Customer Reviews

Afro-Cuban (Reis)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recorded in 1955, Afro-cuban is Kenny Dorham's first classic album. Kenny had the complete package. He had a beautiful tone, amazing chops, and he was a great composer. It is a wonder why he is not more reknown. The first five tracks on this reissue are all latin/jazz classics. They are an essential part of every jazz library. The bonus tracks included on the re-issue aren't quite the same caliber as the first part of the CD. They are more standard hard bop tunes that latin jazz tunes, and are from a different recording session.

The first five tracks feature an all star lineup:

Kenny on trumpet, J.J. Johnson on trombone, Hank Mobley on tenor sax, Cecil Payne on baritione sax, Horace Silver on piano, Oscar Petiford on bass, Art Blakey on drums, and Carlos 'Potato' Valdes on conga ... wow!

I highly recommend this album along with just about all Kenny's albums.

Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's, one of my earliest musical memories is of repeatedly listening to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass on my parents' stereo (high tech back then). When I was old enough to think I knew what I was doing, I even talked my parents into letting me take lessons and play trumpet for a summer. When I was done blowing my brains out after three months and still couldn't play "Yankee [Diddley] Doodle", we sold the trumpet and I started playing the organ. I share this so that it serves as my disclaimer that I am biased toward trumpet, but nonetheless, that did not influence my rating and review of this fantastic recording. I saw Kenny Dorham's name on the The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Eighth Edition (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings) Core Collection, and while this is not the recording on that list ('Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1-2is), I had a chance to pick this up relatively cheaply, so I did. I am very glad I did, too. Kenny really knows how to shake it, and he does it without a lot of mute and effects, just straight ahead, sharp, bright trumpet playing. The Afro-Cuban influences and claves and whatnot are unmistakeable, but the wonder of this CD is that it doesn't smack you over the head with "ethnicity" at every turn. It merely presents some rousing, pleasing jazz in some unusual but not unheard of rhythm patterns accented by less-than-conventional percussion instruments. The effect is as soothing as it is exciting. By about the fourth song on my second time listening through the work, I started to notice how clever and intricate the piano work was while staying true to the beat and theme. I was not suprised to find Horace Silver's name there, but I was surprised to find J.J. Johnson (trombone) and Art Blakey (drums) there, too. Man, that's one helluva backing band right there! All in all, I can't belive this recording isn't on the Core Collection list, and it makes me very anxious to pick up the one by Kenny that is. This remastering is also another in the Blue Note/Rudy Van Gelder collection, and it is one of the cleanest and clearest I've heard. If you have even the faintest inclination toward jazz trumpet, you owe it to yourself to pick up this CD. After all, you can't listen to Louis, Dizzy, Clifford and Miles ALL the time. And by the same token, if you've never been a big Latin or Afro jazz fan, this is a great chance to let Kenny change your mind. Afro-Cuban is a wonderful addition to any music collection, jazz or no.

This is one of my favorite Kenny Dorham albums. First off, the players with Dorham are: Jay Jay Johnson, trombone; Hank Mobley, tenor sax; Cecil Payne, baritone sax; Horace Silver, piano; Oscar Pettiford, bass (cuts 1-5); Percy Heath, bass (cuts 6-9); Carlos "Potato" Valdez, conga; and Art Blakey, drums. So we're talking greats.

The first half of this album is Afro Cuban jazz and include Valdez on Conga. The second half is mainstream jazz in nature and drops Valdez for a more mainstream feel. Also on the second half, J.J. Johnson is not present, and Pettiford is replaced by Heath on bass. It's like two different albums in one, but ALL of it is great. This album has the debut version of Dorhams famous (relatively speaking of course) "Lotus Flower" and an alternate, previously unreleased alternate take of "Minor's Holiday". Recorded by the great Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, N.J. in 1955. (two seperate recording sessions) Cuts 1-5 were done on March 29, and cuts 6-9 were done a couple of months earlier on January 30, but unfortunately not re-masted by (in my honest opinion) his best sidekick, Phil DeLancie. I guess I'm used to the dynamic duo of Van Gelder and DeLancie when it comes to music from this era, and I can truly hear immediately when DeLancie is missing from the mix. Just a tid bit, but if you are an audiophile as well as a Jazz lover, you might notice that when listening. A must have recording if you are a Kenny Dorham fan. While you're at it, pick up a copy of Dorham's "Whistle Stop" and the sometimes hard to find (so keep looking) "Kenny Dorham Memorial" from January 10, 1960, and you'll have a great Kenny Dorham collection.

