Mel Brown Chicken Fat (Vinyl, Impulse Records, 1967) **** Bethany Cosentino Natural Disaster (Vinyl, Concord Records, 2023) ****
Chico Hamilton Chico The Master (Vinyl, Stax Records, 1973) ***
Mike Oldfield Opus One (Vinyl, EMI Records, 2023) *
Dr. Lonnie Smith All In My Mind (Vinyl, Blue Note Records, 2018) ***
The Flirtations Sounds Like The Flirtations (Vinyl, Deram Records, 1969) *****
Ray Columbus and the Stargazers Happy Birthday Rock'n'Roll (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1969) ***
Larry Coryell Live at the Village Gate (Vinyl, Vanguard Records, 1971) ****
Genre: Blues, soul-jazz, pop rock, Americana, Jazz, Jazz fusion
They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7
Active compensatory factors: I had a rummage through the $10 sale bins at the Hastings branch of JB Hi Fi recently, and came away with some glorious purchases.
Mel Brown's album, his first, was originally released in 1967. He was previously playing with T Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker. The album is in the blues or bluesy jazz styles and the band is as tight as a fish's bum. Gerald Wiggins' organ playing is pretty cool, as is Herb Ellis, also on guitar.
The star of the show is Mel Brown though. AllMusic says 'Leave it to Impulse! to put a new spin on the guitar/organ sound. This is hot stuff'. Yes it is! Mel gets his groove on and no vocals to spoil the cool vibe he gets going.
Bethany Cosentino is a new name to me but I'm an instant fan. What a great rock voice she has. Sheryl Crow is a touch point. There is a smattering of Americana about her approach as well (Bonnie Raitt style) but her voice is more rock than folk/ country/ pop.
The first half of the album is the stronger - I tend to lose track of songs on side two. The album is a keeper though and one I'll return to when in the mood. I'll probably use it as an Album of the Week for the WTWMC at some point as well.
Chico Hamilton is a well known, and highly regarded jazz drummer. He was used as a sideman by such jazz giants as Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan and Count Basie. Subsequently, he led his own bands playing cool jazz, post bop, and jazz fusion.
Chico The Master is an album from 1973 that uses Little Feat members as his core collaborators. Bill Payne, Lowell George, Kenny Gradney, Paul Barrere, Sam Clayton all appear as well as other musicians.
It's a very cool jazz rock/ fusion sound created with polyrhythmic drumming from Chico. Side one is the more frenetic of the two, side two takes a slower pace and Chico allows others to shine. I prefer side one.
Mike Oldfield's Opus One is a Record Store Day special that includes his demo of Tubular Bells from 1971 - recorded in a small flat in Tottenham and a house in Essex. It's fun to listen to as he didn't veer too much from it in essence. Side two of this album is a collection of other demos. It's been made available as bonus material on various issues of TB over the years, so it's not rare - but good to have as a separate album.
Lonnie Smith (he liked to add the Dr.) was (he passed away in 2021) a Hammond B3 organist who was a member of the George Benson quartet in the 1960s. He has an extensive discography of his own though and All in My Mind was obviously recorded towards the end of his career and life. It's recorded live at a small jazz club.
I'm not a huge fan but for $10 I took a punt. I like the jazz fusion organ/guitar on the opener, the Wayne Shorter tune Juju, and the version of Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, but the rest is a little too laid back for me. It's certainly very tasteful and the band is tight with nice interplay between organ, guitar and drums. I don't think it is a long-term keeper though.
The Flirtations were a major revelation! How is it they weren't as big as The Supremes. Their debut album is enough for me to ask that question. If they'd had writers like Holland-Dozier-Holland providing them strong follow-up songs they could have been. As it is - Sounds Like The Flirtations is an awesome debut. Full of great songs and man oh man those girls could pack a vocal punch.
The last two albums were from Little Red Bookshop. I've looked at the Ray Columbus album in the bins there for many months. I used to own the album but sold it off at some point. I finally succumbed to the temptation - mainly because there are a couple of Headband members involved - Jimmy Hill (drums) and Ron Craig on guitar. Ray sings well on a selection of fifties and sixties tunes but it's not his finest hour.
Final selection is another album I've thought about for many years - ever since seeing the cover in a record club magazine and then in Marbecks Records racks amidst the other Vanguard albums.
I've been a steady purchaser of Larry Coryell's albums over the last few years and I was delighted to see his Live at the Village Gate album in Little Red Bookshop. The album was recorded over two nights with Larry in a Hendrix style power trio (Mervin Bronson on bass, Harry Wilkenson on drums). His then wife, Julie Coryell also appears on vocals on one track.
AllMusic on this album: Live at the Village Gate finds Coryell and his bass-and-drums combo stretching out on five tunes (including a Jack Bruce cover), merging the brutal crunch of rock with the dexterity of jazz.
Where do they all belong? My usual eclectic buying pattern yielded quite a good haul, right!
