Neal Creque- Contrast!

[pasta]

Anyone out there have a track listing? Thanks!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Try Mike Fitzgerald's discographies - there's a Mercury discography there, though I haven't looked to see whether there's the detail you want there.

http://www.jazzdisco.org/mercury/

MG

[pasta]

thanks! it's cobblestone- they a mercury subsidiary?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Sorry - thought it was Mercury - didn't check.

Here are the details for the Cobblestone

Neal Creque (p,el-p,clavinet,org,bells,comp,arr) Billy Butler (g) John Hart (el-b) Al Foster (d) Richard "Pablo" Landrum, Steve Kroon, Leopoldo Fleming, William Bivins, Jr., Jimmy Morrison (perc) Selwart Clarke, Alfred Brown, Winston Collymore (viola) Kermit Moore (cello)

Kenya

Help yourself

Bacalau

Happy go lucky

Just a moment

D Train

Love and life

Jasmine

Two loving hearts

All this world has to offer

MG

[pasta]

goldberg, you are truly MAGNIFICENT, sir! i thank you!

[etherbored]

ain't it a bitch when S M O O T H doesn't list tracks...?

[ValerieB]

is this the same Neal Creque who i used to listen to in person in the virgin islands in the '60s?!?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

is this the same Neal Creque who i used to listen to in person in the virgin islands in the '60s?!?

Yes. I don't know what he's doing now, but he made some records with Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers and Grant Green in the late 1960s/early 1970s - and a few as a leader. Oh, and one with Melvin Sparks in the mid seventies. A very singing style of playing and composing - great melodies. He wrote "Cease the bombing" and "Time to remember" for GG and LOADS of songs for Pucho.

What was he like in the early sixties?

MG

[pasta]

SMOOTH it was! also, mr creque has passed on.

http://www.oberlin.edu/con/bkstage/200012/..._neal_obit.html

[pasta]

cease the bombing is an all time favorite track of mine, NEVER get sick of it. awesome.

[ValerieB]

i am really sorry to hear that he has left us. as i remember it, he was the house band at a very popular spot in st. thomas, called "sebastians on the waterfront". it was a very hip, comfortable, attractive club, on a hill overlooking the water. as i recall, his jazz trio played six nights a week. since it was so very long ago, i really don't remember much else except he was a good player. he had/has many family members in st. thomas and i met some of them during a return visit in the '80s.

Edited December 12, 2007 by ValerieB

[sidewinder]

mr creque has passed on.

That's sad news - RIP. Really like his work with Grant Green.

[mikeweil]

R.I.P.

I bought "Contrast" from a cutout bin many many years ago, but was a little disappointed. On the whole, a somewhat bland record.

I found out later he had played with Mongo Santamaria, and liked him a lot better there.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Thanks for posting that sad news, Pasta.

Sorry to hear of his death, but glad that he continued to make a local impact for so long.

Like Mike, I think his work as a leader isn't as effective as his sideman recordings. Mel Sparks' "Sparkling" on Muse is an altogether splendid album in which Neal contributes every bit as much as the leader. I haven't heard him with Mongo (I don't think so, anyway), but that Sparks album is the best I've heard him.

His real legacy is his lovely melodic and funky tunes.

RIP

MG

[etherbored]

cease the bombing is an all time favorite track of mine, NEVER get sick of it. awesome.

word! that track is sweetness.

he also produced at least one ronnie foster date...

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

he also produced at least one ronnie foster date...

Oh, I didn't know that. Any idea which?

MG

[pasta]

man, i am so happy to see my original post turned into a tribute of sorts to mr creque! playing contrast right now!

[Shawn]

That Melvin Sparks album (Sparkling) is incredible, a great date.

[skeith]

Neal was the piano player for the house band at a jazz club/bar in Cleveland for the better part of the 1980s. I spent many an enjoyable hour there-top flight jazz.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

did u guys also listen to that one called CREQUE!? that ones good too-- that sucks he died, i always liked him on those grant green sides-- he really brought a lot to grants new sound

[JSngry]

Was just listening to Creque w/Harold Alexander today. Certainly enjoyable.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Was just listening to Creque w/Harold Alexander today. Certainly enjoyable.

I didn't know they'd made an album together, Jim. Which is that?

Funny, they were both ex-Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers sidemen - but Creque seems to have joined after Alexander left.

MG

[JSngry]

Two albums, actually - Sunshine Man & Are You Ready?, both on Flying Dutchman.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Two albums, actually - Sunshine Man & Are You Ready?, both on Flying Dutchman.

Thanks - I'll keep a little eye out for them.

MG

[JSngry]

Interesting little things, they are, Alexander, Creque, Bernard Purdie, and throwing a most interesting wrinkle into the mix, Richard Davis.

Are You Ready? has one side recorded live w/a different lineup, but one full side of the Sunshine Man band listed above, so I consider them "of a piece", even thought they're slightly different animals.