Yosuke Yamashita Trio - Sakura

barabara sounds sez:

The sakura has been and gone in Tokyo for this year. But the blossom is only just starting to illuminate the areas further north. There are many reasons for people in those areas to party and celebrate the return of another spring. But it will be many years, decades for sure and maybe more, before anyone has hanami parties under these trees inside the nuclear no-go zone. And a long long wait until any of us can really breathe easy.

Meanwhile, here's Yosuke Yamashita and his trio from 1990 with the funkiest version you're likely to hear of that hoary old traditional Japanese ditty. The other tracks are equally fine, with Yamashita in much more lyrical mode than he was earlier in his career. He really has a great understanding with his two longtime sidemen.

personnel:

Yosuke Yamashita piano; Cecil McBee acoustic bass; Pheeroan akLaff drums.

tracks:

Sakura; Yurikago; Haiku; Amefuri; Ano Machi; Dobarada; Tanabata; Sunayama; Tsuki No Sabuku; Usagi No Dance; Nenkorori

Yosuke Yamashita - Spider

barabara sounds sez:

Staying close to home, and more from the superb Yosuke Yamashita. Spider is one of six (I believe) he made with his New York Trio, which comprised him plus the great Cecil McBee and Pheeroan akLaff. They began playing together in 1988, and so by the time this fine set was laid down (in NYC, in June '95) they'd built up a really good understanding.

The trio are in top form from the get-go. and there's some great playing. One of the stand-outs for me is One for M, but the title track, at the very end, is also a blast.

tracks:

Cats Dance; Revenge Of Picasso; One For M; Quiet Days; Fourth Step; Kids In Memory;Doubles; Stream; Spider

The other feature of this album is the cool spider-themed artwork — full scans of the CD inserts included!

Looking for more Yamashita? Then check out the comprehensive discography over on the indispensible — but currently dormant — El Goog Ja, here... Unfortunately most of the RS links are extinct, but it'll give you an idea of what to look out for. Expect a few more posts in the future here...

sunny murray's untouchable factor - "apple cores"

barabara sounds sez:

Spiritual, righteous, rare. What more can you say about this album? Just look at all the people involved... This is ripped from the CD reissue of the Baystate album (though the cover art was lifted from the philly jazz imprint which I found here on Discogs). Enjoy... I think you will!

If this is your bag, then go check out Charred Earth, which Sunny Murray recorded with a very different, smaller version of the 'untouchable factor' aggregation, also for Baystate. It's available over here...

dusty sez:

One of the hippest, tightest sessions ever recorded by drummer Sunny Murray -- a large group set recorded with his Untouchable Factor group -- a great ensemble that includes Frank Foster on soprano sax, Oliver Lake and Arthur Blythe on alto saxes, Hamiet Bluiett on baritone, Don Pullen on piano, and Cecil McBee and Fred Hopkins on bass! The sound is somewhat straighter than Murray's free jazz of a few years before -- almost in the mode that Foster was exploring with some of his large ensembles of the 70s -- a platform for righteous jazz expression, but in a way that's still tied together strongly with a sense of rhythm. Other players on the group include the enigmatic Youseff Yancy on a host of instruments, including theremin -- plus the under-recorded Monette Sudler on guitar. Some tracks are a bit more outside than others -- and titles include "Past Perfect Tense", "One Down & One Up", "Applebluff", "Apple Cores", and "New York Maze".

Sunny Murray: drums; Frank Foster: soprano sax (1, 2, 3); Oliver Lake: alto sax (2); Jimmy Vass: alto sax (1, 3); Don Pullen: piano (1, 2, 3); Monnette Sudler: guitar (1, 2, 3, 4); Cecil McBee: bass (1, 2, 3); Fred Hopkins: bass (4); Hamiet Bluiett: baritone sax (4); Arthur Blythe: alto sax (4); Abdul Zahir Batin: flute, whistles, percussion (5); Youseff Yancy: trumpet, flugelhorn, theremin, various electro-acoustical sound manipulating devices (1, 3, 4, 5); Sonny Brown: drums (5)

Kenny Barron - What If

barabara sounds sez:

Kenny Barron on enja, maybe not as outstanding as his earlier work on Muse, but still well worth the aural excursion. Not a bad line-up either: alongside Kenny Barron on piano there's John Stubblefield on tenor sax [NB what's cduniverse on about, he's not from UK shurely?], Wallace Roney on trumpet, Cecil McBee on bass, and Victor Lewis drums. 'Nuff said.

cduniverse sez:

Pianist Kenny Barron leads a quintessential post-bop quintet on 1986's WHAT IF? with help from the contemporary jazz star trumpeter Wallace Roney, and the British tenor saxophonist John Stubblefield. Except for Thelonious Monk's "Trinkle, Tinkle," these compositions are all Barron originals, and what is most striking is how much these tracks — "Phantoms" and "Voyage" especially — sound like a typical Herbie Hancock or Hank Mobley Blue Note session of the late-'50s and early-'60s, just as the post-bop idiom was being defined. The prodigious pianist displays his Bud Powell-like virtuosity on the aptly titled "Dexterity," slowing down the tempo just enough for the intricate ballad "Close To You Alone." Veteran bassist Cecil McBee and the versatile drummer Victor Lewis provide supple support throughout the set.

dusty sez:

Although Kenny Barron's always a heck of a great musician on his own or in a piano trio, we're especially partial to his work in groups with horn players -- and this album is a great example of that preference! Kenny first came to fame working with Dizzy Gillespie in the 60s, and since that point, he's always had a tremendous ear for the right tones and shadings from horns needed to augment his own soulful vision on the keys -- a way of setting up the other players in the group to build on the well-crafted Barron lines, and take them even further into the stratosphere. This set follows that format, and draws great energy from Wallace Roney on trumpet and John Stubblefield on tenor -- both at their younger best, and working alongside Kenny's piano with Cecil McBee on bass and Victor Lewis on drums. The lineup sparkles most on the 4 longer Barron numbers on the album -- "Phantoms", "What If", "Voyage", and "Lullabye" -- all of which take us back to the brilliance of Kenny's best Muse albums of the 70s. Other tracks feature smaller, more piano-centrist groupings -- on tracks that include "Dexterity", "Close To You Alone", and "Trinkle Trinkle".