Rabshakeh

Slickness can signify in two ways, I guess. People often complain about Blue Note post-Sidewinder having a formula. It's only half the story (sadly, no Grachan Moncur boogaloo grinders out there). But certainly, a lot of Blue Note records from that era are quite 'formulaic', and sometimes can feel like so much product. On the other hand, the production choices are much more noticeable on CTI's records than Blue Note's or Prestige's or even Mr Taylor's productions at Verve. Much more noticeable and much more noticeably expensive. On a record-by-record level, CTI is surely the "slicker" sounding product, even if Messrs Lion and Wolff, arguably, had their own slick approach to business.

Various – Gittin' To Know Y'All (MPS, 1970)

That's interesting. I always assumed they were cheap, because that's how they look. Not my favourite covers but at least it's a unified look and vibe.

Thanks!

Anyone? I'm a big Etta fan and like Houston Person a lot, including his later day records like Live In Paris, but hadn't until recently noticed that they released records together.

Oh. So this wasn't just rock / funk / soul bands thinking it would be cool to have funk horn sections? There were some concerted efforts to market jazz dudes as rock? Never really understood Maynard Ferguson's career, although I like that Jimmy's record a lot. He just seems to pop up out of nowhere.

The Ides Of March – Vehicle (Warner, 1970)

Thanks! Ted Goia's on/off substack has an article on horn bands today, but I don't subscribe to it so couldn't read it. I was wondering what they were, when I came across the above. Sorry - one more question: is Top Forty Horn Bands a term that a non jazz fan would use? Or would your average rock/pop/funk lover just think Tower or Power was a psychedelic soul group whereas Blood Sweat and Tears were whatever they were (never listened to them)?

That's how I read it. I am just not familiar with the term. I'm not particularly familiar with the groups or their music either. I'm not sure whether they made it in the UK, but if they did at the time they were pretty forgotten when I started getting into music in the 1990s.

How is this one?

Sorry to ask a dumb question, but what are these? Like the band Chicago?

Red Rodney Featuring Ira Sullivan – Live At The Village Vanguard (Muse, 1980)

Have we mentioned Jim Hall's Concierto? I've noticed that it rarely shows up in the Listening To thread here.

Sam Rivers & Mario Schiano – Rendez-Vous (Vedette, 1977)

Carlos Niño & Friends – Extra Presence (International Anthem, 2022) My two favourites by each of them. RIP.

Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus – The Distance (ECM, 2016)

I was going to say that.

Lee Wiley, Bobby Hackett With Joe Bushkin And His Swinging Strings – Night In Manhattan (Columbia, 1951)

I really enjoy reading these.

Did you take them to a shop?

Lee Ritenour – Captain Fingers (Epic, 1977) Gradually coming to the conclusion that I like Lee Ritenour's stuff quite a lot. It's light pop fusion, but it never has the deadly quality of stiff rhythms or silly guitar shredding. Sort of a watered down Bill Cobham sound. Dated enough to be distant and charming. Actually nice. Doubt it appeals to 90% of listeners here.

Where should one start with Etta and Houston?

These are great. Alpert and Quincy exact examples. Trying to think of more, justly forgotten, stuff though.

We had a bit of chat around the Swingle Sisters and Bach-done-jazz type records a few months ago, and I wondered what other smash hits of the jazz and jazz-adjacent world there were in the 1950s and 1960s? The sort of stuff that was not actually targeted at jazz fans, but more at your general normie consumer. I'm thinking of records like Swingle Sisters - Place Vendôme Kai Winding Featuring Kenny Burrell – !!! More !!! (Theme From Mondo Cane) Frankie Laine And Buck Clayton And His Orchestra – Jazz Spectacular Les Elgart And His Orchestra – Sophisticated Swing I guess that some classics would also fall into this category too, like At The Pershing, Getz' samba records, Hello Dolly, Sinatra's Capitol records, etc. This is really out of historical interest, more than a request for recommendations.

Let’s hope for something along the lines of Jazz United again. I really enjoyed that podcast.