VARIOUS ARTISTS / Senor Blues Mixtape
“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
01 Six Pieces of Silver - Horace Silver
02 Chris Connor In Person - Chris Connor
03 Genius + Soul = Jazz - Ray Charles
04 Señor Blues - Ernie Banks
05 Deal With It! - Brass Jaw
06 Señor Blues - Taj Mahal
07 Plays - Battista Lena
08 That's How I Love The Blues! - Mark Murphy
09 Ritmo y Candela II African Crossroads - Carlos "Patato" Valdez
10 Playing It By Ear - Tyrone Smith
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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