Customer Reviews

God Bless the Child

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Kenny Burrell is one of the most prolific jazz guitarists to span about 6 decades. This recording produced by Creed Taylor, one of jazz's major successful commerical producers, in 1971 is Kenny's most elaborate work to date.

Classic jazz songs (each over 8 minutes long!) include "A Child Is Born" and "God Bless The Child" plus a Broadway tune "Lost In The Stars". In addition to these standards, there are original songs written by Kenny Burrell. On top of that, add a who's who of musical talents who join Kenny in this musical palette. These jazz legends include Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Ray Barretto, and Freddie Hubbard to name a few. What an entourage!

The original lp released in 1971 had only 5 songs. A cd released in the late nineties included 7 songs. But this cd has an extra bonus cut, another version of "A Child Is Born" which is over 7 minutes long, remastered from the original tapes and includes 8 songs for your listening pleasure.

Some will say that this is not Kenny Burrell's "true sound" due to lush orchestrations and the addition of other very fine jazz legend talents. But a truly gifted artist is always improvising, always growing, and always discovering. In this collection, Kenny Burrell shows us a side of himself rarely seen. Always in the foreground of the accompanying musicians, this music is as much about Kenny Burrell as any other in his recording career. We are the lucky ones to have the opportunity to enjoy the experience.

Total command of the instrument, consummate taste, and phrasing far surpassing that of any other guitarist before or since...
The vinyl LP's side two consisted of "A Child Is Born" and "God Bless The Child", treatments comprising what remains to this day quite simply the greatest album side of jazz guitar ever recorded .

I'm a big Kenny Burrell fan. He's the most soulful straight ahead jazz guitarist around, no question about it.

I too own this effort in vinyl and CD. While it may not be the very best recorded jazz guitar ever, it IS very, very good and if you're a fan of Kenny Burrell, consider this an essential recording.

His signature tone and effortless, bluesy, funky, tasteful chording and phrasing is just perfect. It's all good.

The backup musicians are jazz giants in their own right, including Ron Carter, Freddy Hubbard, Billy Cobham, Hubert Laws and Airto Moreira, plus a string section. Forgive me, those I didn't mention!

Five stars plus!

This disc from the Detroit native and master jazz guitarist, Kenny Burrel, was originally recorded in 1971. The disc features an all-star cast of musicians, technicians and producer;it is a classic. Check out the personnel accompanying Burrel, you have, Freddie Hubbard on Trumpet, Ron Carter on bass, Hubert Laws on flute and two of the best percussionists, Airto Moreira and Ray Barreto, plus a string section arranged by Don Sebesky, enginnered by the great Rudy Van Gelder and topped off by a Cecil Taylor production! Talk about jazz all-stars! As for the music, well it is timeless, perfect for a reflective late night, a bit on the mellow side but nonetheless a fascinating collection of a who's who of vintage jazz that sounds as good today as some 35+years ago. The first two tracks are almost like a warm up session for the talents of Kenny Burrel has he unveils his talents, pushing the Charlie Christian style into then, new territory. His mellow guitar licks are tasteful and classy. It is not until "Do What You Gotta Do" that the accompanying musicians open up for extended solos, most notably and eloquently by Freddie Hubard, who blows a mean solo. The highlight of this disc is the title track, "God Bless The Child" that features quiet souful renderings on guitar accented by string accompanyment. Strings are not always a jazz aficionados favorite addition to a jazz ensemble but it adds a touch of class and in this case it further advances the mellow nature of the song. The strings also play counterpoint to the bluesy jazz guitar of Burrel. The strings play endlessly while Burrel dispatches his signature sound and they excahnge dominance over the song ultimately relinquishing the lead to the man himself, Kenny Burrel. If there is one complaint about this disc, it would be that there are not enough solos and give and take between the musicians; it seems clearly that this was Kenny Burrels disc and not a group of his but rather top notch studio personnel brought in for the recording. All in all, this is a good change of pace disc for those quite nights, late at night, when you want music to be unobtrusive.

Lovely album, all the way through. One could argue that some moments seem over-produced, but it's a minor quibble. Burrell obviously knows how to pick and how to please, and if you like his other work, you can't miss this one. If you are looking for your first CD with Kenny on it, I might suggest the "Kenny Burrell With John Coltrane" release on Original Jazz Classics as just as good or better. This one has about 50 minutes of mellow, but not boring, music. Focused listening with ear phones is a good way to start here, then throw it on the changer and go on with your normal life.

Don't expect any fast music here - the sort that you would expect from other virtuosos like Benson (the early one). Nevertheless, this is a very sweet album that any jazz guitar fanatic should buy.

And even though it's just a "bonus track", I love the "Ballad Of The Sad Young Men".