MAD JAZZ playlist
25/05/2009

HERE IS THE PLAYLIST DETAILS OF "MAD JAZZ" SESSION, PART OF THE OPIUM SESSIONS SERIES....DONE IN MAY 2009....

1. CANNONBALL ADDERLEY, MILES DAVIS, HANK JONES, ART BLAKEY, SAM JONES. "Autumn Leaves". there are several versions of this song, but this one is touching with trumpet, sax and piano stroking one's head like the summer breeze..

2. RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK. "Black Root". this is an all-time favourite tune i like to hear every now and then. it features rahsaan as the sole musician in this song, playing a drome tube, percussion, and some "black mystery" pipes, which he made by himself with bamboo and metal (he plays two pipes simultaneously). and of course all at the same time. 

3. PHAROAH SANDERS. "Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong". leon thomas on vocals with pharoah sanders on tenor saxophone, this tune is full soul springing up from the jazz earth.

4. YUSEF LATEEF. "Kongsberg". this tune is somewhat lighthearted for this session, but it's still yusef lateef on his traveling moods. 

5. JOE JONES. "St. James Infirmiary". this is a tune i picked from a record of a musician i had never heard of before. made in 1968 it presents a part-time musician with feeling for soul and hopes for a bright future in the midst of the rock n roll upheaval. i like this tune, slow and bluesy in its 6/8 pattern. 

6. CHARLIE MINGUS. "Los Mariachis". this tune makes me throw my arms up in the air as if i were in some old skool rave party. absolutely. it makes me think of a group of drunken friends wondering the streets at night. each one of them in their own tune, but seemingly together while they swerve into an unknown city. we've been there before. going through the kaleidoscope of moments that a rumbling night out offers us. 1962, charlie mingus with some musicians that god may bless for their beauty and feeling, mixed with apparently lots of tequila, salt, tacos and the blues of love. 

7. CAL TJADER. "Speak Low". this track is on the launch album for concord jazz records, it features Carmen McRae, poncho sanchez on percussion and roger glen (multi instrumentalist collaborator of dizzy gillespie and herbie mann). a latin jazz record that deserves for one to open the windows so that the world hears some honest music. 

8. SUN RA & HIS ARKESTRA. "Piano Intro" (Live in Montreux). the legendary Sun Ra is here doing a beautiful and fascinating introduction to the "Take The A Train" song in his 1976 appearance in the montreux jazz festival. a 3 minute piano fantasy glimpse of his prophetically complex, irregular structures, odd meters, polyrhythms and electronic instruments that are so currently popular. 24 musicians fully active on stage, and the whole history of jazz in one sole concert that requires your attention not to end up youself also thinking that you are an extra-terrestrial being with four arms and three syncopated brains.  

9. GERARDO FRISINA. "Sophisticated Samba". some modern latin jazz to finish off the session. 

so here it goes, hope it rains while you listen to this so that you can cuddle up with your lover. otherwise, open the windows and sit on the grass and let the breeze of so many talented souls make you wonder why can't it be this beautiful forever...