Customer Reviews

Two Souls in One

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

 

 

A nice player, although I'm not sure the "two horn thing" was all his idea. Roland Kirk started it, but Braith did a nice job carrying it out. Or at least for the short time he was in fame with his few Blue Note releases.

His sound, at first tends to sound like a scratchy tenor, but after a few listens, it gets appreciated. His compositions are very interesting.

Take the first track here, Mary Ann. When I first spun in it my player, I thought I was at the circus. It turned out to be a nice listen. You can almost not tell when he is soloing. I guess when you solo with two instruments at once, it get's a little stiff. You don't get as much freedom as you would with one at a time. The organ comps make the song! Grant Green takes it out before they go back to the melody. I like Dave Bailey's drumming on this piece. Very original, and fits the piece well.

Next, Home Street. It is in 3/4. Some more of the scratchy tenor sound. Donald Bailey, again, is doing some cool things on the drums. The melody is cool. Very original. It pretty much breaks up any of the boundries that were out at the time, and are out now. This piece swings very well.

The spanish tune that made Ahamad Jamal famous, Poicana comes in after Home Street. The dance of this song is so good. The group takes this song in a new direction. For this piece, the intro melody, is played by Green and Braith, before Braith takes the main melody by himself. Green takes the B section. Billy Gardner is one of those organists that don't get in the way. Grant Green says Larry Young doesn't. Well, true he doesn't get in the way, he does take over the song. Here, organist, Billy Garder fits right in so well. His comping is magnificent. He makes the mood of the song what it is.

Mary Had A Little Lamb. I love when jazz musicians take obscure songs and turn them into, well respectable ones. This applies here for the appearence of, Mary Had A Little Lamb. This song clearly does not sound what it used to, to me, after listening to this album. They swing it in every which way. Perhaps, the first song on the album that drummer, Dave Bailey is playing a "normal" swing beat. he is so creative. I used to think Shelly Manne was the most musical drummer ever. Well, he still is in my book, but Dave Bailey, so underrated, just delivers such beautiful drumming here on this album. Some rhythms I never heard of, using a, tambourine. (?) This song is hot! Check out Gardners bass line on this song. Fits the song like a match made in heaven. Also, Grant Green's solo is on fire. One of my favorite guitarists. Who would of ever thought Mary Had A Little Lamb could swing!

This album is one of the most loose albums in jazz. Braith-A-Way, is so loose and free. Braith and his cohorts here certainly break all the rules here for this release. With this closing hyme, the group swings this slow blues down home.

In the liner notes, Nat Hentoff states, that Braith will go on to become a major aspect in jazz. Sadly, that was not the case. Braith was practically forgotten right after he made this recording. Maybe if we had more like him, the role of the jazz musician would be even more free than it already is.

George Braith.
A nice player, although I'm not sure the "two horn thing" was all his idea. Roland Kirk started it, but Braith did a nice job carrying it out. Or at least for the short time he was in fame with his few Blue Note releases.

His sound, at first tends to sound like a scratchy tenor, but after a few listens, it gets appreciated. His compositions are very interesting.

Take the first track here, Mary Ann. When I first spun in it my player, I thought I was at the circus. It turned out to be a nice listen. You can almost not tell when he is soloing. I guess when you solo with two instruments at once, it get's a little stiff. You don't get as much freedom as you would with one at a time. The organ comps make the song! Grant Green takes it out before they go back to the melody. I like Dave Bailey's drumming on this piece. Very original, and fits the piece well.

Next, Home Street. It is in 3/4. Some more of the scratchy tenor sound. Donald Bailey, again, is doing some cool things on the drums. The melody is cool. Very original. It pretty much breaks up any of the boundries that were out at the time, and are out now. This piece swings very well.

The spanish tune that made Ahamad Jamal famous, Poicana comes in after Home Street. The dance of this song is so good. The group takes this song in a new direction. For this piece, the intro melody, is played by Green and Braith, before Braith takes the main melody by himself. Green takes the B section. Billy Gardner is one of those organists that don't get in the way. Grant Green says Larry Young doesn't. Well, true he doesn't get in the way, he does take over the song. Here, organist, Billy Garder fits right in so well. His comping is magnificent. He makes the mood of the song what it is.

Mary Had A Little Lamb. I love when jazz musicians take obscure songs and turn them into, well respectable ones. This applies here for the appearence of, Mary Had A Little Lamb. This song clearly does not sound what it used to, to me, after listening to this album. They swing it in every which way. Perhaps, the first song on the album that drummer, Dave Bailey is playing a "normal" swing beat. he is so creative. I used to think Shelly Manne was the most musical drummer ever. Well, he still is in my book, but Dave Bailey, so underrated, just delivers such beautiful drumming here on this album. Some rhythms I never heard of, using a, tambourine. (?) This song is hot! Check out Gardners bass line on this song. Fits the song like a match made in heaven. Also, Grant Green's solo is on fire. One of my favorite guitarists. Who would of ever thought Mary Had A Little Lamb could swing!

This album is one of the most loose albums in jazz. Braith-A-Way, is so loose and free. Braith and his cohorts here certainly break all the rules here for this release. With this closing hyme, the group swings this slow blues down home.

In the liner notes, Nat Hentoff states, that Braith will go on to become a major aspect in jazz. Sadly, that was not the case. Braith was practically forgotten right after he made this recording. Maybe if we had more like him, the role of the jazz musician would be even more free than it already is.

The last tune "Braith-a-way" is for me one of the most outstanding jazz tunes of all time. That tune alone makes the album worth buying. I used to hear it practically every night because it is the opening tune of the Ed Love program on WDET in Detroit, when I lived there. (By the way, that program is worth checking out, Ed Love is one of the all-time great jazz DJs -- it can be heard on the internet.) I never tired of hearing the tune, it is so full of eloquence, emotion, and with an interesting dash of abstraction.