Ohn Mayall Jazz Blues Fusion

This is a real gem. It is nearly impossible to agree about favorite recordings in the long career of an artist who maintains a creative arc. It is what stands out at different times that can create some consensus.

Cassandra Wilson's swinging for her own creative fences this time. The sultry, gentle, acoustic guitars on her last five recordings have been largely jettisoned for a more keyboard-and percussion -friendly approach – which includes lots of programming and loops. To that end, she's enlisted flavor-of-the-year producer T-Bone Burnett and keyboardist Keith Ciancia. This pair hired a stellar group of players that include drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Reginald Veal (a near-constant here), guitarists Colin Linden and Marc Ribot, and programming whiz Mike Elizondo. Mike Piersante plays "keypercussion" (read: drum loops), Jay Bellerose and Bill Maxwell also contribute kit work. Keb Mo' guests on a track.

Freddie Hubbard - Anthology: The Soul-Jazz and Fusion Years 66-82 (2002) {2CD Soul Brother Records CD SBPJ 10 D}
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© 1966-82, 2002 Soul Brother Records / Passion Music | CD SBPJ 10 D
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Fusion / Trumpet / Flugelhorn

This collection on the U.K.'s Soul Brother imprint is a very compelling look at a big slice of Freddie Hubbard's long career as a leader, and one that gets ignored for the most part. Hubbard recorded over 20 records between Backlash, his Atlantic debut in 1966, and Ride Like the Wind for Elektra in 1982, with lengthy stops at Columbia and CTI (as well some straight hard bop and post-bop outings for labels Fantasy and Pablo). In many cases, some of these original recordings were not only disregarded by more traditional jazzheads, they were regarded with outright hostility. It didn't matter to Hubbard, however, because at the time, these were among his best-selling albums and connected with the public deeply.

This set of Edgar Winter's jazzy remakes of older tunes and some new ones is all over the place. With a cast that includes guitarists Robben Ford and Hiram Bullock, Steve Lukather, and Michael Hakes, and bassists like Will Lee, Mark Meadows, and Tom Lilly, as well as trumpeter Lee Thornburg, one gets exactly what one expects: a slick, groove-infested ride through Winter's past and present.

Latin Grammy nominated saxophonist and composer Julio Botti and his quartet have broken new ground in this ambitious musical journey. Blending masterpieces from Astor Piazzolla and Pablo Ziegler with several of Botti’s own compositions, the album “Jazz Tango Fusion” is an edgy and colorful reimagining of Modern Tango, with equal parts modern Jazz. The Quartet, featuring Tiago Michelin on drums, Andrew Baird on guitar and Eduardo Withrington on keyboard.

Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton was Eric Clapton's first fully realized album as a blues guitarist – more than that, it was a seminal blues album of the 1960s, perhaps the best British blues album ever cut, and the best LP ever recorded by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Standing midway between Clapton's stint with the Yardbirds and the formation of Cream, this album featured the new guitar hero on a series of stripped-down blues standards, Mayall pieces, and one Mayall/Clapton composition, all of which had him stretching out in the idiom for the first time in the studio. This album was the culmination of a very successful year of playing with John Mayall, a fully realized blues creation, featuring sounds very close to the group's stage performances, and with no compromises.