Customer Reviews

Introducing Kenny Burrell

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At long last these early recordings have made it to CD! Three of the songs here are on the Best of Kenny Burrell, this was my first hint on how good these early days were. I like how Kenny uses chords , octaves and single line notes to build his melodies. His tone is what i find so appealing, clean, warm and just short of distortion. (distorting only when he really leans into it) These recordings are all from 1956 era, so mono is the way it goes. Every song speaks to me on this CD, except "Rythmorama" (a 6 minute drum duo solo)

On the song, "Now see how you are" the slow tempo and emotional impact is quite spendid. I can even play along on my own guitar on the main theme. In fact if you play guitar at all, this recording is a great one to learn and play along with. If you can only get one Burrell CD, this is the one to buy! This CD should have wide appeal to any interested in the jazz scene in the mid-50's.

Other Burrell CD's to get are: Blue Lights, 5 Spot

and Midnight Blue.

This 2-CD set collects 3 early Kenny Burrell LPs, one of which was only issued in Japan. The original INTRODUCING is here, and features Kenny with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers (b), Kenny Clarke (d) and Cabdido (cga). TAKEELA is the definite highlight of that date - a fantastic tune taken up tempo with Candido's congas the icing on the cake. VOLUME 2 is the second LP and adds Frank Foster on tenor sax with Flanagan, Oscar Pettiford (b) and Shadow Wilson (d). Flanagan is a magnificent player on both albums. CHEETA is the highlight on VOLUME 2. The third LP is K.B. BLUES, out on LP in Japan only, and overall might be the best of the 3 LPs. Hank Mobley (ts) Horace Silver (p) Doug Watkins (b) and Louis Hayes (d) join Burrell, and the results are excellent. Three of the 5 tunes are alternates of each other and are each 12-bar blues with an 8-bar bridge. The playing is solid by everyone (this was Silver's working unit at the time, minus Burrell, which probably explains the terrific interplay achieved). Burrell's beautiful tone and exceptional swing are evident throughout. Highly recommended.

Kenny Burrell, the quite genius. ... At the time Kenny, did not know his first album was 10-15 years ahead of the times. An incredible guitarist who could and would write, arrange and jam and dazzle all at the exact time. FANTASTIC...... Not every song is a classic but there are some classics on this album .... Any guitarist who think they are fast , think they know a little sump tin ... need to listen, learn and take note. At times Kenny B makes the SPEED METAL gun slingers sound as if they're playing Winchester Cathedral on a dragging 78 .

Now the BAD NEWS ......... AMAZON is getting as greedy as those greedy folks over at Apple I-Tunes(doo-tell).. and THATS greedy. Charging 20 bucks for an idem that should not cost but 10 bucks at THE MOST the absolute most .... This is price gouging ... and its shameful. Amazon should be ashamed ... however BIG companies are never ashamed .... They just get fined and bad publicity which they LOVE ... and like they say Bad Publicity is better than No Publicity .... Why don't companies do the right thing in the first place ? You never know.