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CARMEN McRAE
I Want You
1964
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from MRL 387
Here's the last of the Carmen McRae releases on the Mainstream MRL to be shared in the blogosphere. As usual with her MRL reissues, this one was compiled from various sources and tracks are culled from the same session used for Alfie [Mainstream S-6084] & Haven't We Met? [Mainstream 56044], except for #8 which is taken from Woman Talk Live at the Village Gate [Mainstream S-6065].
Despite the seemingly haphazard way Shad programmed the tracklists on the reissues, there is very little to no overlap when it comes to tunes and those who do not own the originals should find these to be new to their Carmen collection (again, that may depend on what other reissues you have on Sony's Legacy label, who bought Shad's Mainstream catalogue from his daughter in the 90s). No surprises here either way since the magical voice and introspective interpretive style that she made the cornerstone of her career are present in all their intimate glory.
However, as opposed to her stripped-down sessions she recorded live, the orchestration can get in the way once in a while, especially on the Peter Matz-produced tracks. Those overseen by Don Sebesky show the usual tasteful arrangements he was known for, ones Creed Taylor would regularly put to good use on his CTI imprint a few years later. At any rate, fans of this amazing vocalist will not be disappointed since she is never completely overshadowed by the string swells thanks to the strength of her voice, which was at its peak during the period these songs were waxed.
Highlights for me include the spine-tingling "Too Good," an excellent example of the lovelorn fatalist role she played so well, along with "And I Love Him," her restrained reversed-gender take on Lennon & McCartney's well-worn ballad which would have still been a relatively new tune at the time of recording. Special mention also goes to the opener, which leans a bit to the saccharine side but features Carmen playing with the tempo of her phrasing to create a layer of tension within the song's static time signature (a technique for which she was renown), highlighting her mastery of the craft and demonstrating the intensely personal individuality she brought to her repertoire.
1 The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
2 Too Good
3 Don't Ever Leave Me
4 Sweet Georgia Brown
5 And I Love Him
6 In Love in Vain
7 Fooling Myself
8 The Shadow of Your Smile
9 My Reverie
10 Winter in May
This time I was too lazy to split out the musicians from the different sessions but a quick trip over to the Carmen McRae Discography site will pay dividends to the uber-OCD trainspotters. For the rest of our readers, below is a list of all musicians from the three sessions who participated in these recordings.
Carmen McRae (v)
Ray Beckenstein (f)
Phil Bodner, Leon Cohen, Charlie Mariano, Stanley "Champ" Webb (f, af, pic, cl, as, ts, o)
Shelly Gold (f, af, cl, o)
John Bello, Burt Collins, Mel Davis, Bernie Glow, Jimmy Maxwell, Jimmy Nottingham (t)
Wayne Andre, John Messner, Charles Small, Bill Watrous, Chauncey Welch (tb)
Ray Alonge, Dick Berg, Jim Buffington, Earl Chapin (frh)
Don Butterfield (tu)
Paul Faulise, Tony Studd (bt)
Barry Galbraith (g, elg)
Joe Puma (g)
Paul Breslin, Aaron Davis, Richard Davis, Victor Sproles (b)
Norman Simmons (p)
Eugene Bianco, Margaret Ross (hrp)
Archie Freedman, Mel Lewis, Frank Severino, Ed Shaughnessy (d)
Jose Mangual (bo)
Doug Allan, George Devens, Phil Kraus (per)
Strings:
Adriana Broone, Fred Buldrini, Peter Buonconsiglio, Max Cahn, Norman Carr, Bernard Eichen, Arnold Eidus, Leo Kruczek, Walter Legawiec, Charles Libove, Carmel Malin, Joe Malin, Marvin Morganstern, David Nadien, George Ockner, Gene Orloff, George Polikian, Raoul Polikian, Max Pollikoff, Aaron Rosand, Tosha Samaroff, Michael Spivakowsky, Jack Zayde (vn), Al Brown, Harold Furmansky, David Mankowitz, Emanuel Vardi (vl)
Maurice Brown, Alla Goldberg, Charles McCracken, George Ricci, Harvey Shapiro, A. Sophos (cll)
If you want Carmen as much as she wants you, get her from Soundological HERE or HERE.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Orishas Across The Ocean
320 CBR mp3
CD rip & scans from Ryko RCD 10405
As winter progresses, long after its foliage has been shed, the tree loses most of the moisture in its trunk and must rely more than ever on the sap stored in its roots. In this spirit, Soundological would like to share with you a healthy helping of the musical equivalent of sap from said roots and the wellspring from which the branches of most musical traditions featured on this blog -- Blues, Jazz, Soul, Gospel, R&B, Funk, Rock & Roll, Hip Hop, etc. -- have extended themselves.
