Saturday, October 30, 2010

Lobo y Melón: s/t, 1959


This is a great son record by the Acapulco-based band led by percussionist Lobo and singer Melón. Lots of solid short cuts with plenty of percussion. For some reason, there is some line noise here that was actually recorded onto the album and never lets up, but the recording was good enough that I decided to post it anyways.


Wednesday, October 27, 2010

George M'lely: Trio, 1981



On this album, pianist George M'lely's trio is made up of Peter Barshay on bass and Eddie Moore on drums. Most of the compositions are by M'lely, and the whole band shows a real competence in playing them. They manage to keep it straight ahead but their playing, especially M'lely's, is pretty unique. The album was released on the label Alternatives in American Music, which seems to have only released M'lely's music. From what I can gather on M'lely, he was enjoying a reasonable amount of success in the early 80's but stopped playing professionally in 83, not making his comeback until the early 2000's. Trio was recorded in the bay area, but M'lely now lives in Hawai'i.

An April Piece by Easyjams

The Silvertones: Don't Cry, 1972



This great 7" inch comes out of Studio One. It features a warm, full horn section and smooth harmony singing. Part 1 on the A side seems more like a radio vocal mix and the B side mix is more instrumental, with the vocals cut out at points.

Don't Cry (Part 1) by Easyjams

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Ray Sylvester Orchestra: My Elusive Dreams, 1976


Impressive big band music from Trinidad bandleader Ray Sylvester. Mostly slower romantic songs, but there are a couple upbeat ones in there as well. He mixes in a lot of different genres including calypso, salsa, and of course the classic big band sound, but his style is really unique. Not a lot of solos, but the arrangements and execution are great. This is the band's fourth album, arranged by Art de Coteau and produced by Max Serrao. I was not able to find much information on Sylvester other than that moved to Trinidad from Grenada as a young child, that his band was the resident band at a nightclub in Port-of-Spain, and that he died in 2002. No last names were listed in the musician credits, but here's what they gave us:

Timbales: Ronnie
Percussion: Felix, Bobby
Congas: Cummings
Drums: Keith
Organ: Davy
Bass: Winston
Tenor sax: Bert
Alto sax: Mackie
Trumpets: Joe, Granger, Guerra
Trombone: John
Guitar: Cito

Endless Vibes by Easyjams