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| Track list: 1. I Come from Jamaica 2. Ida Red 3. Walkin' 4. Night in Tunisia 5. Donna Lee Running time: 34 minutes Released: 1973 |
This came in a big box of jazz albums that I picked up as a collection relatively recently - the same box that saw me acquire 8:30 by Weather Report. I am not at all familiar with his work as I go into this one.
The disc is made up of two short pieces and two epics with the closing track somewhere in between. The two shorties up first. I come from Jamaica surprises my by being a song; I was expecting instrumental jazz going by the cover. Despite Armstrong, I do not associate trumpeters with singing. It is a raucous number, short and not overly sweet. The second track is also a song, but I was ready for it this time. It has a pleasantly familiar cadence (a word I might start over-using, it's been in my head so much of late). I think I realise why its familiar... Dr John's medley including My Indian Red on Trippin' Live. Clearly this is just a rewording or alternate lyric - probably more PC, though I doubt that was an issue in nineteen seventy-three.
Now for the two long tracks. The first is more what I was expecting to hear. Fairly traditional jazz sounds with an emphasis on the trumpet. It is fairly high tempo, not racing along but not a sedentary number. A couple of solos come and go. There is a bustle in the background of the track... whether that is a recording artefact from the good old days or, no - the applause confirms it is a live audience. You can hear the hubbub of folks chatting. This is interesting because you might think it would detract from the tune and I guess in a way it does seeing as I am straining to listen to it. However it works for the recording, giving it a sense of atmosphere akin to actually being out and about. The tune itself meanders back and forth, keeping up the pace, giving everyone a turn - have I mentioned before that I dislike the "mandatory solo"? I think I have, but I really do - in a very stereotypical way. It never elevates to the point of being arresting, but neither does it sink to disappointing.
However it does get a bit stale; 11 minutes is a long time to keep one piece going without any pause or slow down. I think it is the uniform pace that gets to me most, and I am glad when it finally comes to a close. The next track is only a shade shorter and picks up a very similar rhythm. The initial impression is of a more interesting composition this time but I am afraid that I find that sitting like this concentrating on the music is not a good fit for this type of jazz. Sure, I pick up things like the nicely dirty squeeze that underlies the main melody in places, a real sleaze about it, which I would miss in a busier situation, but I find that I want a drink, darkness and bustle, a conversation to concentrate on, and to just pick out the best refrains out of the mix. Night in Tunisia gives the impression of some of that until the piano solo which kills the mood; the track has lived on the brass and dropping both trumpet and sax to give space to the keys completely changes the complexion of the track. After Walkin' I thought I would be all for any type of change, but in fact it rips the heart out of things, and even when the horns come back... the energy, the sense of presence have been lost a little and the tune is poorer for it.
The final number races into things at a million miles an hour. Tempo is definitely up here, and it was not slow on the previous pieces. I can imagine this was an energetic performance to witness. The leading trumpet is slightly squeaky - as if notes are being pinched off because the track rocks onwards so fast. I do not get the impression of Brown as being virtuoso, but more of him being a showman, someone who lived for the stage. Of course that could all be guff; can't really tell anything like that, but it is funny how our minds give us ideas beyond those we could reasonably expect to get.
I am not that taken with Donna Lee - too fast, too garbled for it; more about sheer weight of notes rather than the quality of those notes. As such it is a little overwhelming and so underwhelming. It feels like a mess on record, but was probably amazing to see performed. As it comes to an end - rather catching me by surprise, the pace having made seven minutes fly past in what seemed like seconds I don't know what to make of this disc. Donna can go for sure, Night in Tunisia is a keeper even with the drop off at the tail. The other three follow Donna Lee out the door too. Walkin' had its moments, but 11 minutes of the same moments repeated is too much, and as for the two songs, I was lukewarm on the first, and have a more preferred version of the second. Disappointed, but not too much so. You are bound to get a dud or two in a big box of varieties.
The disc is made up of two short pieces and two epics with the closing track somewhere in between. The two shorties up first. I come from Jamaica surprises my by being a song; I was expecting instrumental jazz going by the cover. Despite Armstrong, I do not associate trumpeters with singing. It is a raucous number, short and not overly sweet. The second track is also a song, but I was ready for it this time. It has a pleasantly familiar cadence (a word I might start over-using, it's been in my head so much of late). I think I realise why its familiar... Dr John's medley including My Indian Red on Trippin' Live. Clearly this is just a rewording or alternate lyric - probably more PC, though I doubt that was an issue in nineteen seventy-three.
Now for the two long tracks. The first is more what I was expecting to hear. Fairly traditional jazz sounds with an emphasis on the trumpet. It is fairly high tempo, not racing along but not a sedentary number. A couple of solos come and go. There is a bustle in the background of the track... whether that is a recording artefact from the good old days or, no - the applause confirms it is a live audience. You can hear the hubbub of folks chatting. This is interesting because you might think it would detract from the tune and I guess in a way it does seeing as I am straining to listen to it. However it works for the recording, giving it a sense of atmosphere akin to actually being out and about. The tune itself meanders back and forth, keeping up the pace, giving everyone a turn - have I mentioned before that I dislike the "mandatory solo"? I think I have, but I really do - in a very stereotypical way. It never elevates to the point of being arresting, but neither does it sink to disappointing.
However it does get a bit stale; 11 minutes is a long time to keep one piece going without any pause or slow down. I think it is the uniform pace that gets to me most, and I am glad when it finally comes to a close. The next track is only a shade shorter and picks up a very similar rhythm. The initial impression is of a more interesting composition this time but I am afraid that I find that sitting like this concentrating on the music is not a good fit for this type of jazz. Sure, I pick up things like the nicely dirty squeeze that underlies the main melody in places, a real sleaze about it, which I would miss in a busier situation, but I find that I want a drink, darkness and bustle, a conversation to concentrate on, and to just pick out the best refrains out of the mix. Night in Tunisia gives the impression of some of that until the piano solo which kills the mood; the track has lived on the brass and dropping both trumpet and sax to give space to the keys completely changes the complexion of the track. After Walkin' I thought I would be all for any type of change, but in fact it rips the heart out of things, and even when the horns come back... the energy, the sense of presence have been lost a little and the tune is poorer for it.
The final number races into things at a million miles an hour. Tempo is definitely up here, and it was not slow on the previous pieces. I can imagine this was an energetic performance to witness. The leading trumpet is slightly squeaky - as if notes are being pinched off because the track rocks onwards so fast. I do not get the impression of Brown as being virtuoso, but more of him being a showman, someone who lived for the stage. Of course that could all be guff; can't really tell anything like that, but it is funny how our minds give us ideas beyond those we could reasonably expect to get.
I am not that taken with Donna Lee - too fast, too garbled for it; more about sheer weight of notes rather than the quality of those notes. As such it is a little overwhelming and so underwhelming. It feels like a mess on record, but was probably amazing to see performed. As it comes to an end - rather catching me by surprise, the pace having made seven minutes fly past in what seemed like seconds I don't know what to make of this disc. Donna can go for sure, Night in Tunisia is a keeper even with the drop off at the tail. The other three follow Donna Lee out the door too. Walkin' had its moments, but 11 minutes of the same moments repeated is too much, and as for the two songs, I was lukewarm on the first, and have a more preferred version of the second. Disappointed, but not too much so. You are bound to get a dud or two in a big box of varieties.
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