Ron Carter Archives - JAZZ IMPRESSIONS

Andrew Hill – MC

Idris Muhammad only recorded one date with the great pianist/composer/teacher Andrew Hill (last heard from on Jazz Impressions on Bobby Hutcherson’s Dialogue (1965)) and it nearly never saw the light of day. Many of Hill’s 1960s Blue Note recordings were shelved by the commercially-minded Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, and although 1968’s Grass Roots was released at the time, a “first draft” recorded 4 months earlier sat in the vaults until the CD release in 2000. The quality of these unissued sessions tells you as much about Blue Note as the albums they actually released, if not more.

Freddie Hubbard – Red Clay

Holding the world record for the most recording sessions of any jazz bassist in history (2,221 as of 2015), Ron Carter has provided some of the world’s greatest bass lines: Joe Henderson’s ‘Power to the People’ (1969), Alice Coltrane’s ‘Blue Nile’ (1970) and Freddie Hubbard’s ‘Red Clay’ (1970).

Joe Henderson – Power To The People

From two great tenor sax players to another, today’s post focusses on Joe Henderson’s politically titled track ‘Power To The People’ from his album of the same name, released on Milestone in 1969. Mainly compromised of Henderson originals, this album was the first in a string of political albums Henderson released in the late 60s and early 70s which were inspired by an increased awareness of black issues and the Black Power movement which reached its peak at the beginning of the 70s.

Devadip Carlos Santana – Love Theme From “Spartacus”

Our last post focussed on Santana’s heady fusion offering ‘Going Home’. Now we fast-forward eight years to an underrated gem of the Santana catalogue, his version of Alex North’s ‘Love Theme From “Spartacus”‘ from his 1980 album The Swing Of Delight.

Alice Coltrane – Blue Nile

One of the artists mentioned in the previous post was multi-instrumentalist Alice Coltrane who plays both piano and harp on Joe Henderson’s elemental offering ‘Fire’. This wasn’t their first musical collaboration as they had already worked together on her own cosmic masterpiece, Ptah, The El Daoud, recorded at the Coltrane’s home studio in 1970 and released on Impulse! records.