breath of life

March 15, 2010

Administrator — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:45:22 +0000

Third World—the longest running reggae band ever—kicks off the week and we follow with Build An Ark, an exciting jazz ensemble out of Los Angeles. We close with 10 versions of "Moment’s Notice" featuring composer John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Slide Hampton, John Blake, Suturo O’Farrill, Dexter Gordon, The Jazz Conceptions Orchestra, Billy Hart, McCoy Tyner, and SFJazz Collective.

VARIOUS ARTISTS / “Moment’s Notice”

Administrator — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:44:58 +0000

I believe “Moment’s Notice” is the first original composition recorded by John Coltrane that went on to become a jazz standard. One of two famous (the other is “Blue Train”) compositions and both were on Coltrane’s only Blue Note recording as a leader.

This week we have ten versions and, as always, there are a few surprises in the batch. Of course we open with the original recording featuring Curtis Fuller on trombone and Lee Morgan on trumpet. After than we start mixing it up.

Pharoah with a rare vocal version featuring vocalist/lyricist George V. Johnson and the huge horn sound of Pharoah showcasing his hard bop chops. Trombonist/arranger Slide Hampton as always provides an interesting arrangement and violinist John Blake makes this hard swinging composition sound delightfully delicate. Arturo O’Farrill drops a diamond sharp, fleet-fingered rendition and is followed by long, tall Dexter Gordon whose both as large as and as nimble as a bull elephant triumphantly stomping thru the savannah.

The Jazz Conceptions Orchestra is an outfit made up mostly of college buddies who decided to form a band and surprisingly have since received acclaim in the jazz world for their rich sound and skillfully played arrangements. Drummer Billy Hart wins my heart for this thorough deconstruction featuring tenor saxophonist Mark Turner who chooses the Wayne Shorter approach and ends with a brief cadenza that is absolutely incandescent. Turner tenor is joyful proof that there is still more that can be done by imaginative jazz saxophonists, but beyond Turner is the inventiveness of Hart’s drumming, which seems to me to play harmony at an incredibly high level. Billy Hart just knows for sure how to play rich rhythms that provide more than mere beats.

McCoy Tyner. McCoy Tyner. Got repeat his name; he plays so much piano. Of course, he must have played this song a bunch of times with Coltrane and somehow Tyner has found a way to make it sound fresh. And finally the San Francisco Jazz Collective from the year their annual tribute was to John Coltrane. All that need be said about their undertaking is “wow.” Trumpeter Nicholas Payton (another from that seemingly bottomless well of New Orleans trumpet talent) is at his thick-toned best. I just love how Nick blows hard without sounding harsh. And, oh yeah, that’s Bobby Hutcherson on vibes making his second appearance on this Mixtape. Although he doesn’t solo on the SFJazz Collective version, that’s Bobby burning it up on Pharoah Sanders version doing an outstanding job of displaying his mallet dexterity.

Ok, that’s it; a quick hit of Coltrane music. Enjoy.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Moment’s Notice Mixtape Playlist

01 Blue Train - John Coltrane

02 Rejoice - Pharoah Sanders

03 Exodus - Slide Hampton

04 Quest - John Blake

05 Blood Lines - Arturo O’Farrill

06 Manhattan Symphonie - Dexter Gordon

07 The Jazz Conceptions Orchestra

08 Quartet - Billy Hart

09 McCoy Tyner Plays John Coltrane

10 SFJazz Collective Volume 2

BUILD AN ARK / Live @ Cargo – London

Administrator — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:44:34 +0000

Build An Ark is a Los Angeles-based music collective heard here performing at Cargo, a London venue, as part of a program put together by Red Bull Music Academy, which regularly brings diverse musicians together to collaborate and perform.

Build An Ark founder, Carlos Nino, explains the origins of the group and introduces the group members on this particular recording. As Nino notes, Build An Ark is a much larger ensemble than the one on this broadcast.

One of the major focal points is vocalist Dwight Trible who is an incredibly talented crooner/shouter. In an early life he must have been resident in Sun Ra’s keyboard. He don’t need no words, the man makes songs out of raw sounds thrown sizzlingly hot up out of his throat into the atmosphere.

What I dig most about this set is the seventies spiritual jazz sound that is not imitated but rather is emulated and re-birthed. Sort of like the who crew stepped into a time traveling vehicle and appeared on stage straight from somewhere circa 1973. This is some uncut levitating shit. The kind of music that sets people to screaming and hollering.

