Herbie Hancock & Pat Metheny "Solar"

Another video from Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack.  This comes from a concert featured a while ago on Full Concert Friday.  From the 1990 Mellon Jazz Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hancock and his quartet tackle Miles Davis' composition, "Solar".  The quartet includes Hancock on piano, Pat Metheny on guitar, Dave Holland on double bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums.    

David Sanborn "Bums Cathedral"

 

From his 1982 "Backstreets" record, here is David Sanborn with the tune "Bums Cathedral" which is the sixth track on the album.  The band lineup is:

David Sanborn: alto saxophone, keyboards

Hiram Bullock: guitar, keyboards, Moog bass, Rhodes

Michael Colina: keyboards, piano, synthesizer

Steve Gadd: drums

Ralph MacDonald: percussion

Hard to say if on this specific track, all these musicians played on it.  It could be.  The drums sound like a sample or a drum machine, although they could be filtered through something in the mix as well.  

Barry Harris "At The Jazz Workshop"

 

Another Full Album Friday, featuring more from the late, great jazz pianist, Barry Harris.  Released in Japan on the Riverside Records label, in 1976, here is "At The Jazz Workshop: Live in San Francisco" which is a live show dating back to 1961, featuring Barry Harris on piano, Sam Jones on double bass, and Louis Hayes on drums.  It features standards written by jazz greats such as Louis Jordan, Charlie Parker, Gene de Paul & Don Raye, Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields, and some of Harris' own work.

The track listing is:

1. Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby

2. Curtain Call

3. Star Eyes

4. Moose the Mooche

5. Lolita

6. Morning Coffee

7. Don't Blame Me

8. Woody 'n' You

 

Gov't Mule "Make It Rain"

 

From their latest record "Heavy Load Blues", here is Gov't Mule, with another cut off the record (Warren Haynes on guitar and vocals, Danny Louis on keyboards and vocals, Jorgen Carlsson on bass, and Matt Abts on drums).  The tune is "Make It Rain".  

RIP M'tume 1/3/46 - 1/9/22

 

More tributes from Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack to James "Mtume" Forman, percussionist with Miles Davis.

Miles Davis, "What I Say", Oslo, Norway 1971 11 09.  Miles Davis, trumpet, Gary Bartz, soprano sax, Keith Jarrett, keyboards, Mtume, percussion, Michael Henderson Bass, Ndugu, Drums.

James Forman (January 3, 1946 – January 9, 2022), known professionally as James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality.

He came to prominence as a jazz musician, working with Miles Davis between 1971 and 1975. Mtume's R&B group, also called Mtume, is best known for the 1983 R&B hit song "Juicy Fruit", which has been repeatedly sampled. Mtume the band also had a top-five R&B hit with the single "You, Me, and He".

James Forman was born and raised in South Philadelphia. He was the son of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath, but was raised by his stepfather, a Philadelphia local jazz pianist, James "Hen Gates" Forman.

Mtume grew up in a musical environment with jazz musicians frequenting his parents' house. He learned to play piano and percussion; however, from his teenage years he was pursuing athletics as a swimmer, having achieved the title of the first black Middle Atlantic AAU champion in the backstroke, and in 1966 he entered Pasadena City College on a swimming scholarship.

In 1966, Mtume joined the US Organization, a Black empowerment group founded by Hakim Jamal and Maulana Karenga, while a student at Pasadena City College. Mtume received his name, which means "messenger" in Swahili, from Karenga who gave members of the organization names to match their personality traits. He was part of that group that celebrated the first Kwanzaa in 1966. In 1967 he co-edited The Quotable Karenga with Clyde Halisi, which has been called "the best expression of Karenga's ideas". Mtume left the US Organisation in 1969.

Mtume made two albums, Kawaida and Alekebulan: Land of the Blacks, intended to merge jazz and cultural identity. Kawaida, which was recorded in December 1969, was Mtume's professional debut. He contributed four out of five compositions and was credited with naming the album which means "norm" in Swahili and represented the practice and philosophy of pan-African identity. Performers on the album included Don Cherry, Herbie Hancock, Biily Bonner and his uncle Albert Heath.

After his return from the West Coast he moved to New York and had his first gigs as a sideman for McCoy Tyner (Asante album), Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis, whose group he wound up joining and playing in for the next few years.

He and Mtume band member, fellow musician Reggie Lucas both won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for writing and producing fellow R&B artist Stephanie Mills' top-ten hit "Never Knew Love Like This Before", for which she also won a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

He also worked as a session musician with Players Association, and did on-air radio personality work at New York City's KISS 98.7 FM. As a songwriter, Mtume wrote hits for various artists such as Phyllis Hyman, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Stephanie Mills, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, Teddy Pendergrass, Inner City, as well as being lead songwriter for his own band Mtume.

