A talented flutist whose musical interest was never exclusively straight-ahead jazz, Hubert Laws exceeded Herbie Mann in popularity in the 1970s when he recorded for CTI. He was a member of the early Jazz Crusaders while in Texas (1954-1960) and he also played classical music during those years. In the 1960s, Laws made his first recordings as a... [+] Read More

A talented flutist whose musical interest was never exclusively straight-ahead jazz, Hubert Laws exceeded Herbie Mann in popularity in the 1970s when he recorded for CTI. He was a member of the early Jazz Crusaders while in Texas (1954-1960) and he also played classical music during those years. In the 1960s, Laws made his first recordings as a leader (Atlantic dates from 1964-1966) and gigged with Mongo Santamaria, Benny Golson, Jim Hall, James Moody, and Clark Terry, among many others. His CTI recordings from the first half of the 1970s made Laws famous and were a high point, particularly compared to his generally wretched Columbia dates from the late '70s. He was less active in the 1980s, but has come back with a pair of fine Music Masters sessions in the 1990s. After those releases, a tribute to Nat King Cole arrived in 1998, followed four years later by a stab at Latin jazz, Baila Cinderella. The sharp and cool Moondance appeared in spring 2004. Hubert Laws has the ability to play anything well, but he does not always seem to have the desire to perform creative jazz. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Throughout the 1970s, Chuck Mangione was a celebrity. His purposely lightweight music was melodic pop that was upbeat, optimistic and sometimes uplifting. Mangione's records were big sellers yet few of his fans from the era knew that his original goal was to be a bebopper. His father had often taken Chuck and his older brother Gap (a... [+] Read More

Throughout the 1970s, Chuck Mangione was a celebrity. His purposely lightweight music was melodic pop that was upbeat, optimistic and sometimes uplifting. Mangione's records were big sellers yet few of his fans from the era knew that his original goal was to be a bebopper. His father had often taken Chuck and his older brother Gap (a keyboardist) out to see jazz concerts and Dizzy Gillespie was a family friend. While Chuck studied at the Eastman School, the two Mangiones co-led a bop quintet called the Jazz Brothers that recorded several albums for Jazzland, often with Sal Nistico on tenor. Chuck Mangione played with the big bands of Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson (both in 1965) and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1965-67). In 1968, now sticking mostly to his soft-toned flugelhorn, Mangione formed a quartet that also featured Gerry Niewood on tenor and soprano. They cut a fine set for Mercury in 1972 but otherwise Mangione's recordings in the 1970s generally used large orchestras and vocalists (including Esther Satterfield), putting the emphasis on lightweight melodies such as "Hill Where the Lord Hides," "Land of Make Believe," "Chase the Clouds Away" and the huge 1977 hit (featuring guitarist Grant Geissman) "Feels So Good." After a recorded 1978 Hollywood Bowl concert that summed up his pop years and a 1980 two-LP set that alternated pop and bop (with guest Dizzy Gillespie), Mangione gradually faded out of the music scene. In the 1970s Chuck Mangione recorded for Mercury and A&M; in the 1980s he had a couple of very forgettable Columbia albums and had not been heard from in the '90s until a 1997 comeback tour found him in good form, having a reunion with his "Feels So Good" band. The Feeling's Back followed in 1999. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

An acoustic guitarist with a very pretty tone, Earl Klugh does not consider himself a jazz player and thinks of Chet Atkins as being his most important influence. Klugh played on a Yusef Lateef album when he was 15 and gained recognition in 1971 for his contributions to George Benson's White Rabbit record. He played regularly with Benson in... [+] Read More

An acoustic guitarist with a very pretty tone, Earl Klugh does not consider himself a jazz player and thinks of Chet Atkins as being his most important influence. Klugh played on a Yusef Lateef album when he was 15 and gained recognition in 1971 for his contributions to George Benson's White Rabbit record. He played regularly with Benson in 1973, was a member of Return to Forever briefly in 1974, and then in the mid-'70s, began recording as a leader. After a couple well-received solo albums on different Capitol imprints including Blue Note, Klugh hit pay dirt with 1979's One on One, a Grammy-winning collaboration with pianist Bob James. More solo albums followed before the sequel to One on One, Two of a Kind, appeared in 1982. In 1984 he changed labels and released one of his most popular albums, Soda Fountain Shuffle, on Warner Brothers. Klugh made his biggest artistic impression yet in 1989 with the self-explanatory Solo Guitar. Two years later he would return to the "serious jazz" repertoire of Solo Guitar, but this time with bassist Ralphe Armstrong and drummer Gene Dunlap on the acoustic bebop outing The Earl Klugh Trio, Vol. 1. Cool from 1992 found him working with Bob James again and was followed by three more smooth releases for the Warner Brothers family before the jump was made to Windham Hill with 1999's Peculiar Situation. Compilations, live albums, appearances with others, and reissues filled the years leading up to 2005's Naked Guitar, a stripped down, standards-heavy album for the Koch label. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Stanley Jordan's discovery in the early '80s rightfully earned a lot of headlines in the jazz world for he came up with a new way of playing guitar. Although he was not the first to use tapping, Jordan's extensive expertise gave him the ability to play two completely independent lines on the guitar (as if it were a keyboard) or, when he wanted,... [+] Read More

Stanley Jordan's discovery in the early '80s rightfully earned a lot of headlines in the jazz world for he came up with a new way of playing guitar. Although he was not the first to use tapping, Jordan's extensive expertise gave him the ability to play two completely independent lines on the guitar (as if it were a keyboard) or, when he wanted, two guitars at a time. He had originally studied piano, although he switched to guitar when he was 11. After graduating from Princeton in 1981, Jordan played for a time on the streets of New York. Soon he was discovered, had the opportunity to play with Benny Carter and Dizzy Gillespie and, after recording a solo album for his own Tangent label, signed with Blue Note. Since then, his career has been surprisingly aimless. Stanley Jordan can play amazing jazz, but he often wastes his talent on lesser material, so one has to be picky in deciding which of his recordings to acquire. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Herbie Mann played a wide variety of music throughout his career. He became quite popular in the 1960s but in the '70s became so immersed in pop and various types of world music that he seemed lost to jazz. However, Mann never lost his ability to improvise creatively as his later recordings attest.

