Oliver Nelson - Black, Brown and Beautiful - 1970

Oliver Nelson - Black, Brown and Beautiful

Жанр: Post-Bop
Носитель: CD
Страна-производитель диска (релиза): Япония
Год издания: 2017
Издатель (лейбл): Solid Records
Номер по каталогу: CDSOL-45715
Страна исполнителя (группы): США
Аудиокодек: FLAC (*.flac)
Тип рипа: tracks+.cue
Битрейт аудио: (lossy + lossless)
Продолжительность: 37:21
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Треклист:

01. Aftermath (Nelson) - 5:31

02. Requiem (Nelson) - 7:08

03. Lamb of God (Nelson) - 2:34

04. Martin Was a Man, a Real Man (Nelson) - 4:15

05. Self-Help Is Needed (Nelson) - 4:11

06. I Hope in Time a Change Will Come (Nelson) - 2:38

07. 3, 2, 1, 0 (Nelson) - 3:30

08. Black, Brown and Beautiful (Nelson) - 3:30

09. Requiem, Afterthoughts (Nelson) - 4:04
Состав:
Oliver Nelson - piano, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, conductor
Bobby Bryant - trumpet
Frank Strozier - alto saxophone
John Gross, John Klemmer - tenor saxophone
Pearl Kaufman, Roger Kellaway - piano
Chuck Domanico - bass
John Guerin, Roy Haynes - drums
Stanley Wilson - conductor (#2,5-7,9)
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA in October 1969.

Об альбоме (сборнике)
At last! Oliver Nelson's signature album from his Flying Dutchman period is on CD, only 47 years after it's initial release on vinyl and cassette in 1970. The album was previously available as a compressed digital download, and certain tracks were released a couple years back by Ace Records as part of the compilation Liberation Music: Spiritual Jazz And The Art Of Protest On Flying Dutchman Records 1969-1974.
Solid has issued the original tracklist with the original nude cover in a jewel case with obi, with the back of the leaf showing the original album back. The original, quite radical liner notes written by Nelson and interior photos are missing, however. Instead, the inside of the leaf has a tracklist in English, with liner notes in kanji. Not having any ability in Japanese, I cannot comment further on the new liner notes, save that they are credited to Kazunori Harada.
Sound quality is clean and strong, but more forward with less presence than the vinyl. In all, what we've come to expect from reissues of this sort.
Nelson had created a tribute to JFK in 1967, The Kennedy Dream, so it was not unexpected that the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 would provoke a response from this artist, who had ventured into interpreting the African-American experience previously in 1962's orchestral jazz album Afro American Sketches. Having made the jump with friend and producer Bob Thiele from Impulse! to Thiele's new label, Flying Dutchman (the first release ever was Nelson's second collaboration with Steve Allen, Soulful Brass 2), Nelson's first real album for the label was a labor of love and agony, recorded in 1969 when Nelson was only recently recovered from malaria. Eclectic in style, the album ranges from big band to classical to modern. Stanley Wilson (then director of music at Universal Studios) takes on arranging duties, an unheard-of event for Nelson, an arranger renowned perhaps beyond his abilities as a composer and saxophonist. His own arrangement of the title track would debut later in 1970 on Johnny Hodges' final album, 3 Shades of Blue.
'Aftermath' begins with the sounds of riots, albeit recreated; this segues into film score-like material, that itself gives way to some modern jazz, overall very affecting. 'Requiem' pits two lines against one another, one a ostinato akin to one from Ligeti, while the other will become the melody in the final track. 'Lamb of God' is a dramatic orchestral piece, as is 'Martin Was a Man, He Was a Real Man,' originally written for a male voice like Paul Robeson, but Nelson couldn't get a lyricist in time. Both tracks cement the early running as 'serious' work. What had been Side Two on the vinyl kicks off the jazz portion of the evening (IMHO, this is best played after dark) with a pair of topical big band numbers with Nelson on tenor and soprano sax respectively: 'Self-Help Is Needed' and the melancholy 'I Hope in Time a Change Will Come'. '3,2,1,0' is the only 'off topic' track, a stirring big band number, was written in honor of the moon landing, for the 1969 album 3-2-1-0 by Nabuo Hara and the Sharps and flats; it became their band theme for a while. The title track is one of Nelson's loveliest compositions, finally out on CD in the original version, with Nelson's tenor soaring over Wilson's arrangement. The finale harkens back not only to the second track, but all the way back to the 1963 album that Nelson arranged for Billy Taylor: Right Here, Right Now. One can hear Theodora Taylor's 'Afterthoughts' lurking here; reinvented yet still recognizable.
Great appreciation to Solid for getting this out on CD, as well as the Nelson-arranged Groove Holmes album 6 Million Dollar Man, also new to CD.
-- J. Burns