CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

The Sidewinder

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Lee Morgan

Release Date November 16, 1999
This is another one of those recordings that I picked up on a whim only because it was recommended by The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Eighth Edition (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings). One listen and I was hooked like a dolphin in a tuna net. If your foot doesn't start tapping the minute the laser touches the etching, you're deaf or dead. And Morgan keeps it up through the entire recording, really embodying a jazz style that got lost in all the "cool" "avant-garde" "smoothe" music that followed close on this trend-setting album's heels. Multiple listenings do not wear thin, and even if I've been listening to Miles Davis for a week or I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for, Sidewinder always satisfies. This CD belongs in any serious jazz ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

Let's Go Everywhere (Dig)

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Martin & Wood Medeski

Release Date January 08, 2008
It's still MMW but it's not anything you've heard before. It's a kids record! There are vocals! Good fun and good jams.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Hear, O Israel

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Herbie Hancock

Release Date June 10, 2008
Quite a facinating album addressing the intersection of jazz and religion. The concept of this is definitely novel and the musician lineup is top notch, but the result has some odd quirks.

Tracks "Torah Service/Adoration" and "Final Amen" (8 & 9) are the main "prayers" with the rabbi doing some preaching sounding like spoken word over a jazz vamp. The rest of the tracks are a mix of arranged vocal melodies and solid modal jazz. Sometimes they compliment each other, but the balance is constantly being shifted. If you're looking for quality jazz (especially Herbie), there's some really fun playing! His comping is swinging and crisp, and the solos are all quite tasteful and fresh.

If you're looking for lots of spiritual singing, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Song for My Father

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Horace Silver

Release Date April 20, 1999
One of the most beautiful Jazz albums one is ever likely to own. It is "vintage Silver," backed up by his favorite side men, including the incomparable Joe Henderson on tenor, who at the time was just hitting his "post-Coltrane" stride.

The centerpiece of the album is of course the famous Portuguese flavored song (Silver has Portuguese roots) and title piece, "Song for my father" (Cantiga para meu pao).

It is almost religious in its haunting repetitious vamp. And one is unlikely to ever hear a more beautiful, subtler, solo than that crafted by Henderson on this track. Its beauty is almost "stealth-like" in the way it creeps up on you. It begins innocently enough and then builds into a subdued but violent crescendo, and then dies ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

The Mix-Up

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Beastie Boys

Release Date June 26, 2007
The Besties have abandoned their strengths and are now playing pretend in the deep end of the pool. Take a listen to Medeski Martin and Wood, or Garaj Mahal. In the vernacular, they are now biting some styles, and the result is WACK. As a hip hop crew, they are untouchable, as a funky jazz combo, they're a joke.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Emphasis! On Parenthesis

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Stanton Moore

Release Date April 22, 2008
The (slightly) humorously titled "Emphasis" is (nearly) 47 minutes of soul jazz. It's not hardcore jazz, but it's a step above jam band or (pedestrian) funk music. If you're familiar with Stanton Moore's "III", you'll hear a lot of similarities, though Skerik's saxophone is (sorely) missed. Also, this one is emotion-free. Though the CD's (pretty) good, and it's enjoyable, the problem is that they could use another lead voice. The songs (all written by the group) are in a variety of styles (some funk struts hard, or struts soft, some rock more than others) but it can run together. Stanton Moore's drumming is superb as always, and Robert Walter tried hard on Stanton's CD's. Will Bernard plays with a bluesy tone and style. This is recommended for fans of ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Midnight Blue

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Kenny Burrell

Release Date March 09, 1999
If you are in the mood for jazz, get ready to enjoy! The musicians meld their individual skills into a colossal classic!

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Wes Montgomery

Release Date July 01, 1991
...Wes Montgomery has planted the flag! This is one of the most dynamic and sonically interesting works of jazz I've had the pleasure to hear in a long time. Never really a big fan of jazz guitar, works like Bill Frisell's Have a Little Faith have started to attract me to the appeal of jazz guitar, and this CD continues that trend. Wes keeps every song going steadily from start to finish, whether a soothing ballad or a rocking blues riff, with (what must be) intricate fingering at a lightening speed and nary a clue as to how he gets the strings to make the sounds they do. That's always been the epitome of jazz guitar for me: when the sound is so seamless that it doesn't even sound like strings were plucked but more like they were simply asked to sing and then do. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Caravanserai

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Santana

Release Date September 30, 2003
Jazz ideas had already been creeping into Santana's music on tracks like "Incident at Neshabur" and "Toussaint L'Overture", but Caravanserai boldly moved deep into jazz-rock territory. The upbeat and catchy Latin rock of the band's first 3 albums was replaced by a more meditative, abstract and instrumentally-focused style influenced by Miles Davis's early electric bands and Chick Corea's Return to Forever.

Most of the band's original members are still here (Gregg Rolie, Mike Shrieve, Chepito Areas) but their roles have changed dramatically. Mike Shrieve suddenly steps up in the compositional department and his drumming really improves. Check out his Elvin Jones-isms on "Waves Within". Gregg Rolie sticks to keyboards (lots of electric piano) and the remaining ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

Concord Records SACD Sampler 1 (Multichannel Hybrid SACD)

CD-Charts > Music > Soul-Jazz and Boogaloo
by: Various Artists

Release Date September 09, 2003
This is a really good sampler for those who are introducing in Jazz world, the standards are popular and easy listening, as the Sonny Rollins Airgin version with some latino touch. Recommended.