Milt Jackson - Sunflower
ORDER LIMITED TO ONE ITEM PER CUSTOMER
Milt Jackson (vibes) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Milt Jackson]
Freddie Hubbard (trumpet, fluglehorn) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Freddie Hubbard]
Herbie Hancock (piano) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Herbie Hancock]
Jay Berliner (guitar)
Ron Carter (bass) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Ron Carter]
Billy Cobham (drums)
Ralph MacDonald (percussion)
Cello : Alan Shulman, Charles McCracken, George Ricci
Clarinet : George Marge
English Horn : George Marge, Phil Bodner, Romeo Penque
Flute : George Marge, Phil Bodner, Romeo Penque
Harp : Margaret Ross
Oboe : Romeo Penque
Piccolo Flute : Phil Bodner
Violin : Charles Libove, David Nathien, Elliot Rosoff, Emanuel Green, Gene Orloff, Irving Spice, Joe Malin, Max Ellen, Paul Gershman
Arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky
1 LP, gatefold sleeve
Limited edition
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 33 RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : unspecified
Label : Pure Pleasure
Original Label : Columbia
Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on December 12 and 13, 1972.
Produced & engineered by Creed Taylor
Remastered by Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London
Originally released in 1973
Reissued in 2014
Tracks:
Side A :
2. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
Side B :
2. Sunflower
Reviews:
« Recorded over two days in December of 1972 at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood, New Jersey home studio, vibraphonist Milt Jackson's Sunflower is the first -- and best -- of his three albums for Creed Taylor's CTI imprint. (And one of the finest offerings on the label.) With a core band consisting of Herbie Hancock (playing electric and acoustic piano), bassist Ron Carter, drummer Billy Cobham, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, drummer/percussionist Ralph McDonald, and guitarist Jay Berliner. A chamber orchestra exquisitely arranged and conducted by Don Sebesky adorns the session as well. Jackson's "For Someone I Love," opens the five-tune set, with Berliner playing solo flamenco guitar before the vibes, trumpet, and elements from the chamber orchestra delicately, impressionistically color the background. It gradually moves into a languid, bluesy ballad that slowly gains in both texture and dynamic until the strings trill tensely. Hubbard and Hancock engage them in solos that gently swing out the tune. The reading of Michel Legrand's "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life" is a gorgeous showcase for Jackson; his solo dominates the arrangement. Carter gets downright funky on his upright to introduce Thom Bell's "People Make the World Go Round," and Hancock follows him on Rhodes. Jackson takes the melody, striking a layered contrast as Hubbard slips around all three playing an extension of the melody with requisite taste, fluidity, and taut phrasing. Hancock gets funky to the bone in his brief solo, as the vibes soar around and through his phrases. The title track is a Hubbard composition that floats and hovers with a Latin backbeat before shifting tempos as the solos begin. The expanded harmonic palette of trumpet with the reeds, woodwinds, and strings on the melody add an exotic textural palette for his solo. Jackson's "SKJ" closes the set with an old-school, swinging hard bop blues with barely detectable embellishments by Sebesky. While Sunflower sometimes feels more like a group session rather than a Jackson-led one, that's part of its exquisite beauty. [In 2011, Sunflower saw reissue as part of Sony's 40th Anniversary series celebrating CTI. It was remastered from the original two-track analog tapes in order to best capture the sound of the LP.] » AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek
Ratings :
AllMusic : 4.5 / 5 , Discogs : 5 / 5