By this point in the brief, decade-long career of Gary McFarland (1933-71), the gifted composer and arranger easily balanced light and breezy (even poppy) music with the serious and somber (quasi-classical, or what was then called the Third Stream). As the title of this record more than suggests, The October Suite is considerably more of…
Stan Getz With Guest Artist Laurindo Almeida (1966)
This one is, if not a lost treasure, certainly a forgotten one among those who love both tenor saxophonist Stan Getz (1927-91) and guitarist Laurindo Almeida (1917-95) alike. It’s also one that really fell between the cracks. I didn’t even remember that I had a copy of this disc until I was asked about it…
Pete Turner: The “Super Fusion 1900” Series (1982)
In 1982, the Japanese label King Records – which has manufactured and distributed CTI-related product in Japan since 1970, and continues to do so to this day – launched a provocative set of compilations in what it called the “Super Fusion 1900” series. The series comprised 16 records and totally eschewed the usual “Best…
Gary McFarland & Co./Clark Terry – “Tijuana Jazz” (1966)
Composer and arranger Gary McFarland (1933-71) and the legendary trumpeter and once-featured soloist in the Duke Ellington band, Clark Terry (1920-2015) get together and head “south of the border” for an especially tasty slice of Tijuana Jazz. This aptly-named record was clearly aimed at jumping aboard the runaway train that was Herb Alpert and the…
Four by Laurindo Almeida
For years, I passed by the treasure trove of guitarist Laurindo Almedia records that packed the bins of so many of the used-record stores I’ve trolled over the years. I can’t say why I avoided these records. They were certainly easy enough to come by. After seeing some of the posters in Facebook’s “Exotica…and other…
Stan Getz/Gary McFarland – “Big Band Bossa Nova” (1962)
A genuinely joyful and rewarding musical experience, the glorious Stan Getz/Gary McFarland album Big Band Bossa Nova holds up well and sounds as new and as exciting, some six decades later, as it did when it was first released back in 1962. Big Band Bossa Nova was only the second of the tenor saxophonist’s five…