Sinatra-Jobim
Published only in Brazil and up until recently unavailable elsewhere, this is one of those musical pairings you wished existed, yet in this case somehow actually does. Simply beautiful. Sinatra and Jobim are absolutely amazing together and I can't imagine what reason was touted for keeping this gem hidden from international publication for so long.
Evening Time
Rocksteady regal herald of the keys, founding member of The Skatalites and irreplaceable writer/bandleader for the Studio One label. Sweet, breezy tropical bliss that truly deserves a much wider swath of recognition. Unsung classic.
"There are very few musicians of any style or era whose appeal is such that it is safe to recommend them to anyone for enjoyment in personal performance or on record. Jackie Mittoo is such a musician."
"Mulatu Astatke (also written Astatqé on French releases) is arguably one of the most influential and legendary musicians from Ethiopia. During the 1960’s, he studied music abroad in London, Boston, and New York. He then returned home to Ethiopia armed with a love for jazz and Latin music. There he blended Ethiopian traditional music with the Latin-jazz he was so fond of to create a unique hybrid he called “Ethio-jazz”.
Mulatu Astatke is first and foremost a composer but also a multi-instrumentalist, playing the vibraphone, keyboards and organs. He is further credited as having established congas and bongos, instruments normally central to Latin styles, in Ethiopian music. However, as Ethiopian songs traditionally focused on vocals his greatest contribution to the music of his country was introducing a new focus on instrumentation.
Three of his LPs were recorded in New York City – his first two, Afro-Latin Soul Volumes 1 & 2 in 1966, plus laterMulatu of Ethiopia in 1972. The bulk of his output was on Amha Records (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) on which he released several 7” singles as well as one LP in 1974 entitled Yekatit Ethio-Jazz."
This is his first album to be released in over twenty years, with the help of stellar instrumentalists The Heliocentrics. This is really jaw-dropping stuff, requisite fodder for your ear cannon. And if the sound of Middle Eastern singing isn't entirely inviting to you, please don't let the first track turn you off.
Inspiration Information
Pleasure Dub
Dub via Rocksteady. Coincidentally, McCook is another of the founding members of The Skatalites and a saxophonist par excellence. Errol Brown produced three albums which gave a dub treatment to rocksteady classics. This, Pleasure Dub, is arguably the best of the three. Consider as well that dub was a genre in utero at the time, making this cut all the more impressive.
Jungle Party
Top-notch Peruvian cumbia straight outta the Amazon. Perfect for sweltering days and balmy nights. Deeply funky psychedelic surf-guitar jams these is. The record label Masstropicas compiled these tracks and put together this beautiful vinyl release, limited to 1,000 copies
Tiki Hut
Couldn't really put it better than this guy did: "The laziest sound possible. A very interesting production mix: stripped down, retro soft synth beats entangled in classical Hawaiian/surf guitar melodies. All songs have thin basslines so the whole album is mostly in mid and high range (love those cheap, crisp snares) mostly sounding like some rare exotic vintage gem. A truly unpretentious record that takes you far, far away from the suffocating, confusing world of today's showy, charts aiming bands."
1 comment:
Re Sinatra-Jobim, I'm glad you love this as much as I do. To me these are Sinatra's most compelling recordings, and Jobim best collaboration as well. Dindi especially has sublime magic, and is in my eternal top ten.
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