God Bless the Child [Original recording remastered]

Kenny Burrell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 18, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000068D1Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,051 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The basics are always the best, June 24, 2001

By 

Doctor Bohn's Library (grafton, wi United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: God Bless Child (Audio CD)

when most people enter the world fo jazz, they may stumble around until they find something that suits their taste, or they may simply give up, since some jazz is very complicated and hard to follow... at first.

But with top flight musicians and some beautifully simple melodies, Kenny Burrel draws us into the jazz world and takes us for a fine ride.

My favorite is God bless the child, since it is such a soulful piece of music to start with, and then Burrell gives it the power of variation. He even dabbles with Santa Claus is coming to town, so suited to a child's imagination, then takes us back to the message: Care for the children; they matter; they're important, and his guitar says it without words. The cello is a really nice touch...

This is a must have, no matter what your musical taste, since now matter how sad you are froma lost love, or how happy you might be with a new one, this music has the power to heal.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, June 23, 2005

By 

Mr. M. E. Foster (Richardson TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God Bless the Child (Audio CD)

I discovered this record in 1974 as I was just beginning to develop an understanding of and a love for jazz. All of the material on it is interesting and tastefully done, and, since it is a Creed Taylor production, it's as likely as not to have performances embellished with string arrangements. In general I'm not a huge fan of jazz with strings, but I have to make an exception in this case, and that is because of A Child Is Born / God Bless The Child. Although on both the CD and on the original LP, A Child Is Born / God Bless The Child is shown as two separate pieces, in fact it is a single continuous piece with a short section of semi-schmaltzy solo strings bridging the two together. When I first heard it, I liked the guitar parts, and I didn't quite get the string parts. But I quickly became very engrossed in it - so much so that I have not tired of listening to it in the thirty years since I first listened to it. The entire piece has a logic to it and it builds in a smouldering sort of emotional intensity from beginning to end with the middle section being like a breathing space. If there was nothing else on this CD it would still be worth the price.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burrell at his very best, July 12, 2001

By 

Anders Jonasson (Bankeryd Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: God Bless the Child (Audio CD)

I bought this album as a"vinyl" in 1971 when it was first realeased, after 10 years or so it was more or less worn out, but somewhere around 1992 I luckily found it on CD. The music rewards repeated listening.BUT....you will be caught the very first time you hear it. This is the only album that Burrell did for the CTI label, s far as I know...The usage of small string group of violins and cello gives an impressionistic touch, and gives the music a kind of a beauty that almost hurts when listening to it. Burrels playing is absolutely outstanding it consists of his mix of sophisticated blues lines combined with very pretty harmonic playing, where each chord is carefully outlined, and he plays with such a confidence that it is overwhelming. Freddie Hubbard plays a beautiful solo on "Do what you gotta do" which also is one of the best tracks, but also the two classic ballads, "God Bless the Child" and "A Child is Born" are oustanding.. in my mind those two ballads might represent the best playing by Burrell ever. Buy this one if you are a Burrell fan, or just love beautiful swinging sweet and bluesy music.