Tag Archives: Billy Taylor

Marlena Shaw: The Spice Of Life

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In November 1969, “Cadet” label released “The Spice of Life”, the second Marlena Shaw studio album. It was recorded February – July 1969, at “Ter Mar Studios” in Chicago, Illinois, and was produced by Richard Evans and Charles Stepney.

Personnel:

  • Marlena Shaw – vocal
  • Richard Evans – arrangements
  • Charles Stepney – arrangements
  • Stu Black – engineer
  • Dave Purple – engineer
  • Jerry Griffin – design
  • Bob Crawford – photography
  • Bobby Miller – album supervision
  • Loonis McGlohon – liner notes
  • Ken Druker – executive producer

Track listing:

  1. Woman of the Ghetto – Bobby Miller, Marlena Shaw, Richard Evans
  2. Call it Stormy Monday – T-Bone Walker
  3. Where Can I Go? – Leo Fuld, Sigment Berland, Sonny Miller
  4. I’m Satisfied – Morris Dollison
  5. I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free) – Billy Taylor, Dick Dallas
  6. Liberation Conversation – Bobby Miller, Marlena Shaw
  7. California Soul – Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson
  8. Go Away Little Boy – Gerry Goffin, Carole King
  9. Looking Through the Eyes of Love – Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil
  10. Anyone Can Move a Mountain – Johnny Marks

Roland Kirk: Now Please Don’t You Cry, Beautiful Edith

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In June 1967, “Verve” label released “Now Please Don’t You Cry, Beautiful Edith”, the 14th Roland Kirk album. It was recorded in May 1967, at “Van Gelder Studio” in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and was produced by Creed Taylor.

Personnel:

  • Roland Kirk – tenor saxophone, manzello, stritch, flute
  • Lonnie Liston Smith – piano
  • Ronnie Boykins – bass
  • Grady Tate – drums
  • Rudy van Gelder – engineer

Track listing:

All tracks by Roland Kirk, except where noted.

  1. Blue Rol
  2. Alfie – Burt Bacharach, Hal David
  3. Why Don’t They Know
  4. Silverlization
  5. Fall Out
  6. Now Please Don’t You Cry, Beautiful Edith
  7. Stompin’ Grounds
  8. It’s a Grand Night for Swinging – Billy Taylor

Junior Mance: Blue Mance

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On April 25, 1995, “Chiaroscuro” label released “Blue Mance”, the 24th Junior Mance album. It was recorded in May 1994, at “Van Gelder Studio” in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and was produced by Hank O’Neal.

Personnel:

  • Junior Mance – piano
  • Keter Betts – bass
  • Jackie Williams – drums

Track listing:

  1. Falling in Love with Love – Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart
  2. Head Start – Keter Betts
  3. Emily – Johnny Mandel, Johnny Mercer
  4. Teach Me Tonight – Gene de Paul, Sammy Cahn
  5. Blue Monk – Thelonious Monk
  6. Blue Mance – Junior Mance
  7. Shepherd of the Night Flock – Duke Ellington
  8. If I Had You – Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly, Ted Shapiro
  9. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free – Billy Taylor
  10. Jazzspeak

Miles Davis: Four & More: Recorded Live In Concert

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On January 17, 1966, “Columbia” label released “’Four & More: Recorded Live in Concert”, album by Miles Davis. It was recorded in February 1964, at the “Philharmonic Hall of Lincoln Center” in New York, and was produced by Teo Macero.

Personnel:

  • Miles Davis – trumpet
  • George Coleman – tenor saxophone
  • Herbie Hancock – piano
  • Ron Carter – double bass
  • Tony Williams – drums
  • Fred Plaut – recording
  • Jim Marshall – photography
  • Billy Taylor, Mort Fega – liner notes

Track listing:

All tracks by Miles Davis, except where noted.

  1. So What
  2. Walkin’ – Richard HenryCarpenter
  3. Joshua / Go-Go (theme and Announcement) – Victor Feldman, Miles Davis
  4. Four
  5. Seven Steps to Heaven – Victor Feldman, Miles Davis
  6. There Is No Greater Love / G0-Go (Theme and Announcement) – Marty Symes, Isham Jones, Miles Davis

The Quintet: Jazz At Massey Hall

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In December 1953, “Debut” label released “Jazz at Massey Hall”, album by The Quintet. It was recorded in May 1953, at “Massey Hall” in Toronto, Canada, and was produced by Charles Mingus. The album was released as two 10” LP’s.

