One in a million (David Sanborn) (LP 860 - 861)

David Sanborn Band   Promise Me The Moon (Vinyl, Warner Brothers Records, 1977) **  

David Sanborn   Voyeur (Vinyl, Warner Brothers Records, 1981) ** 

Genre: Modern jazz 

Places I remember: Spellbound Wax Company (Gisborne)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume: The Legend Of Cheops (from Promise Me The Moon)

Active compensatory factors: Stevie Van Zandt categorises musicians into two camps - band guys and session guys.

Each has their pros and cons. The David Sanborn Band is definitely made up of session guys, so this sound like Attitudes basically - guys who play their instruments amazingly well, but struggle for a distinctive chemistry that unites them into a great group.

Promise me The Moon also has quite a few songs with vocals so it sounds even more like Attitudes.

Voyeur is from the eighties so the production is crap, and although everyone plays really well (again), it glides by on a studio sheen without ever hitting the heights.

Sanborn's sax style is also a bit too strident for my taste - think I'll still to Grover Washington Jnr!

So why did I buy them? Well I was in Gisborne as part of my job, I saw that Promise was made in 1977 and thought - worth a punt for $10. The owner suggested Voyeur - I liked the cover, so another punt.

Where do they all belong? These are the only David Sanborn albums in the modern jazz section. He may have done better ones but I'll never know - I won't be tempted again.

Stranger (Clare Fischer) (LP 858 - 859)

Clare Fischer  First Time Out  (Vinyl, Philips Records, 1962) **** 

Clare Fischer  Surging Ahead  (Vinyl, Fontana, 1963) ****   

Genre: Jazz piano 

Places I remember: The Little Red Bookstore (Hastings)/ Record Fair in Palmerston North

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Toddler (First Time Out)

Gear costume: Without A Song (Surging Ahead)

Active compensatory factors: I'd never heard of Clare Fischer before seeing an album by him in The Little Red Bookstore  in Hastings. 

Being a big fan of piano trios, and recognising bassist Gary Peacock's name meant a punt.

Wow. Good thing I did. Turns out Clare is some kinda genius on the piano. Why he's not spoken of in the same breath as Bill Evans is one of music's great mysteries.

There is an easy swing to these albums, and the relaxed feeling that you are in good hands (get it?).

Recently, I picked up Surging Ahead while browsing at a record fair in Palmerston North. It was going cheap because the seller didn't really know much about him and, it needs to be said, the covers are pretty average. By the way my copies are NZ pressings via Philips, so they don't include the huge Pacific Jazz bit, indicating where the albums were recorded, as pictured above.

Where do they all belong? Great additions to the jazz piano section.

Foreplay (Larry Coryell) (LP 857)

Larry Coryell  Offering (Vinyl, Vanguard Records, 1972) ***** 

Genre: Jazz fusion 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Foreplay

Gear costume: Ruminations (sax and guitar duels are super cool!)

Active compensatory factors: The 'must play loud' tag doesn't always apply but in this case you need the volume to pick out the genius interplay between bass, guitar, drums, electric piano and soprano sax.

Try Foreplay and you'll see what I mean - each member appears to be playing a different tune at times but when it's all fused together and played loud it makes total sense.

That song takes on different shapes from melodic to seemingly free form intensity. The bass and drum combo is tight and the sax floats the melody in and away throughout its 8 minutes.

And that's just the opening song! The band are off and running and Larry just has to be Larry.

The intensity builds from the first two tracks with side one closing with the brainstorming Scotland 1. Side two continues the instrumental storming of the gates!

Where do they all belong? Two in a row for the jazz fusion section as I forgot that I hadn't yet posted on this one before doing the Jan Hammer albums. This album comes before the Eleventh House albums that I've posted already.

Country and eastern music (Goodman/Hammer) (LP 855 - 856)

Jan Hammer   The First Seven Days (Vinyl, Nemperor Records, 1975) ****  

Jerry Goodman & Jan Hammer   Little Children (Vinyl, Nemperor Records, 1975) ***

Genre: Jazz fusion 

Places I remember: Slow Boat Records/Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Topeka

Gear costume: Fourth Day - Plants and Trees

Active compensatory factors: Jan Hammer's sound is instantly recognisable - both his drumming and his keyboard work. Jerry Goodman's violin also has a unique sound.

