Mosaic

A celebrated 1961 session recorded by drummer Art Blakey accompanied by one of the most impressive versions of his Jazz Messengers: Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Cedar Walton on piano and Jymie Merritt on bass. The band members contribute all the material here: Hubbard gets two songs; Fuller, Shorter and Walton a song each.

A mosaic is a multifaceted pattern, assembled by arranging together small pieces of different types. To create a music album release named “Mosaic” follows pretty much the same principles. Snippets of sounds and creative ideas from various sources take form, in this case to a brandnew Lemongrass album. Roland Voss, mastermind behind the project, widely opened his (audio) diaries and selected some precious bits and pieces for his 34th longplayer.
A broadly diverse choice of instrumentation and styles is fanned out for us, influenced by inspirational sources such as memories of visiting breathtaking places, favourite books and movies, or by just being still in a meditative moment. As so often before, acoustic instrumentation got the lead, sprinkled with jazzy vibes (“Turn down the lights”) a cool and easy JazzHop costume (“Street Life” ) or a fabulous tabla rhythm (“Le voyage”, “Bombay Jazz”), linking to the predecessor album “Dreams of Maya”.

Poised over the keyboard, with forearms pounding out thunderous clusters of sound-that is how Henry Cowell (1897-1965) has entered popular imagination. During the 1920s, he crisscrossed the United States and Europe, gaining notoriety for his physicality with the piano and the unorthodox sounds that resulted. But this composer of clusters also wrote singable tunes. The composer of clusters also produced consonance. And, this guru of American experimentalism also respected tradition, whether of the East or the West. Cowell's tremendous innovation went on to influence generations of composers afterwards, from John Cage to Frank Zappa.These various and contradictory sides of Cowell the composer are most evident in his chamber music. The resulting "Mosiac" is revealed on this 2-CD set, with works spanning his career from his youth in California in 1916 to two years before his death in New York in 1963.

We all want to find our purpose in life. Yours is to restore harmony in a war-torn world. Journey back in time to locate the seven pieces of an Ancient Mosaic that will, once assembled, gather the light of the world and deliver it to the Sphere of Peace. Along the way you'll solve dozens of puzzles, if you're fast enough. Begin the quest of a lifetime now!

A super cool set in the Mood Mosaic series – and plentifully funky, soulful and jazzy, too! Like our other favorite volumes, this one covers a lot of stylistic territory, but it ultimately feels a little more coherent from track-to-track than the last couple sets, and does so without sacrificing the far-reaching sense of adventure, or ever settling into a predictable mode. Great stuff from start to finish, with breezy, funk-steeped jazz rock, straighter jazz funk instrumentals, Late 60s Brit mod soul, late 70s US jazzy soul and lots more! Includes "Mr. Man" by Air, "The Bird & The Squirrel" by War, "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" by The Peddlers, "Holiday Time" by Hildegard Knef, "Playmate" by Rolf Kuhn, "The Snake" by Harvey Mandel, "Brother Where Are You" by Freddie Cole, "Beggar For The Blues" by Patti Drew, "Supercool" by Carrie Riley & The Fascinations, "Why Don't You Play The Organ, Man" by Memphis Black, "Every Brother Ain't A Brother" by Joe Thomas & more. Comes with the CD version, too, with the extra track "Black Out" by Wess & The Airedales. © 1996-2024, Dusty Groove, Inc.