaw, Jack De Johnette, and Bennie Maupin, explores similarly abstract rhythmic excursions that favor texture and atmosphere over conventional song structure.