Everybody is "on" it—giving their all—so I don’t really want to start singling out particular musicians but I’ve got to note that trap drummer Tony Austin is absolutely killing and I’m glad he gets to take an extended solo (and what tremendous pounding it is) around the 37-minute mark of the show.

According to the Red Bull Music Academy website the set list is:

01 “Improvisation”

02 “Celebrate”

03 “A Love Supreme”

04 “How Do We End All This Madness?”

05 “We Have Not Come To Take Prisoners”

06 “Sunflowers In My Garden”

07 “World Peace Now”

08 “Build An Ark”

09 “Improvisation”

10 “You’ve Gotta Have Freedom”

Bonustrack:

11 Carlos Nino and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – “Find A Way” - Stones Throw Records

The musicians are:

Dwight Trible - Vocals

Waberi Jordan - Vocals

Phil Ranelin - Trombone

Tracy Wannomae - Alto Sax, Soprano Sax and Flute

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Fender Rhodes

Nick Rosen - Bass

Tony Austin - Drums

Carlos Nino - Band Leader, Producer, Special Effects

While you are enjoying the music you might also want to check out Red Bull Music Academy Radio. They have a healthy music line-up featuring both concerts and interviews.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

THIRD WORLD / “Third World Mixtape”

Administrator — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:43:08 +0000

We sat in the back yard ital-ly eating vegetarian and mutually enjoying each other’s company as we reasoned and fellowshipped together. What a sight we must have been, all of us in our twenties believing with all our hearts and minds that we really were going to make a revolution. This was right after Third World’s first record (Third World-1975) with that beautiful cover had been released on Island records.

Founded by vocalist/keyboardist Michael “Ibo” Cooper and vocalist/guitarist Stephen “Cat” Coore in 1973, Third World was a relatively new band on their initial tour of the states. Both Ibo and Cat had been members of the popular Jamaican band Inner Circle before leaving to form Third World.

They had a two or three day stay in New Orleans and we invited them to visit Ahidiana Work/Study Center, an independent school we operated in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. If my shaky memory serves me correctly, Third World also did a wonderful set out at SUNO, where some of us had been intimately involved in a school takeover and year long demonstrations. It’s possible that I’m mistaken about SUNO being the venue, but I do remember that their performance was inspiring and roundly applauded.

For me that first album stands as the best of Third World, demonstrating both their breadth and their depth. So much music was covered, drawing on everything from Jamaican folk music to then contemporary funk music (listen to that layering of drum rhythms on “Cross Reference”—when those funky traps drop in the song takes off into the stratosphere). What was distinctive is that they were able to maintain a distinctive reggae sound even as they incorporated diverse influences into the overall sound. Take careful note of their multi-part vocal harmonies.

After their third album success flattened out that diversity so many of us adored. “Now That We Found Love (What Are We Going To Do With It?).” Precisely. The $64,000 question. In fact, if you change “love” to “success” the dilemma because immediately obvious. Once you have a major cross-over hit, the pressures to make all your music head in a commercial direction is almost an offer you damn near can’t refuse without committing professional suicide.

The really hard noise about the success question is that once you start reaching for the gold records not only do you fall off your original game but worse there is no certainty that you’re going to succeed. Try as you might, you may never produce another hugely popular hit. And that’s precisely what happened to Third World.

Third World persists as a band—indeed they are the longest lasting of all reggae bands, they have weathered personnel changes and continue to tour and record, their music of the eighties and beyond pales on two counts in comparison to their music of the seventies: 1. They were less rootsy, less diverse, less interesting as a hybrid sound, and 2. they never had another huge hit like “Now That We Found Love.” So, there they are in pop limbo, constantly rehashing old hits as they try to come up with a new hit, and yet, make no mistake they are no throw-away band.

Third World made a real contribution to the development of the music, plus they never surrendered to dancehall slackness or silly bubble-gum pop, and their integrity on that count needs to be recognized and respected. They may not have remained innovators over the long course of their career but they never gave up on the dream of making music relevant to the people.

I listen to these tracks and that inspiring afternoon on Deslonde Street rushes back, inundating my mind with beautiful memories of when we were young and certain that we were going to make a cultural revolution…

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Third World Mixtape Playlist

Third World (1976)

01 “Sette Messgana”

02 “Slavery Days”

03 “Brand New Beggar”

04 “Cross Reference”

05 “Freedom Song”

96 Degrees In The Shade (1977)

06 “Rhythm of Life"

07 “1865”

08 “Dreamland”

Journey To Addis (1978)

09 “Now That We Found Love”

10 “Fret Not Thyself”

Reggae Sunsplash’81 - A Tribute to Bob Marley

11 “1865 (96° In The Shade)”

12 “Now That We Found Love (Extended Version)”

March 8, 2010

Administrator — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:17:36 +0000

This week start off catching early John Coltrane and then safari to Kenya to check out Just A Band and close out enjoying the vocalese of Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.