Long OOP, this CD fetches a high price (a new copy can go for upwards of $70) and is valuable not only for its pristine presentation of remastered material from the Library of Congress (that's why these recordings fall under the public domain) but for the reverent and revelatory booklet that provides enlightening reading regardless of the degree of familiarity one may have with the religious and cultural diaspora from Mother Africa. One might say this collection is essential for both its text and context, so if you were not fortunate enough to find it a decade ago it's highly recommended you take advantage now.
AMG Review
by John Vallier
The 24 tracks featured on this compilation are aural snapshots of Haitian Vodoun, Cuban Santeria, Trinidadian Shango, and Brazilian Candomble religious ceremonies. They were originally recorded between the late '30s and the mid-'50s by such notable ethnologists as Laura Boulton, Melville Herskovits, and Lydia Cabrera. Culturally speaking, these recordings highlight African diasporic religions that originated with the Yoruba and Dahomean peoples and were brought to the New World with enslaved Africans. Retrieved from deep storage at the Library of Congress and digitally remastered by a team of audio experts, The Yoruba/Dahomean Collection: Orishas Across the Ocean is a powerful audio record that documents both the proud cultural legacy and sophisticated musical practices associated with Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian cultures.
Return to the roots for nourishment with Soundological HERE. (updated 2012-07-27)
JACK MARSHALL & SHELLY MANNE
Sounds!
1966
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Capitol ST-2610
This is the final effort in the Sounds! series of duet albums Manne & Marshall did together during the early 60s. Manne was a drummer who always followed a different beat and was quite a bit more experimental than contemporaries like Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson. It was due to this bohemian bent that he proved the perfect percussionist for what amounts to sound-centred stereo test records that also provided an enjoyable listening experience.
The series was experimental to start with and was conceptualised as a showpiece for the flegdling Hi-Fi stereo sound consumers were still adopting at the start of the 60s and was envisioned as a way to demonstrate the frequency range and cutting-edge studio techniques of the era. In fact, after cruising some of the audiophile forums, it's surprising to see this particular LP in the series is still often slapped on to show off the strengths of a $erious $tereo $etup.
While Marshall has an exquisite tone and picks clean as a whistle throughout, Manne does his very best David Van Tieghem and pounds on whatever is at hand, whether shoe-boxes or sheet metal, giving the proceedings an avant-garde flavour belying the simple melodic strings Marshall effortlessly floats atop the percussion. Although a pleasurable listen in its own right, if you'd like to learn something about mic placement you need look no further than this long-play lesson in room, range and dynamics.
This one goes out to The Oracle for his excellent Portal of Groove blog, where you will also find the other releases in the series as well as a heapin' helpin' of hi-fi hi-jinx covering exotica, the-in-sound-from-way-out, space-age-bachelor-pad music and other auditory delights of the dollar bin variety.
Dusty Groove sez:
Wild! Shelly Manne plays odd percussion behind Jack Marshall's jazzy guitar, and the two of them run through an odd bunch of tracks that will stretch the dynamic range of your stereo. More "hi fi" than jazz, but with a firm jazz base -- even though there's odd bits like shoeboxes, whistling, and handclaps. Cuts include "The Girls of Sao Paulo", "The Rain in Spain", and "Choros".
Jack Marshall - Guitar
Shelly Manne - Percussion
1 Theme From "Lawrence Of Arabia"
2 Sweet Sue, Just You
3 All The Things You Are
4 Choros
5 Am I Blue?
6 The Rain In Spain
7 Spanish Dance No.5
8 S'posin'
9 Yesterdays
10 The Girls Of Sao Paulo
11 A Day In Brazil - Medley
Sound off with Manne, Marshall & Soundological HERE or HERE.
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