A Jazz Thread

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‘Blue Nile’ from the Atlantis Jazz Ensemble’s 2016 album ‘Oceanic Suite’, with Pierre Chretien electric piano, Ed Lister trumpet, Zakari Frantz alto saxophone, Alex Bilodeau bass and Mike Essoudry drums.

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‘Winter’ from Black Flower’s 2014 album ‘Abyssinia Afterlife’, with Nathan Daems flute/saxophones, Jon Birdsong cornet and alto horn, Smokey Hormel guitar, Wouter Haest keyboards, Filip Vandebril bass, Simon Segers drums and Robbie Kieckens percussion.

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‘Pinch Of The Death Nerve’ from the self-titled 2015 album by The Sorcerers – Richard Ormrod bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, flute and vibraphone, Johnny Richards keyboards, Pete Williams guitar, Neil Innes bass and Joost Hendricks drums.

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‘Call To Awareness’ from the 1977 album ‘Esoteric Funk’ by keyboard player Hubert Eaves III, with Rene McLean soprano/tenor saxophones, Malachi Thompson trumpet, James Stowe trombone, Reggie Lucas guitar, James Benjamin bass, Howard King drums, Mtume percussion.

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The title track from trumpeter Manfred Schoof’s 1978 album ‘Light Lines’, with Michael Pilz bass clarinet, Jasper Van’t Hof keyboards, Gunter Lenz bass and Ralf Hubner drums.

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‘Vidigal’ from the 1978 album ‘Festa Para Um Novo Rei’ by Marcos Resende and Index, featuring Resende on keyboards, Oberdan Magalhaes soprano saxophone, Claudio Gabis guitar, Jorge Degas bass, Wilson Meireles drums and Marcelo Salazar percussion.

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To be honest pretty much everything else in pianist Dave Grusin’s back catalogue of syrupy MOR smooth jazz is probably best avoided, but in the early/mid 70's he wrote and produced two film soundtracks that are classics of the genre and right out of the Lalo Schifrin playbook. This is ‘Condor’, the main theme from Sydney Pollack’s ‘Three Days Of The Condor’ (1975), starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway. As you might expect, Grusin enlisted the cream of LA’s jazz session community, including saxophonist Tom Scott, saxophonist/flautist Bud Shank, trumpeter Chuck Findlay, guitarist Lee Ritenour, keyboard-player Ian Underwood and drummer Harvey Mason.

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Another from ‘Three Days Of The Condor’, this is ‘Flashback To Terror’. I particularly love Lee Ritenour’s guitar and Bud Shank’s flute on this track.

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Two years previously, Grusin wrote the music for Peter Yates’ 1973 film ‘The Friends Of Eddie Coyle’ starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle, a soundtrack held in such regard by afficionados that it was given a first-ever vinyl release for the 2018 Record Store Day. This is the main theme, also featuring Tom Scott and Bud Shank, along with, amongst many others, bassist Chuck Rainey, guitarist Dennis Budimir and drummer John Guerin.

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Three new tracks from Scotland this morning, starting with ‘Sognsvann’ from ‘Where Will The River Flow’ the 2021 debut album by saxophonist Matt Carmichael, a BBC Young Jazz Musician of the year finalist in 2020. With Fergus McCreadie piano, Ali Watson bass and Tom Potter drums.

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The title track from composer Fergus Hall’s 2021 album ‘Shores’, with Matt Carmichael tenor saxophone, Fergus McCreadie piano, Cameron Nixon vocals, Mark Hendry bass, Dominykas Snarskis drums and a small string section.

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The 2021 album ‘With Love, From Glasgow’ by DJ/composer/producer Rebecca Vasmant features a dozen or so musicians and vocalists from what is clearly a vibrant Glasgow jazz scene. It’s a superb album and certain to be one of my favourite releases this year. This is ‘Morning (Mourning)’, with Chris Grieve piano/trombone, Nikki Foster vocals, Lorne Cowieson trumpet and David Robertson percussion.

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‘Here And Heaven’ from pianist Amanda Tosoff’s 2021 album ‘Earth Voices’, with Michelle Willis vocals, Alex Samaras vocals, Alex Goodman guitar, Aline Homzy violin, Jeremy Potts violin, Laurence Schaufele viola, Beth Silver cello, Ion Maharaj bass and Morgan Childs drums.

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‘The Feist’ from harpist Amanda Whiting’s 2021 album ‘After Dark’, with Aidan Thorne bass and Jon Reynolds drums.

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‘Foran Policy’ from the 2020 album ‘Haven’ by vocalist Kristin Barardi, pianist Sean Foran and tenor saxophonist Rafael Karlen.

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‘Critical Level’ from the 2017 album ‘Into The Life’ by the Piotr Budniak Essential Group – Wojciech Lichtanski alto saxophone, Jakub Skowronski bass clarinet, Kajeta Browski piano, Szymon Mika guitar, Alan Wykpisz bass and Piotr Budniak drums.

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‘Pathways’ from Shauli Einav’s 2019 album ‘Animi’, with Einav on soprano saxophone, Andy Hunter trombone, Tim Collins vibraphone, Yoni Zelnik bass and Guilhem Flouzat drums.

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‘Dreamlane’ from the 2020 album ‘Things Happened Here’ by British collective Kansas Smitty’s - Giacomo Smith alto saxophone, Alec Harper tenor saxophone, Pete Horsfall trumpet, Joe Webb piano, David Archer guitar, Ferg Ireland bass and Will Cleasby drums.

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From the self-titled 1977 album by Danish band Entrance, this is ‘Glassprince’, with Palle Mikkelborg trumpet, Jesper Niehammer saxophone, Kenneth Knudsen keyboards, Bo Stief bass and Kasper Winding percussion.

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‘Nalezy Sie Wykupic’ from Polish band Sun Ship’s 1980 album ‘Follow Us’, with Wladyslaw Sendecki on keyboards, Henryk Miskiewicz soprano/alto saxophones, Zbigniew Jaremko soprano/tenor saxophones, Witold Szcurek bass and Marech Stach drums.

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‘Leda’ from the self-titled 1973 album by Italian band Dedalus – Fiorenzo Bonansone electric piano, Marco Di Castri tenor saxophone and guitar, Furio Di Castri bass and Enrico Grosso drums/percussion.

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‘Vals Fra Bjolsen’ from the self-titled 2021 debut album by Norwegian trio Maridalen – Jonas Kilmork Vemey trumpet, Anders Hefre tenor saxophone and Andreas Rodland Haga bass.

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‘Arrival’ from Thunderblender’s 2020 album ‘Stillorgan’, with Sam Comerford tenor/bass saxophones, Hendrik Lasure piano/effects and Jens Bouttery drums/synthesizer.

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‘Curiosity’ from Tom Smith’s 2020 album ‘Gecko’, featuring Smith on alto saxophone, Will Barry piano and Jonny Mansfield vibraphone.

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‘27’ from drummer Arthur Hnatek’s 2020 album ‘Static’ with Francesco Giminiani tenor saxophone and Fabien Iannone bass.