LAMBERT, HENDRICKS & ROSS / “LH&R Mixtape”

Administrator — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:17:09 +0000

Rarely can anyone say that one recording is the definitive example of a particular development of the music or, for that matter, of the importance of a master musician, but in this case, without fear of contradiction, we can say that this 2CD set (which is actually a compilation of three albums) by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross represents the best of jazz “vocalese.”

Vocalese and scatting are not the same thing, although on “Popity Pop” the trio does treat us to some stellar scatting. Scatting is the use of sounds, instead of standard English words, as “lyrics.” Some people think of it as the human voice imitating an instrument. The only problem with that definition is that the human voice preceded any and all instruments. On the other hand, instrumental jazz is the specific reference for most examples of scatting.

At this time I won’t go into the work of vocalists such as Jeanne Lee, Bobby McFerrin, Linda Sharrock and others whose approach to vocal jazz goes far, far beyond what “scatting” implies. Vocalese is a specific variant of singing that uses lyrics fitted to specific jazz solos and arrangements. To fully appreciate vocalese, one needs a knowledge of the reference recordings—the specific performances and not just the song in general.

There is no debating that the first example of jazz scatting is Louis Armstrong on “Heebie Jeebies” from back in the twenties. The first examples of vocalese are credited to Eddie Jefferson and King Pleasure. Which all brings us to Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.

This trio perfected the art of vocalese and no individual or group has yet surpassed them.

Dave Lambert was a master at choral arranging and is responsible for the harmonic sophistication of the ensemble. It’s easy to be wowed by the group’s vocal work while overlooking that they were doing a bit more than simply “imitating” existing arrangements. Lambert’s genius was in choosing harmonic lines that would give the impression of a big band when the trio sang—and, moreover, when they sang songs that were popular among jazz fans who often knew the solos note for note. I am particularly impressed with the arrangements of the Ellington compositions, most of which are from Ellington’s majestic In A Mellotone recording.

Jon Hendricks is the leading lyricist of jazz, indeed there is no one placing even second or showing up third compared to Hendricks’ ability to craft lyrics for famous jazz solos. Writing vocalese lyrics is a grueling task completely different from writing lyrics for a standard melody. For one thing, the solos are usually so distinctive that there is very little latitude. Often you will need a hundred words to cover seven or eight measures. Then the words have to be singable, you can’t just throw in the kitchen sink and expect the singer to cook (yeah, I know, that’s a horribly mangled metaphor, but I think the mixed metaphor gets the point across). So anyway, one of the reasons Jon Hendricks is a category of one as a composer of vocalese lyrics is because no one else has even tried to match him.

British vocalist Annie Ross was the best pure singer of the three. Her pitch was unerring as was her timing. She didn’t have the emotional depth of the leading jazz vocalists but no one else could fit into a vocalese ensemble with the supple ease that she displayed. While she never made it big as a solo artist, within the trio setting nobody ever bested her.

In jazz there have been a number of stellar combos. They are usually referred to as “classic”—think of The Ahmad Jamal Trio, The Miles Davis Quintet (both the first and second), and of course The John Coltrane Quartet, but there are also groups such as Return To Forever and Weather Report. As far as I know the only vocal group to add to that pantheon is Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. LH&R truly deserve the highest accolades for their accomplishments as a vocalese ensemble.

LH&R made their music sound smooth and relaxed but it was fiendishly difficult to execute and impossible to duplicate. Indeed, when Annie Ross left the group and Yolande Bavan was chosen as a replacement, the change in the group’s sound was noticeable. Although Bavan had an excellent voice, the synergy of the vocal trio just wasn’t the same. Much like famous big bands whose sound changed when personnel moved on even though the arrangements remained the same, LH&R was a unit whose individual elements were irreplaceable.

