Comments on: TERRY CALLIER / “Love Theme From ‘Spartacus’”

by: Chuck Cuyjet

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 11:12:25 -0500

Both of these recordings are fabulous and rank in my personal top twenty of all time. I have to say that I was very excited to see Terry's Time/Peace CD in the racks as I had long missed his work. There's nothing 'Ordinary' about him!

Lateef's rendition carries me back to my childhood in Philadelphia when, as young teens, my sister and I kept a sharp ear out for what we considered 'cool sounds' that the rest of our friends weren't attuned to as they were solidily into Motown (not that we didn't listen to rock and roll. We just wanted to know what else was going on!). We listened to Joel Dorn and Sid Mark on WHAT.FM and thought ourselves exceeding cool because we knew Yusef Lateef, Horace Silver, Roland Kirk, Coltrane, Miles, Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy Smith, etc. And, speaking of playing a broad array of instruments, one has to check out Roland Kirk, wouldn't you say?

Thanks for setting up this site. Keep up the good work!

by: JB Borders

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 16:24:06 -0500

Callier also recorded a killer version of Ellington’s Satin Doll on his 1973 album, I Just Can’t Help Myself. Like the cover of Love Theme From Spartacus, the cut stands out because the execution is flawless and because it is not a Callier original. He records very few songs by other writers; but when he does, he absolutely nails them.

by: drfeelgoed

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:11:06 -0500

Listening to it right now, stunning.

But why did you insert a picture of Krabi (Thailand) instead of the album cover?

Mtume says:

I was wondering about that myself, Baba. ... But the more intriguing question is for you, Doc: how did you know it was Krabi?

Kalamu says:

The short answer is simple: it's an image carried over from the cover of a mixtape cd I put together that included "Love Theme." My bad.

For those who have not downloaded the file to your computer, you are (like initially I was) probably confused and saying: what is he talking about? Under certain circumstances, downloads of a song also include visual images that were linked to that song.

by: Onome

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 20:51:13 -0500

Small world…Chuck, might you know a woman named Sequoyah?

But getting back to the topic, I am a 24 year old woman who never heard of Mr. Callier until I went to Frisco a few weeks back for the VONA Voices Workshop. I walked into Amoeba Music and his voice was wafting from above. Sweet seraphim! Thank you for sharing all this amazing music, Kalamu.

by: mistacee

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 03:23:32 -0500

Had the pleasure of seeing Terry live a few times now. His tracks were always huge here during the Jazz/Rare Groove revival of the 80’s. Amazing singer

by: Castro (Jason)

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 18:42:40 -0500

This has me thinking about Gil-Scott Heron's "A Song for Bobby Smith"......

"aint you been there?/And ain't you going

can't you taste your/ideas growing

we are soldiers/soldiers of a new day

and ain't you been there and can't you feel it/

in your heart...."

This is a type of song that I feel is sorely missing from the repertoire of cats in my generation. Black Women vocalists in this generation have put out some great songs like this, but I love hearing a Brother sing this because it reminds me of hearing my Father sing in the choir when I was young. He has a baritone voice like Terry Callier and Gil-Scott and this has such an air of quiet authority- like listening to a river run past you in the morning. Someone also put me on to Dwight Trible, who can most certainly be included in this group. This is an amazing track- I will be copping this Brother's work SOON!

Mtume says:

"Song For Bobby Smith" is one of my all-time favorite songs by one of my all-time favorite artists.

I love the spoken intro where Gil recounts asking Bobby, "What should we call this song?" Bobby, in typical three-year-old fashion, answers: "Oh, that's pretty! That's my song!" Bobby's enthusiastic reaction is so out of step with the melancholy nature of the song, yet so in step with the irrepresible enthusiasm of youth, that the exchange adds an extra layer of poignancy to the already powerful melody and lyric.

Beautiful, beautiful stuff. BTW, we already have a couple of Gil Scott posts in the can -- we gotta run 'em soon.

by: l'affreux thom

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 15:32:29 -0500

stunning ! i post the same songs today.

Mtume says:

He did. La Case De L'Affreux Thom.

by: Chuck Cuyjet

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 09:53:45 -0600

Onome, Sequoyah is my cousin. While I can’t claim to know her (I have met her once at a family reunion in Philadelphia) all Cuyjet’s are related. And speaking of VONA, I’ve attended the last two sessions and find it a wellspring and an oasis (I know, a redundancy, but I gush entirely too much). I’m applying again this year too. See you there?