VARIOUS ARTISTS / Senor Blues Mixtape

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“Senor Blues” is a composition by pianist/composer Horace Silver. Like many of Silver’s songs, “Senor Blues” has a strong and immediately identifiable bass line and a catchy melody line that is easy for anyone to hum. It has become a jazz standard.

Once again we cover a lot of stylistic ground with these eleven versions of Silver’s popular song. After the original by Silver’s quintet we get a cool jazz vocal from Chris Connor. Then Ray Charles with a big band and Ernie Banks with a big bluesy voice take turns emphasizing the blues undertones.

Brass Jaw gives an avant gardist interpretation before blues man Taj Mahal updates a swing band arrangement followed by a fusion jazz take from Battista Lena. Then it’s more west coast cool from Mark Murphy, who leads into the innovative afro-cuban treatment from percussionist Carlos “Patato” Valdez featuring vocalist Mbula Enoka.

We close out with some funky jazz from saxophonist Tyrone Smith and a hip hop take from producer Beatconductor. At least one (and probably more than one) of these versions is guaranteed to touch you.

—Kalamu ya Salaam


Senor Blues Mixtape Playlist

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01 Six Pieces of Silver - Horace Silver

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02 Chris Connor In Person - Chris Connor

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03 Genius + Soul = Jazz - Ray Charles

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04 Señor Blues - Ernie Banks

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05 Deal With It! - Brass Jaw

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06 Señor Blues - Taj Mahal

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07 Plays - Battista Lena

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08 That's How I Love The Blues! - Mark Murphy

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09 Ritmo y Candela II African Crossroads - Carlos "Patato" Valdez

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10 Playing It By Ear - Tyrone Smith

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11 Loaded Ep - Beatconductor

This entry was posted on Monday, October 4th, 2010 at 12:31 am and is filed under Cover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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