If you’ve never heard them before, prepare to be blown away. If you’ve heard them a while ago, prepare to be blown away again. LH&R are superb and this collection is the best possible introduction.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Mixtape Playlist

All tracks are from The Hottest New Group In Jazz
01 “Cloudburst”
02 “Moanin’ ”
03 “Hi-Fly”
04 “Twisted”
05 “Swingin’ Till The Girls Come Home”
06 “Sermonette”
07 “Gimme That Wine”
08 “Walkin’ ”
09 “A Night In Tunisia”
10 “Summertime”
11 “Come On Home”
12 “Mr. P. C.”
13 “This Here (Dis Hyunh)”
14 “Popity Pop”
15 “Main Stem”
16 “Caravan”
17 “Cottontail”
18 “All Too Soon”
19 “I Don’t Know What Kind Of Blues I’ve Got”
20 “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be”
21 “Rocks In My Bed”
22 “What Am I Here For?”
23 “Mellow Tone”

JUST A BAND / “Just A Band Mixtape”

Administrator — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:16:44 +0000

Talk about DIY (Do It Yourself), this trio out of Kenya, East Africa is beyond any band I’ve heard of before. Just A Band composes, performs, and engineers their music, BUT they also do all their own graphics, packaging, marketing, AND they do their own videos, some of which include animation.

It’s the old story with black folk—a lot of stuff we do because we literally don’t know we’re not supposed to be able to do what we do. Who else is producing everything from the music to the video and everything in between?

What initially got to me was the video work. Whereas the music is easy going down as a combination of a plethora of contemporary influences, on the black hand side a couple of their videos are positively incandescent in both content and execution.

You probably can’t tell from just listening to the music how revolutionary “Usinibore” is, nor for that matter does just listening to the lyrics of “If I Could” reveal just how bittersweet realistic rather than hopelessly romantic that sweet song is. Go here to view “Usinibore” and here to view “If I Could.”

Anyone into alternative music can pick out some of the obvious influences however it is not their music alone that interests me. First off, this music swims upstream against the prevailing stereotypes of what contemporary African pop music sounds like. More important, at least to me, is that this music is grounded in and responsive to a specific social context. Just A Band proves you don’t have to be strident to be political, and you can be creative artistically and still be socially relevant.

* * *

Just A Band is Bill “Blinky” Sellanga, Daniel Muli and Jim Chuchu. Two of them were high school classmates and met up with the third at Kenya’s Kenyatta University and became inseparable friends even though they each had a different major area of interest. They would jam informally and one day a fellow student told them they really needed to form a band.

But music was not their first collective project. For close to three years before formalizing the band they ran Label Revolution, an online magazine.

Bill is a professional musician who does session work for other Kenyan artists. Dan teaches graphic design and does freelance animation. Jim has worked as a graphic designer and switched to photography/cinematography full time.

* * *

Your brand of music is somewhat off the beaten track. What made you decide to pick this genre of music?
BLINKY: I don’t think we picked it per se, we just do music that we like, so it’s been everyone bringing their influences to the table and mashing it up. There’s jazz, hip hop, house and rock(ish) African stuff all thrown into that pot.

DAN: We wanted to make music that is inspired by what we like to listen to, but hopefully flipped a little to make it something new and unique. Right now the music clearly shows its influences; house, neo-soul, a touch of punk music and so forth, but hopefully, once all is said and done and we’ve developed our sound into some as-yet-unnamed zone of mad sonic experimentation, it’ll defy genre classifications! As a creative person, you have to choose between delivering what your audience wants, and exploring (i.e. being creative), and you have to strike your own balance. We may be a little bit out there, in terms of what goes on locally, but we’re still just trying to move the people, but in new ways.

JIM: I don’t think of our music in terms of genres, they’re either sad or happy or angry. So, I don’t think we ‘pick’ genres; we make happy songs when we’re happy, and we make sad songs when we’re sad. Everything else is by-the-way. People come and tell us we’ve been doing industrial house, and we’re like – um, cool!
—Jamati online interview

* * *

The challenge for Just A Band will be how to develop their music while continuing to forward their other interests. But then, who knows, just like they have come this far under their own guidance maybe it’s possible they will go even further without compromising their innovative holistic vision.

I am certain they are a great inspiration to young people in Kenya who, like young people everywhere, are dreaming of literally making a difference in life. In this case, Just A Band has already begun to convert their dreams into reality. And for that I say “asante sana” (thank you very much).

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Just A Band Mixtape Playlist

Scratch to Reveal
01 “Hey!”
02 “Do You Mind?”
03 “Funkyﬁnebeautiful”
04 “If I Could”
05 “Lights Music Stars”
06 “Have You Seen Her?”
07 “Beba Na Finje”

82
08 “Save My Soul”
09 “Extra”
10 “Usinibore”
11 “Sunrise”
12 “Stay”
13 “Forever People (Do It So Delicious)”
14 “Tingiza Kichwa”

JOHN COLTRANE / “Catchin’ The Early Trane Mixtape”

Administrator — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:16:12 +0000

I am a believer in the music of John Coltrane.