They combine superbly on Little Children - never getting in the other's way but creating a complementary soundscape.

Both were members of the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early seventies and so they know what they doing! Little Children sounds like Goodman and Hammer though - without the fiery guitar pyrotechnics and fever drumming from John McLaughlin and Billy Cobham respectively.

Neither are great singers, so the vocals aren't crash hot (a star off as a consequence).

Seven Days is a Hammer solo album - his first. Jan plays pretty much everything (bar some congas, percussion and violin - by Steve Kindler this time). 

Everything he touched turned to gold in seems as he uses the creation myth as an album concept to explore his keyboards to great effect (no guitars on this album at all).

Where do they all belong? Jan definitely conjures up an eclectic sound - Little Children has some classical/ jazz/ pop/ fusion elements, while The First Seven Days features some clearer fusion wig outs with proggy flourishes (a la Rick Wakeman). 

Inner journey (Cannonball Adderley) (LP 853 - 854)

Cannonball Adderley Sextet Jazz Workshop Revisited (Vinyl, Riverside, 1962) ****  

The Cannonball Adderley Quintet Inside Straight (Vinyl, Fantasy, 1974) ****  

Genre: Jazz 

Places I remember: Record fair in Palmerston North a month ago.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume: : Mellow Buno (Jazz Workshop Revisited)

Active compensatory factors: Both of these fine albums were recorded live in San Francisco: at the Jazz Workshop 1962 and the Fantasy studios in Berkeley 1973.

I was tickled to get these from a stall holder at a recent record fair. I leapt at the Riverside album - a NZ pressing in mint condition. I was going to leave Inside Straight but I managed to barter it down to ten dollars.

Inside Straight saw Cannonball reinvigorated and stretching out/embracing the early seventies. Tragically he would die in 1975 from a stroke. He was only 46.

Where do they all belong? Both albums show the various sides of Cannonball.

Get down (War) (LP 852)

War  War Live (Vinyl, United Artists Records, 1973) *** 

Genre: Soul 

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records (Caterham on the hill)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles:  The Cisco Kid

Gear costume: Get Down 

Active compensatory factors: It took me a few visits to Chaldon Books and Records before I purchased this one. 

I like the band, and there are lots more War albums to come when I get to them on CD (with and without Eric Burdon), but when I checked the cover it appeared there were only seven songs spread over four sides.

I know they like to stretch things out so I wasn't too surprised to see that Get Down lasts 20 minutes; All Day Music, Sun Oh Son, Slippin' Into Darkness each last around 10 minutes each.

Now this could be a great sign or it could be a boring self-indulgent sign. Hence my hesitation.

Luckily, the band were riding the crest of their peak years, so this turned out to be a good score for the most part!

That said, I still prefer the shorter ones. The six minutes of Cisco Kid is awesome - no fat on that one.

Where do they all belong? More to come when the CDs re-enter the picture.

Rambling on my mind (Eric Clapton) (LP 851)

Eric Clapton   E.C. Was Here (Vinyl, RSO Records, 1975) ***   

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: Spellbound Wax Company (Gisborne)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Further On Up The Road

Gear costume: Presence Of The Lord

Active compensatory factors: This is a bit of a mish mash of a single live album with songs coming from four different dates spanning two years - 1974 and 1975. Smacks, therefore, of a cash-in by Robert Stigwood and I wonder how much say E.C. had in its release given this comes from well within his booze fueled stupor years.

So, there's no continuity as far as a concert experience goes - just six songs over two sides. Plus, there's the throwaway cover and a somewhat tossed off title (what the hell were they thinking?)

But, on the plus side: the song selection, with some deep cuts, is great, the band is on form (Yvonne Elliman is terrific on Presence Of The Lord - she steals it!) and old Clapper doesn't disappoint in the vocal department. 

On balance then - a three star effort.

Where do they all belong? In the blues rock section with Cream, Jack Bruce et al.