#james spaulding

Saxophonist and flutist James Spaulding born on this day, in 1937.

Brilliant Corners (Full Album) [Muse MR 5369]

Recorded: November 25, 1988

Personnel:

James Spaulding – alto saxophone, flute

Wallace Roney – trumpet

Mulgrew Miller – piano

Ron Carter – double-bass

Wayne Shorter playlist I made as a tribute to one of my favorite musicians.

Duke Pearson: Sweet Honey Bee (1967)

I was shuffling through the bins at a Nashville record store called  Phonoluxe when Duke Pearson’s “After the Rain” started playing over the P.A.

I’d never heard the song, but I promptly quizzed the clerk and secured this copy of Pearson’s Sweet Honey Bee, impressed by the sidemen -- Joe Henderson on sax, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Ron Carter on bass -- credited on the rear sleeve.

Pearson himself, I must admit, was pretty much a mystery to me, but I was totally transfixed by the gentle, minimal, even mildly maudlin melancholy of his piano lines, as they gently intertwine (*) with James Spaulding’s flute on this particular song -- which turned out to be quite unlike the other cuts on hand.

These were generally comprised of happy, snappy, poppy jazz on the title track (think Tijuana Brass), “Sudel” and “Ready Rudy” -- so mainstream, I dare say, that they underutilize the improvisational talents of musicians of such pedigree.

Thankfully, these talents are given added room to solo on more intriguing, intricate remaining cuts, including the somber “Gaslight,” serpentine “Big Bertha” and cool, slippery, Henry Mancini-like “Empathy,” whilst never compromising, or upsetting, the album’s overall easy-going demeanor.

All of which made Sweet Honey Bee somewhat unexpected, but well worth discovering -- and it seems I am hardly the only one struck by “After the Rain’s” simple beauty, based on this tidbit I found on Wikipedia:

In David Mitchell's novel Ghostwritten, Satoru, a young Japanese jazz-lover working in a Tokyo record shop, says of a girl who comes into the store, “if you know Duke Pearson's ‘After the Rain,’ well, she was as beautiful and pure as that."

* Somewhat reminiscent of Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel’s unreleased neoclassical solo piano piece, “Lick My Love Pump.”

Civil Disobedience: Jazz Standard, December 2018

Civil Disobedience is a project created by New York bassist David Ambrosio that features the progressive jazz composers of the late 60’s Blue Note Era, including Bobby Hutcherson, Jackie McLean, Stanley Cowell, Harold Land, Joe Chambers and James Spaulding. The band focuses on a lot of music that was relevant but not issued at the time. Repertoire includes James Spaulding’s A Time To Go (above), which appeared on Bobby Hutcherson’s 1968 album Patterns, which was released in 1979. In 1980, Harold Land’s Poor People’s March appeared on Bobby Hutcherson’s Spiral, which was recorded in 1968, but unissued until 1980. Here’s this band’s version from their December 2018 debut at the Jazz Standard. The quintet consists of Donny McCaslin, Duane Eubanks, Bruce Barth, Ambrosio and Victor Lewis.

-Michael Cuscuna