Little And Lion

Dexter Gordon - Take The 'A' Train (1967) {Black Lion BLCD760133 rel 1989}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 455 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 161 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 24 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 1989 Black Lion Records / Phonoco | BLCD760133
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Saxophone

During a two-day period (July 20-21, 1967) tenor-saxophonist Dexter Gordon and his quartet (pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Niels Pederson and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath) recorded enough music to fill up three CDs, all of which have been released by the English Black Lion label. Four of the six standards on this hard-swinging set ("But Not for me," "Take the 'A' Train," "Blues Walk" and "Love for Sale") are over ten minutes long while the other two ("For All We Know" and "I Guess I'll Have to Hang My Tears out to Dry" are a little more concise). Throughout, Dexter Gordon is in consistently creative form, making this CD well worth getting by his fans.

The second Classics CD in their Willie "The Lion" Smith series is surprisingly weak. Of the 25 selections, 21 actually feature the dated organ of Milt Herth. Smith's presence in the trio (with drummer-vocalist O'Neil Spencer) fails to uplift the music (Herth's wheezing organ mostly drowns him out) although guitarist Teddy Bunn helps a bit on the last seven numbers. Easily the best selections on the CD are two songs performed by Willie "The Lion" Smith and His Cubs (a septet with trumpeter Frankie Newton and clarinetist Buster Bailey) and a pair of duets with drummer Spencer on Smith's own "Passionette" and "Morning Air." But the preceding and following volumes in this program are much more valuable.

The Other Half - The Other Half (1968) {Lion Records Lion192 rel 2006} (remastered & expanded)
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 256 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 99 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 46 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1966-68, 2006 Acta Records / Lion Records | Lion 192
Rock / Garage Rock / Psychedelic Rock

While there are literally thousands of psych LPs out there, there's a small core (say 400 or 500), that are widely recognized as sought after genre classics. This is one of 'em … It's always struck us as kind of interesting that these guys (bassist Larry Brown, former Fender IV and Sons of Adam guitarist Randy Holden, singer Jeff Nowlen, rhythm guitarist Geoff Western and drummer Danny Woods) have been lumped in with San Francisco bands such as The Dead, The Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Geographically hailed from Los Angeles they really weren't part of the Haight Ashbury scene (though they played a lot of shows at the Avalon and other San Francisco clubs). Musical comparisons to those other bands are equally clumsy given their weird hybrid of garage and psychedelia set them miles apart from most contemporaries.

Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks has made several stabs at a solo career since 1978, writing and recording in various styles and occasionally under different group names. However, none of his attempts have been very commercially successful, a sore point for the man many deem responsible for a large portion of the Genesis sound…