Album Reviews

Composed in 1937, Shostakovich’s dramatic 5th symphony is cinematic in scope and thematically rich and varied. Though 20th century modern in its angular musical approach, it retains elements of Tchaikovsky’s romantic 19th century, though many of the musical gestures more closely resemble those of Shostakovich's contemporary, Sergei Prokofiev. In fact if you’re familiar with Prokofiev’s “Lt. Kije Suite” you will hear some similarities along with some touches of Rimsky-Korsakov.

Despite once having endorsed Bose, Herbie Hancock is clearly a good listener. For his first Blue Note solo outing back in 1962 when he was just 22, he led with “Watermelon Man,” an irresistible “crossover” tune that could attract a crowd beyond Blue Note’s usual buyers. While Hancock says it’s based on a childhood recollection of street vendors, the song’s groove was very much in tune with “the street” circa 1962. Hancock’s playing is funky but not flamboyant.

Never mind the much-vilified Marine and ex-Obama pastor Reverend Wright, if you want to hear the unvarnished, angry, hurtful truth of an era not so long past, listen to this stark, musical reminder of race relations in early ‘60s America.

(Note: this review originally stated that the lacquer cut was from the 3 track master. That was incorrect. The master here was the two track original that hadn't been used since 1980. While the tape had some dropout and other issues, mastering engineer George Marino determined it still sounded superior to any of the copies used for subsequent reissues.)

Bacharach and David walked a fine line between brilliance and kitsch during their collaborations with Dionne Warwick, creating for her a musical persona that was the original “desperate housewife,” though of a much more helpless and vulnerable variety.

While this much-loved Blue Note lists Adderley as the group leader, this pick-up session--recorded in 1958, just before Kind of Blue--sounds, for the most part, as if Miles Davis is in control: or at least that his sensibilities at the time had deeply influenced Adderley's musical thinking. With Hank Jones on piano and the rhythm section of Sam Jones and Art Blakey, whoever is in charge leads the group through a set of three standards ("Autumn Leaves," "Love For Sale," and "Dancing in the Dark") and two originals (Nat Adderley's funky "One For Daddy-O" and Davis' own "Somethin' Else").