Miles Español Celebrates Miles Davis and the Afro-Latin Influence On Jazz

Miles Español is the title of a two-CD recording on Entertainment One Music that was conceived and produced by Bob Belden with a roster of internationally renowned artists. Subtitled New Sketches of Spain, the disc includes fresh renditions of compositions from Sketches of Spain and Kind of Blue, and original compositions from some of the contributing artists.

Among the more than 30 musicians assembled are Chick Corea, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, John Scofield, pianist Chano Domingez, drummer Alex Acuña, flautist Jorge Pardo, Sonny Fortune, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Rabih Abu-Khalil. Some of the musicians are former Miles sidemen, some are flamenco masters from Spain, some are from North Africa, and some are prominent figures in New York’s Latin Jazz scene. Tim Hagans, Scott Kinsey, and Vince Wilburn Jr. (Miles Davis’s nephew). One purpose of this recording is to emphasize the Africa-Spain-New World Connection in the emergence and evolution of jazz as is titled Doug Ramsey’s essay in the liner booklet, taking us from Jelly Roll Morton to Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gillespie and reminding us of the impact the Moors had during their occupation of Spain.

Belden himself in his notes here states that in his treatment of some compositions such as Concierto De Aranjuez, he did not wanted to mimic Miles’ recording but rather help develop the Gypsy and Arabic influence on Spanish music and his unusual instrumentation that includes oboe and bassoon in addition to oud, dumbek and cajon to allow this fresh hearing of a classic. Chick Corea’s Trampolin follows with Ron Carter and Antonio Sanchez joined by flautist Jorge Pardo on the buoyant flamenco inspired piece.
Just Three Miles is by Rabih Abu-Khalil whose oud playing and trumpet by Tim Hagans provide an intriguing mix of Berber and other sounds. Duende is a duet between guitarist Niño Joseles and flautist Pardo with a strong flamenco base. It’s followed by the marvelous Gonzalo Rubalcaba on Fantasia Por Miles Y Gil, listed as a solo piano performance in the booklet, but he clearly is accompanied by bass and drums (Carter and Sanchez?).

Similarly on what is supposed to be a piano trio plus percussion, Edsel Gomez’s Paisaje Urbano has an unidentified soprano saxophonist (Sonny Fortune?) who dances above Gomez’s Latin jazz piano. The unusual instrumentation continues on Saeta/ Pan Piper, with its employment of bagpipe in addition to woodwinds and French horns and trumpets with the harp of Edmar Casteñada standing out among the percussion with a bassoon solo by Mike Rabinowitz framed by riffing muted trumpets.

Jack DeJohnette’s Spantango opens the second disc with unidentified flute (Jorge Pardo?) along with Chano Dominguez’s spectacular piano, Eddie Gomez’s bass, DeJohnette‘s and Luisito Quintero’s congas. It is followed by a rendition of Miles’ Flamenco Sketches with Sonny Fortune’s flute and Jerry Gonzalez’ flugelhorn in addition to more piano from Dominguez. Gonzalez is outstanding in his spot, and like most of this recording the performance highlights percussion over orchestration. Tirititran Catalan is a traditional theme that bassist Carles Benavent arranged that spotlights Niño Joseles acoustic guitar and Corea’s piano followed by another selection that showcases Corea with a guitarist, John Scofeld’s El Swing, with Scofeld’s single note runs standing out with DeJohnette being outstanding providing rhythmic accents. Rubalcaba’s Momento has a ruminative quality while Miles’ Teo/ Neo showcases Edsel Gomez’s piano with John Benitez on bass, Alex Acuña on drums and Sammy Figueroa on congas supporting his effervescent playing.

By the close of Solea, again with an expanded ensemble with woodwinds, brass, harp and accordion, one has listened to a variety of performances that freshly explore not simply the music that Miles recorded five decades ago, but a more contemporary presentation of some of those elements that provided inspiration then and continues to provide a source for fresh musical invention. While the list of personnel in the booklet contains some errors, musically there can be no fault whatsoever found on this thoroughly engaging recording.

My review copy was provided by a publicist or the record label. The review originally appeared in the November 2011 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 338).  To that review I add this youtube video of the recording of this album.  

