Jazz & Blues > Contemporary Blues Jazz & Blues > M

Advantages: Alto saxophony at it's best.
Disadvantages: Not to everyones taste.

...la Pinta 5. Besame Mucho On Amazon this album is around £6.50. iTunes lists the album as 2004 release with 17 (some missing from the Amazon listing) tracks, at £7.99, this is the version that I have and am reviewing. Also I will not review every one of the 17 tracks but will concentrate on two or three tracks that stand out, and give you a full track list at the end of the review. ~~~~Reviewed tracks~~~~ Melancholy Madeline: This track is quite ...
...a sense of fun. Besame Mucho: The title track and a jazz/Latin standard. He plays this slightly differently from any other version I have heard. For a start he plays it so high it is sometimes difficult to realise it is sax and not trumpet. Then there is the embellishment of melody, which is really very clever. Finally, there is a sense of edginess that I like about this version, it is smooth, but in places 'breaks out' into a bit of 'edge'. Great ... Read review

Advantages: Some great musicianship
Disadvantages: Never really lets go

Mind Transplant was an album by Alphonse Mouzon featuirng Tommy Bolin. The strange character that is Alphonse - a jazz fusion drummer who is of Afro-American, French and Blackfoot Indian descent oozes funkiness. I tried to get into this album but having listened to Billy Cobham's Spectrum, I just couldn't help but compare the two and this one came off worst. Whilst Tommy Bolin's guitar work is as good as ever on this album, you feel that he is somewhat ...
...or amazing solo. Mind Transplant seems rather caged for me and whilst it has undoubtedly good musicianship and some funkyness, it's not as free-flowing as some of its contemporaries. 1. Mind Transplant 2. Snow Sound 3. Carbon Dioxide 4. Ascorbic Acid 5. Happiness Is Loving You 6. Some Of The Things Pepole Do 7. Golden Rainbows 8. Nitroglycerin ... Read review

Advantages: Amazing collaboration, so funky
Disadvantages: None

...& Trumpet John Tropea - Guitar Ron Carter - Acoustic bass Ray Barretto - Congas Track List Quadrant 4 Searching For the Right Door Spectrum Anxiety Taurian Matador Stratus To the Women of My Life Le Lis Snoopy's Search Red Baron ... Read review

Advantages: Near perfect saxophony.
Disadvantages: Too smooth.

...Very Best of Stan Getz. Sax Moods. The cost of this double CD varies, I actually got mine from a boot sale for £3, it can be bought on Amazon for less than a fiver. Stan Getz, to me, on tenor sax is like Kenny G is to soprano, Mr smooth. There is no doubt that this has been both his accolade and his downfall. Traditional jazz fans may well find him too smooth, yet his pedigree and grounding was in some of the more bebop style bands. His 'tone' ...
...pretty near perfect, now personally I like something a little more 'off' perfect. This double CD is broadly (though not completely) split into two genres. The first CD is more traditional jazz tunes and ballads whilst the 2nd CD is dominated by Latin, Bossa Nova type tunes, not my favourite genre (CD 2). The thing I do like about this double CD is that there is a whole bunch of other incredibly talented musicians her such as: Astrud Gilberto (vocals), ... Read review

Advantages: Charlie Parker of course.
Disadvantages: None.

Crazeology - Charlie Parker Jazz time again folks, well bebop to be precise (mostly). I make no secret of being a huge Charlie Parker fan. Not just because he was arguably the greatest alto saxophone player ever, but because he was a pioneer. At a time when black music was seen as something that was somehow less accomplished, and the musicians somewhat less worthy than their white counterparts (in fact it was thought that hardly any black musicians ...
...He wrote, he practically invented a new genre (be bop), well maybe I exaggerate, he was certainly one of the leading lights. He also played with chord structure and melodies and harmonies, tearing up the rule book and inventing his own style. His sound is incredibly distinctive, despite the fact that he played on numerous saxophones as he is known to have pawned and sold many, mainly to feed his heroin and alcohol addictions. I bought this CD mainly ... Read review