This mostly melancholy – sometimes even downbeat – album boasts vibraphonist, vocalist, composer and arranger Gary McFarland (1933-71) in a set devoted largely to pop covers of the day and “Soft Samba”-styled Bossas (despite that fad having largely been done by 1970).
It is peopled, however, with a superb cast of A-list jazz talent, including Curtis Fuller on trombone, Hubert Laws on flute, Sam Brown on guitar, Ron Carter or Chet Amsterdam on bass, Grady Tate or Sol Gubin on drums, Airto on percussion and George Ricci on the occasional mournful cello. McFarland’s arrangements are subtle and very easy on the ears.
While McFarland is often featured on vocals or whistling, he largely abstains from any jazz here. Hubert Laws takes (magnificent) solo honors throughout.
The stand-out track here is surely McFarland’s perfectly funky reconsideration of The Beatles’ “Get Back.” It is the best version I’ve ever heard – and one of the great Beatles covers that I would rank up there with Chaka Khan’s “We Can Work It Out” (1981 – arranged by fellow McFarland Berklee alum Arif Mardin). Laws features on piccolo, taking a fiery solo, which only hints at the extent of his boundless abilities.
Second up for this listener is McFarland’s original “Sombras de Saudade,” a reconsideration of McFarland’s stirring original “Latin Shadows,” the title track to a 1965 Impulse album he arranged for the Queen of the Organ, Shirley Scott.
Other tracks – such as “My Cherie Amour,” “I Will Wait For You,” Shadow of Your Smile,” “Desafinado” and McFarland’s own “Shadows are Falling” – fall into the pleasant “Soft Samba” (1964) mode, while the vocal numbers (“Because,” “Suzanne,” “Everybody’s Talkin,” “Michelle”) are pure laid-back pop. It must be said, though, McFarland’s vocals and overdubbed harmonies are a thing to behold. He has really honed his vocal craft by this point.
The psychedelic comic-book cover art on “Today” is courtesy of Peter Smith, who had previously done a similar inside sleeve for frequent McFarland associate and label mate/co-owner Gabor Szabo’s album “Gabor Szabo 1969” and an unissued version of the cover to Szabo’s 1970 Skye Recordings album with Lena Horne, “Lena & Gabor” (1970). Smith would also do the cover art, write and sing the lyrics for the 1971 album “Butterscotch Rum,” Gary McFarland’s next – and final – record.