Kenny Dorham, besides being a prolific composer (in more styles than one), is one hell of a player; and the unit assembled here:Cecil Payne, J.J. Johnson, Oscar Pettiford, 'Potato' Valdez, and Blakey, know the Afro-Cubano genre as well as any - and it shows. These particular tracks smoke from start to finish. "Afrodesia", the Dorham opener, sets the tone for great stuff to come on the Afro-Cubano tracks, #1-5. I can see that if someone bought the CD expecting nothing but Afro-Cubano jazz, they may feel a bit cheated. I don't. I was suprised when the mood shifted, but these are grat jazz sessions, too, in their own right and genre, with classic sidemen like Silver, Heath, Mobley(in great form), Payne, and ,again, Blakey. I think that this is Dorham's best stuff, in both genres.

I discovered this album some years ago as i'm workin' in big music stores i've got the opportunity to listen to so much music....well!! this album is a very difficoult one to find in a record store nowdays, and every time i have it in stock i play it straight away and some customer who listen to it buy it instantly,Blakey and Potato are swingin' so much in those "salsa like" rithms Mobley is -as usual with Art Blakey and K.D.- in such a great shape givin' a wonderfull touch to evry note he plays,basically one of greatest Blue Note of all time!!

As a true fan of the Blue-Note Label and after reading Mr. Buegeleisen's review of this album, I immediatly ordered it and I can tell you, it really knocks me out. Imagine, this music was done in the midfifties, but it's hot, salsalike rhythms and ensemble-sections might appeal even to people, who never heard about those great musicians. Everybody is playing fantastically, there are great solos by K.D., Hank Mobley, J.J. Johnson and Cecil Payne, and dig the drums and percussion: Blakey and "Potato" Valdez are cooking like mad, for example on "Basheer's Dream". I use to turn that music loud, get up and start dancing along with it, really. The other half of the tunes on that CD are done without percussion, sounding more boppish, and they also demonstrate the tremendous composing-and arranging talent of Kenny Dorham and some exiting solos. By the way, imagine: Those two sides were done in January and March 1955, quite around Dorham's last meeting with Cahrlie Parker on stage, just a few days, before Bird died. The mentioned tune "Basheer's Dream" seems to be dedicated to Ahmed Basheer, a guy who was, or would have liked to be Bird's manager during the latter's final weeks.

Kenny Dorham was a master of the jazz trumpet, a master composer and arranger, and a master of the art of intense comunication thru understated beauty. The tone he had on the horn was in many ways stronger and fuller than Clifford Brown's, and his sound harkened back to the days of pre-bop trumpet players without sounding corny. The largeness of his sound seemed to grow within itself in richness and vitality, rather than spread with the effusive joy of Lee Morgan. Four of the compositions on this CD include master congero "Potato" Valdes. Potato plays straight 8ths throughout while the rest of the band swings, and the result is probably the most unique groove ever found on a jazz album. Stellar performances by JJ Johnson, Horace Silver, Hank Mobley Cecil Payne, Oscar Pettiford and Art Blakey make listening to this record an unforgettable experience.

Kenny Dorham was one of the greatest of jazz trumpeters.

This is a must have CD. The song selection, the technical

execution will impress even the casual listener. I had

this CD going in my truck on a long trip to work one day,

when my carpool passenger commented, " wow, that's hard

to do". Yep, that's Kenny Dorham.

I'm surprised the reviews tend to fixate on the rhythmic dimension of this session, though perhaps the title makes such a consideration inescapable. An even more undeniable strength of the recording is the presence of three of the all-time inventive masters on their respective instruments--Dorham, Mobley and J. J. Johnson. The session swings, and with a latin kick (with Blakey on board, how could it not?), but this is above all inspired ensemble playing and exemplary blowing--in fact, improvisation of the first order.

Kenny gets most of the time, and it's just as well, because the presence of the other two giants seems to bring out the best in him. No one articulates a single note in more varied, expressive ways then Dorham--he squeezes it shut, opens it up, comes at it from above, then underneath--and still manages to keep the ideas flowing and swinging. "Minor's Holiday" is such a delight you can't wait for the alternate take just for a chance to experience it again from a different angle. Mobley is Mr. Consistency, talking up a blues storm on each of his turns, and J. J. provides that extra life and spark that a Curtis Fuller, for all of his virtues, simply couldn't bring to a set like this. The last 4 tunes don't quite measure up, but the 5-star performance on the first 5 tunes is sufficiently memorable to characterize the session as a whole.

If you're a real KD fan, this in a must have. This music has stood the test of time, and sounds as good today as it did when it was first released! Miles Davis called Kenny 'the uncrowned prince' of jazz. Master of the 'turnback style' is an understatement.