What I hear in Coltrane’s music is an unmistakable yearning, an altissimo reaching, both deeper and higher; deeper into the depths of himself, and far, far outward towards the out-a-sphere beyond himself.

He wanted, simultaneously, to be and to become. For some of us ‘be all you can be’ is merely a marketing cliché used to sell whatever, Coltrane however set a profound example for us John Coltrane set an example that challenged us to turn an abstract cliché into a factual description of how we live our lives.

Most of us know and embrace Coltrane’s phrase ‘love supreme.’ Many of us are not as familiar with his earlier music, especially those recordings Coltrane made outside of his association with Miles Davis. The general consensus is that the early work is nowhere near as moving as the mature Coltrane. Well, I believe that’s both true and not true.

True we don’t find many examples of Coltrane as a major composer, nor do we get Coltrane as a master leader of an ensemble that permanently shapes the direction of the music. And yet, when we listen, is it not true that there is a mother-lode of exquisite music in the body of Coltrane’s early work?

I divide Coltrane’s work into three phases: 1. The Prestige Years, 2. The Atlantic Years, and 3. The Impulse Years. Unlike the second and third phase, The Prestige Years includes work recorded on more than one label and work as a sideman under the leadership of others. Also, with the notable exception of Blue Train, a one-off Blue Note recording that comes at the end of the Prestige Years and before the Atlantic Years, the first phase of Coltrane’s recorded career does not contain any of his major compositions.

The reason is not simply because at that time he was still in his bop-influenced stage and was using standards and hard bop material. John Coltrane was aware of the value of his music and did not want to give up any of his publishing rights to Prestige records. Once Trane signed with Atlantic and had his own publishing, he released a torrent of new and significant compositions.

I think Coltrane presided over both the apogee and the eclipse of hard bop. Certainly with Giant Steps, Coltrane maximized harmonic possibilities then current in jazz. No one could play the changes as well as he did. But at the same time Trane also thoroughly explored the modal approach to jazz. It is interesting that two 1959 recordings exemplified hard bop and modal jazz.

Coltrane’s Giant Steps established John Coltrane as the deepest thinker of hard bop and set a standard that jazz musicians continue to revere over fifty years later. On the modal side of the divide, Coltrane’s participation in Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue sessions were some of his most lyrical recorded performances and are also viewed as benchmarks for instrumentalists. Perhaps because Kind Of Blue was so closely followed by Giant Steps and My Favorite Things we sometimes overlook previous work, much of which was recorded only a year or two before Kind Of Blue.

This week we are focusing on Coltrane as a hard bop musician and as a lyrical player. One of the great paradoxes of John Coltrane’s music is that as ferocious a performer as he was in his mastery of the tenor saxophone, especially when he was playing blues or furious outpourings with drummer Elvin Jones, Coltrane nevertheless never ever loss his lyrical touch.

There are four ballads on this Mixtape and each one offers a master class in the post-Prez (Lester Young) approach to playing pretty on the tenor. One interesting non-ballad, "Ammon Joy," is unique in that it features Coltrane playing alto, which was his horn of choice when he started out. The session is led by Gene Ammons and includes Paul Quinichette on tenor, Pepper Adams on baritone and Jerome Richardson on flute, with Mal Waldron on piano, George Joyner on bass and Art Taylor on drums. They recorded on January 3, 1958.

On the majority of these tracks the pianist is Red Garland. Red was a bandmate with Coltrane in the first great quintet of Miles Davis. If you listen to Red’s solo work, especially his chording, you will immediately hear a seminal precedent for McCoy Tyner’s major contribution to jazz piano. While Red Garland is justifiably celebrated for his block chords, don’t overlook the intricate fleetness and harmonic richness of Red’s single-note solo elements—especially check Red’s solo on “Good Bait.”

The closing two tracks on the Mixtape are from Blue Train (1957) and nothing more need be said as these are major sign posts in the recordings of John Coltrane’s jazz journey.

I remember going down to the sea in Provincetown, Massachusettes before dawn and waiting to see the sunrise. In cities surrounded by lights and buildings, the sunrise is not a special sighting, certainly nothing to wait for with eyes staring at the horizon, and because we have no clear view of the soft glory of the sun coming up, most of us urbanites don’t bother checking it out. But we should.

