Les Mccann

This musician is simultaneously world-famous and unknown. The label Atlantic periodically re-released the recording of a very special concert he took part in and everybody who is somehow interested in jazz, even if only on it's fringes, most probably has listened to at least one of the numbers performed by the saxophonist Eddie Harris. On 21 June 1969, he met with singer and pianist Les McCann on stage of the old casino of Montreux to unleash what can only be described as a firework of music, hardly ever experienced by the jazz community before. Situated somewhere between jazz, funk and soul, McCann and Eddie Harris actually create (this is no exaggeration!) something like a new style; and Compared to what, Les McCann´s spectacular song oscillating between black consciousness and the civil rights rhetoric, became the hymn of this movement.

Terri Lyne Carrington's dual identity as an extraordinary progressive jazz drummer and powerful in-the-pocket groove driver has been presented on her previous recordings. While straddling those lines appeals to different audiences, this CD reverts back to her more commercial roots from 20 years ago, centering on the contemporary, rhythm & blues oriented side of music from an instrumental standpoint.

Lou Rawls - The Best of Lou Rawls, The Capitol Jazz & Blues Sessions
Blue Note | 2006 | MP3 @320 Kbps | All Covers | 81 & 74.6 MB
Genre: Vocal/Jazz-Pop-Soul

This document of Lou Rawls’ decade with Capitol in the ‘60s celebrates the beginnings of the recently departed artist, one of the rare male vocalists with a big, beautiful sound who could sing his butt off. His professional beginnings were with the gospel group The Singing Travelers, and their 1962 recording of “Motherless Child” opens the disc. The essential enrichment provided by Eddie Beal (piano) and Rene Hall and Cliff White (guitars) is much more than mere accompaniment. Partnership is the special joy of this collection, which finds this fine singer in mutually appreciative settings with a lineup of first-rank musicians.

Les McCann’s piano provides the most sympathetic of intros to “God Bless the Child,” with Leroy Vinnegar (bass) and Ron Jefferson (drums). Rawls himself is in peak voice, showcasing his rolling thunder baritone, which always radiates an innate optimism, no matter what he sings. On Benny Carter’s jumpin’ arrangement of “Nobody But Me,” Al Porcino and Bobby Bryant’s trumpets provide sunny brass for days as Rawls delivers a jubilant tribute to a “genuine Venus from her head to her feet.”

A live performance of “Goin’ To Chicago Blues” is typical of what became a signature style for Rawls: a talking intro to blues songs. Well, not merely "talking," exactly, because the rhythms of his poetically spoken beats could almost be heard as an a capella ancestor of hip-hop. As if the pot needed any sweetening, three previously unreleased 1963 tracks with Curtis Amy’s sextet are included; the swinging take on “Fine and Mellow” is particularly choice.-By Andrew Velez

Rhino's various artists/sampler series focuses on keyboards on this release, with cuts from 13 players. The opening track features Jimmy Yancey's sparkling boogie piano, and continues through several styles from Erroll Garner's flashy solos through Thelonious Monk's amazing bop improvisations, John Lewis' sedate, sophisticated phrases, Lennie Tristano's intricate material, and bluesier fare from Ray Charles, Junior Mance, and Les McCann. Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea take more adventurous directions, while The Mitchell-Ruff duo with drummer Charlie Smith falls somewhere in the center. The set's compositional variety and artist lineup is impressive; while none of these tracks qualify as particularly rare or obscure, they show the wealth of keyboard talent once on the Atlantic roster. ~ Ron Wynn