Herbie Mann began on clarinet when... [+] Read More

Herbie Mann played a wide variety of music throughout his career. He became quite popular in the 1960s but in the '70s became so immersed in pop and various types of world music that he seemed lost to jazz. However, Mann never lost his ability to improvise creatively as his later recordings attest.

Herbie Mann began on clarinet when he was nine but was soon also playing flute and tenor. After serving in the Army, he was with Mat Mathews's Quintet (1953-54) and then started working and recording as a leader. During 1954-58 Mann stuck mostly to playing bop, sometimes collaborating with such players as Phil Woods, Buddy Collette, Sam Most, Bobby Jaspar and Charlie Rouse. He doubled on cool-toned tenor and was one of the few jazz musicians in the 1950s who recorded on bass clarinet; he also recorded in 1957 a full album (for Savoy) of unaccompanied flute.

After spending time playing and writing music for television, in 1959 Mann formed his Afro-Jazz Sextet, a group using several percussionists, vibes (either Johnny Rae, Hagood Hardy or Dave Pike) and the leader's flute. He toured Africa (1960) and Brazil (1961), had a hit with "Comin' Home Baby" and recorded with Bill Evans. The most popular jazz flutist during the era, Mann explored bossa nova (even recording in Brazil in 1962), incorporated music from many cultures (plus current pop tunes) into his repertoire and had among his sidemen such top young musicians as Willie Bobo, Chick Corea (1965), Attila Zoller and Roy Ayers; at the 1972 Newport Festival his sextet included David Newman and Sonny Sharrock. By then Mann had been a producer at Embroyo (a subsidiary of Atlantic) for three years and was frequently stretching his music outside of jazz. As the 1970s advanced, Mann became much more involved in rock, pop, reggae and even disco. After leaving Atlantic at the end of the 1970s, Mann had his own label for awhile and gradually came back to jazz. He recorded for Chesky, made a record with Dave Valentin and in the 1990s founded the Kokopelli label on which before breaking away in 1996 he was free to pursue his wide range of musical interests. Through the years, he recorded as a leader for Bethlehem, Prestige, Epic, Riverside, Savoy, Mode, New Jazz, Chesky, Kokopelli and most significantly Atlantic. He passed away on July 1, 2003, following an extended battle with prostate cancer. His last record was 2004's posthumusly released Beyond Brooklyn for Telarc. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide [-] Hide

An excellent live double album, it includes live versions of songs from early albums. ~ Paul Kohler, All Music Guide

An excellent live double album, it includes live versions of songs from early albums. ~ Paul Kohler, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Like an amoeba, the Ramsey Lewis Trio split into two virtually identical units in 1966, with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac "Red" Holt forming their own soul-jazz piano trio. Then known as the Young Holt Trio, this may have been the only major trio to feature the bassist and drummer, but not the pianist (!), in the group's name, probably... [+] Read More

Like an amoeba, the Ramsey Lewis Trio split into two virtually identical units in 1966, with bassist Eldee Young and drummer Isaac "Red" Holt forming their own soul-jazz piano trio. Then known as the Young Holt Trio, this may have been the only major trio to feature the bassist and drummer, but not the pianist (!), in the group's name, probably to capitalize on their recently lucrative association with Lewis. In any case, the pianist was Hysear Don Walker, who basically labors in a pleasing Lewis vein on their debut album, which winningly continues the Lewis formula of translating recent pop hit material ("Monday, Monday," "Sunny," "Strangers in the Night," etc.) and a few jazz standards like "Girl Talk" and "Song for My Father" into the Chicago soul piano trio groove. Although Walker can't help but be the dominant melodic and sole harmonic force here, the irrepressible Young nevertheless manages to steal the spotlight whenever he can, with sly pizzicato and arco bass leads, occasional casual vocals, and blithe-spirited scatting (his "You Know That I Love You" amounts to an homage to Slam Stewart). Their first single, "Wack Wack," a number 40 pop hit, is a funny, blues-based riff with the band honking out the title words on cue -- and the flip side of the single, the spiritual "This Little Light of Mine," is an irreverently joyful scatted takeoff. A highly enjoyable debut, worth combing through the bins for. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide [-] Hide

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Thanks to the Latin-inflected title track, Children of Sanchez became another huge hit for Chuck Mangione. The title song even earned him a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and serious jazz listeners will spot a problem with that award -- it was for pop, not jazz. That, of course, is an accurate assessment of Mangione's music, since... [+] Read More

Thanks to the Latin-inflected title track, Children of Sanchez became another huge hit for Chuck Mangione. The title song even earned him a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and serious jazz listeners will spot a problem with that award -- it was for pop, not jazz. That, of course, is an accurate assessment of Mangione's music, since there isn't much improvisation on the album at all. Instead, there's a selection of Spanish- and Latin-flavored instrumentals, arranged as if to give the impression that the album is a song cycle. If so, it's a song cycle/concept album that doesn't go anywhere. Nevertheless, there's enough pleasant music here to satisfy fans of his pop stylings. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide

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