Went to the mega-bookstore-with-CDs-and-coffeeshop with Mrs. K.P. (She wanted to buy a yoga DVD) and was perusing their sales bin, when I ran across a couple of items that piqued my interest.
The first was a Sergio Mendez CD. Now I mentioned a few weeks ago when I reviewed Herb Alpert’s “Rewhipped” that I didn’t care for the reworked Sergio Mendez CD, but this was the original stuff. In fact, it was a 2-fer (two albums on one CD): One was “The Swinger from Rio” and the other was “The Beat of Brazil.” Being a sucker for bossa nova, I pounced on it.
For folks like me who mainly remember S.M. from the “Brazil ’66” days of hybrid jazz – New Christie Minstrel-esque covers of “Fool on the Hill,” this was a mild surprise. The first album was small ensemble jazz covers (with Mendez on piano and Jobin on guitar for several songs) of mostly Jobim tunes that folks will be familiar with from other sessions by other artists. So it was interesting to hear what this group did with the tunes. The CD was worth it just for this half, recorded in 1966, alone.
The second half of the album was a larger ensemble, with trombones, again with half of the tunes by Jobim, who also did the arrangements for this 1967 recording. I didn’t care for this half quite as much as the first, mainly because my personal preference is for small group jazz, but it was still well done, and also recommended.
The other CD I bought was of Return to Forever’s “Romantic Warrior,” a classic jazz fusion session from February 1976, with Chick Corea on keyboards, Stanley Clarke on bass, Lenny White on drums and Al DiMeola on guitar. I have this on vinyl, but the turntable has been having problems and I’ve been mainly playing CDs (besides, you can take them in the car, LOL), so despite the fact that I hate to re-buy CDs that I have on vinyl, I did it. I half expected it to sound dated, but it seemed less dated than the last time I played it, in the early ’90’s. Also recommended for folks wondering what “fusion jazz” was all about. Maybe we’re getting far enough removed from the ’70’s that we can listen to that music at arm’s length and leave our previous notions behind. The album photos and art are a hoot, however; veeerry 1970’s, LOL.
So, take the quiz and ‘fess up as to how much repurchasing on CD of the same music you had on vinyl you’ve done.