Classic Ray Charles Live Recording Reissued With Unissued Tracks

Concord Records continues with its restoration of the post-Atlantic Records Ray Charles catalog with Live in Concert. The source for this was a September 1964 concert at Los Angeles’ Shrine Civic Auditorium and featured Charles and his band that included backing vocals by the Raeletts, Oliver Beener and Wallace Davenport amongst the trumpets; Julian Priester and James Herbert amongst the trombones; Keg Johnson, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Bill Pearson, Hank Crawford, and Leroy Cooper on saxophones; Sonny Forriest on guitar; Edgar Willis on bass and Wilbert Hogan on drums. Charles had expanded from his legendary little big band to the full orchestra in 1961 and Quincy Jones had helped with providing arrangements from his big band book.

The performance here (about 70 minutes of music) was the first after a European and Japanese tour and was recorded by Wally Heider who was a pioneer in location recordings of the time. This release includes 7 previously unissued performances that were not included in the original 1964 album release, adding nearly a half hour of unissued performances including renditions of One Mint Julep, Georgia on My Mind, That Lucky Old Sun, In The Evening (When the Sun Goes Down), Busted, Two Ton Tessie, and My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do), to go along with such numbers associated with Charles as I Got a Woman, You Don’t Know Me, Hide Nor Hair, Hallelujah, I Love Her So, and What I’d Say.

Of course its a terrific band (Charles’ jazz piano chops are displayed on Swing a Little Taste) with Fathead and Hank Crawford getting solo space, and terrific section work and swing. And its nice to hear Charles at this stage as he was expanding his repertoire, but had not relegated many of his early R&B classics to brief treatment as part of a medley so we get strong renditions of I Got a Woman, Hallelujah, I Love Her So, Don’t Set Me Free, and What’d I Say, along with more recent additions to his repertoire as You Don’t Know Me, Margie, and Georgia On My Mind. And Ray still was front and center with the blues with the terrific In The Evening, and dig Charles’ terrific blues piano at the beginning. Material-wise, the only misstep is Two Ton Tessie, which was likely from some forgettable show, but Charles still puts everything into the performance.

Bill Dahl contributes his usual insights in the accompanying booklet and the sound quality is excellent. Live in Concert is an welcome addition to Ray Charles’ discography. There is some simply terrific music here, capturing “The Genius” at his prime.

My review copy was provided by Concord Records.

Captivating Afro-Jazz Disc

From the December 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (who provided me with the review copy) comes my review of a terrific recording by Israeli-born clarinetist Oran Etkin and the marvelous Group Kelenia. African grooves and jazz mix here in a truly fine recording.

Born in Israel where he first heard Louis Armstrong as a youngster, Oran Etkin’s influences are many but it was playing Malian music in New York led him to travel to Mali where he stayed with a family of percussionist Jon Camara where he met and had the opportunity to play with some of the great groits in Mali and when he returned resumed an association with Balla Kouyate (on balaphon) leading to formation of Group Kelenia that also includes Makane Kouyate on calabash and Joe Sanders on bass. Kelenia comes from the Bambara word for love between peoples who are different from each other. On Etkin’s new recording “Kelenia” (Motéma Music), he introduces us to a marvelous meeting of ancient and modern, Jazz and African music, calls to prayer of different traditions for an enchanting experience. Primarily playing clarinet and bass clarinet with occasional tenor, Etkin’s deep woody tone resonates against Balla Kouyate’s dancing balaphon while Makane Kouyate’s calabash adds a gritty texture along with the haunting vocals of Abdoulaye Diabate. Both “Yekete” and the title track illustrate this, with overdubbing allowing Etkin to play off clarinet versus the bass clarinet. “Not a Waltz” is one of several tracks that feature Lionel Loueke’s guitar and John Benitez on bass with Mohamed ‘Joh’ Sidi Camara adding the talking drum. What is fascinating is the constant conversations that take place between the various musicians. Etkin’s tenor adds a honking tinge to “Nama,” as he plays over a vamping accompaniment from Balla Kuoyate. “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” has the ensemble adding a unique touch to the Ellington jazz standard as Etkin’s clarinets set the tone before Balla Kuoyate continues the musical dance with his solo. The music on “Kelenia” will enchant and invigorate the listener with the freshness and vigor of the music here. For more on Oran Etkin, visit www.oranetkin.com/group_kelenia.htm, or www.motema.com/artist/oran-etkin, where you can purchase this. It is available from amazon and iTunes.