From time to time we should get up and catch the sunrise. Similarly, no matter our day-to-day listening habits, occasionally we should get up and catch the early Trane. There is an unduplicable beauty in those first sightings and those first sounds.

—Kalamu ya Salaam

Catchin’ The Early Trane Mixtape Playlist

You’ve got a choice, if you want all of the tracks on this Mixtape except the last two cuts, which are on Blue Train, you can get individual albums or you can get the TheComplete Prestige Recordings boxset. I favor the boxset, but I would because I’m a Coltrane freak.

01 “Come Rain Or Come Shine” – The Last Trane

02 “Bahia” – Bahia

03 “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” – Soul Junction – Red Garland

04 “Traneing In” – Traneing In

05 “Lush Life” – Lush Life

06 “Good Bait” - Soultrane

07 “My Ideal” - Bahia

08 “Ammon Joy” – Groove Blues – Gene Ammons

09 “Why Was I Born?” – Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane
10 “Freight Trane” – Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane

11 “Theme For Ernie” - Soultrane

12 “Blue Train”- Blue Train
13 “Moment’s Notice” - Blue Train

March 1, 2010

Administrator — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:24:49 +0000

The Cape Verde connection is featured this week with classic jazz from Horace Silver and a hybrid from Carmen Souza, plus 15 versions of "Save Your Love For Me" featuring Art Farmer/Benny Golson with Nancy Wilson, Al Jarreau, David Fathead Newman, New York Voices, Khalil El Zabar, Jack McDuff, Bobby Bland, Charles Brown, Johnny Lytle, Randy Crawford & Joe Sample, Johnny Griffin & Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Jose James, Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley, Hank Crawford and Sunny Sumter.

VARIOUS ARTISTS / “Save Your Love For Me Mixtape”

Administrator — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:23:53 +0000

Last week when we considered Buddy Johnson, I had an ace up my sleeve. I knew all along the song I really wanted to get to was “Save Your Love For Me,” which is Buddy’s most famous contribution to jazz standards.

So here we go again, taking a leisurely stroll with 15 versions including two featuring Nancy Wilson—that’s my joker: Nancy live with Art Farmer and Bennie Golson recorded in performance.

In case you don’t know, Nancy’s version with Cannonball pretty much established the basic arrangement that most folk employ. Nevertheless, I’m digging on some of these other versions so much, I’m willing to lead with the joker; we’re going to Boston with this hand (do I have to tell you that’s bid whist card game terminology for winning every trick?).

No doubt, you won’t recognize all the names and one or two might not appeal to you, but you going to find it damn near impossible to do better than Jose James, Nancy Wilson with Cannonball, Hank Crawford, and finally Sunny Sumter batting clean up with an utterly original performance.

So go ahead and enjoy. If you want swing Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Johnny Griffin will rock you til you can’t rock no more, but on the other hand don’t miss Ms. Randy Crawford and brother Joe Sample doing their elegant begging, or for that Bobby “Blue” Bland demanding that you save him.

And that doesn’t cover it all. I’ve been listening to this set for two weeks now. Everytime I get to the end, I end up starting it over again. Yeah, it’s like that.

By the way, the Mixtape cover is a young Nancy Wilson… yeah, I know some of you men folks wants to know.. by the way for a second go round: which one of the Nancy Wilson’s do you like. Hit me up in the comment section. Idle minds want to know. ;->)

—Kalamu ya Salaam

P.S. If you don’t like either one of Nancy’s versions, you can keep that to yourself. It ain’t necessary to go round advertising that you too square to dig the pulchritudinous charms of Ms. Wilson wonderfully warm, inviting and enticing vocal work.

Save Your Love For Me Mixtape Playlist

01 In Performance At The Playboy Jazz Festival - Art Farmer/Bennie Golson & Nancy Wilson

02 Tenderness - Al Jarreau

03 Concrete Jungle (out of print) - David "Fathead" Newman

04 Sing! Sing! Sing! - New York Voices

05 Renaissance Of The Resistance - Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio

06 The Concert McDuff - Jack McDuff

07 Bobby Bland: The Anthology

08 One More For The Road - Charles Brown

09 Johnny Lytle - Johnny Lytle

10 Feeling Good - Randy Crawford & Joe Sample

11 Tough Tenors - Johnny Griffin & Eddie Lock Jaw Davis

12 Blackmagic - Jose James

13 Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley

14 True Blue - Hank Crawford

15 Sunny - Sunny Sumter