In July 2018, Mtume filed a lawsuit against Sony Music/Epic Records, hoping to reclaim the rights for two albums and his hit single "Juicy Fruit". Mtume claimed to hold the sole copyright of these recordings, while Sony insisted that the albums were made for hire.

In Memoriam: James "Mtume" Forman

From Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack"

Miles Davis in Norway, 1971 with Miles on trumpet, Gary Bartz, saxes, Michael Henderson, bass, Ndugu, drums, Mtume and Don Alias, percussion and Keith Jarrett, keyboards.

James Forman (January 3, 1946 – January 9, 2022), known professionally as James Mtume, was an American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter, record producer, activist, and radio personality.

He came to prominence as a jazz musician, working with Miles Davis between 1971 and 1975. Mtume's R&B group, also called Mtume, is best known for the 1983 R&B hit song "Juicy Fruit", which has been repeatedly sampled. Mtume the band also had a top-five R&B hit with the single "You, Me, and He".

As sideman

With Gato Barbieri

Under Fire (Flying Dutchman, 1971 [1973])

Bolivia (Flying Dutchman, 1973)

With Miles Davis

On the Corner (Columbia, 1972)

In Concert: Live at Philharmonic Hall (Columbia, 1973)

Big Fun (Columbia, 1974)

Get Up with It (Columbia, 1974)

Dark Magus (Columbia, 1974)

Agharta (Columbia, 1975)

Pangaea (Columbia, 1975)

The Complete On the Corner Sessions (Columbia, 2007)

Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (Columbia Legacy, 2015)

With Art Farmer

Homecoming (Mainstream, 1971)

With Carlos Garnett

Black Love (Muse, 1974)

With Jimmy Heath

The Gap Sealer (Muse, 1973)

The Time and the Place (Landmark, 1974 [1994])

With Eddie Henderson

Heritage (Blue Note, 1976)

Comin' Through (Capitol, 1977)

Mahal (Capitol, 1978)

with Harold Land

A New Shade of Blue (Mainstream, 1971)

With Azar Lawrence

Bridge into the New Age (Prestige, 1974)

With Lonnie Liston Smith

Astral Traveling (Flying Dutchman, 1973)

With James Spaulding

James Spaulding Plays the Legacy of Duke Ellington (Storyville, 1977)

With McCoy Tyner

Asante (Blue Note, 1970)

Handscapes 2 (Strata-East, 1975)

With Buddy Terry

Awareness (Mainstream, 1971)

Pure Dynamite (Mainstream, 1972)As sideman

With Gato Barbieri

Under Fire (Flying Dutchman, 1971 [1973])

Bolivia (Flying Dutchman, 1973)

With Miles Davis

On the Corner (Columbia, 1972)

In Concert: Live at Philharmonic Hall (Columbia, 1973)

Big Fun (Columbia, 1974)

Get Up with It (Columbia, 1974)

Dark Magus (Columbia, 1974)

Agharta (Columbia, 1975)

Pangaea (Columbia, 1975)

The Complete On the Corner Sessions (Columbia, 2007)

Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (Columbia Legacy, 2015)

With Art Farmer

Homecoming (Mainstream, 1971)

With Carlos Garnett

Black Love (Muse, 1974)

With Jimmy Heath

The Gap Sealer (Muse, 1973)

The Time and the Place (Landmark, 1974 [1994])

With Eddie Henderson

Heritage (Blue Note, 1976)

Comin' Through (Capitol, 1977)

Mahal (Capitol, 1978)

with Harold Land

A New Shade of Blue (Mainstream, 1971)

With Azar Lawrence

Bridge into the New Age (Prestige, 1974)

With Lonnie Liston Smith

Astral Traveling (Flying Dutchman, 1973)

With James Spaulding

James Spaulding Plays the Legacy of Duke Ellington (Storyville, 1977)

With McCoy Tyner

Asante (Blue Note, 1970)

Handscapes 2 (Strata-East, 1975)

With Buddy Terry

Awareness (Mainstream, 1971)

Pure Dynamite (Mainstream, 1972)

Everything Happens to Sonny Stitt

 

From Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack, here is a great performance by Sonny Stitt on alto saxophone at the Giants of Jazz concert at Lucerno Hall in Prague, Czech Republic (known as Czechoslovakia in those times).  The featured band includes Sonny Stitt on alto saxophone, Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, Kai Winding on trombone, Thelonius Monk on piano, Al McKibbon on bass, and Art Blakey on drums, showcasing Sonny Stitt, really as the featured player on this piece.