Personnel:

  • Dizzy Gillespie – vocal, trumpet
  • Charlie Parker – alto saxophone
  • Bud Powell – piano
  • Charles Mingus – double bass
  • Max Roach – drums

Track listing:

Vol. 1 (Debut DLP-2)

  1. Perdido – Juan Tizol
  2. Salt Peanuts – Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke
  3. All the Things You Are – Jerome Kern / 52nd Street Theme – Thelonious Monk

Vol. 3 (Debut DLP-4)

  1. Wee (Allen’s Alley) – Denzil Best
  2. Hot House – Tadd Dameron
  3. A Night in Tunisia – Gillespie, Frank Paparelli

Vol. 2 consists of the trio recordings of Powell, Mingus and Roach from the same date: all but “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, and one track by Billy Taylor with Mingus and Roach from a later date.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messemgers: Golden Boy

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In November 1964, “Colpix” label released “Golden Boy” (full title Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Play Selections from the New Musical Golden Boy), the 21st Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers album. It was recorded in 1963 in New York City, and was produced by Jack Lewis.

Personnel:

  • Art Blakey – drums
  • James Spaulding – alto saxophone
  • Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone, arrangements
  • Charles Davis – baritone saxophone
  • Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan – trumpet
  • Curtis Fuller – trombone, arrangements
  • Julius Watkins – French horn
  • Bill Barber – tuba
  • Cedar Walton – piano, arrangements
  • Reggie Workman – bass
  • Billy Taylor – liner notes

Track listing:

All tracks by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse.

  1. Theme from Golden Boy
  2. Yes I Can
  3. Lorna’s Here
  4. This Is the Life
  5. There’s a Party
  6. I Want to Be with You

Ramsey Lewis Trio: Dancing In The Street

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In October 1967, “Cadet” label released “Dancing in the Street”, album by Ramsey Lewis Trio (the 27th Ramsey Lewis album). It was recorded in July 1967, at “Basin Street West” in San Francisco, and was produced by Esmond Edwards.

Personnel:

  • Ramsey Lewis – piano, keyboards
  • Cleveland Eaton – bass
  • Maurice White – drums
  • Wally Heider – engineer
  • Jerry Griffith – design
  • Gene Anthony – photography
  • Herb Wong – liner notes

Track listing:

  1. Dancing in the Street – Marvin Gaye, William “Mickey” Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter
  2. Mood for Mendes – Billy Taylor
  3. Struttin’ Lightly – Cleveland Eaton
  4. You Don’t Know Me – Cindy Walker, Eddy Arnold
  5. Django – John Lewis
  6. Black Orpheus Medley: Manha Da Carnaval/Felicidade/Samba de Orfeu – Luiz Bonfá
  7. What Now My Love – Gilbert Bécaud
  8. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado) – Antônio Carlos Jobim

John Denver: Rhymes & Reasons

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On October 14, 1969, “RCA” label released “Rhymes & Reasons”, the debut John Denver studio album. It was recorded in 1969, at “RCA Studios” in New York City, and was produced by Milton Okun.

Personnel:

  • John Denver – vocals, guitar, arrangements
  • Eric Weissberg – banjo, steel guitar
  • Paul Prestopino – guitar, autoharp, mandolin
  • Stan Free – organ
  • Paul Griffin – keyboards
  • Russ Savakus – bass guitar
  • Teddy Sommer – drums
  • Herbie Lovelle – drums
  • George Marge – baritone saxophone
  • Marvin Stamm – flute, trumpet
  • Albert Richmond – French horn
  • Tommy Goodman – additional instrumentation
  • Milton Okun – arrangements
  • Jim Crotty – recording
  • John Woram – recording
  • Jean Goldhirsch – assistant producer

Track listing:

  1. The Love of the Common People – John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins
  2. Catch Another Butterfly – Mike Williams
  3. Daydream – John Denver
  4. The Ballad of Spiro Agnew – Tom Paxton
  5. Circus – Michael Johnson, John Denver, Laurie Kuehn
  6. When I’m Sixty-Four – John Lennon, Paul McCartney
  7. The Ballad of Richard Nixon – Tom Paxton
  8. Rhymes & Reasons – John Denver
  9. Yellow Cat – Steven Fromholz
  10. Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver
  11. (You Dun Stomped) My Heart – Mason Williams
  12. My Old Man – Jerry Jeff Walker
  13. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free – Billy Taylor, Dick Dallas
  14. Today Is the First Day of the Rest of My Life (Sugacity) – Pat Garvey, Victoria Garvey

John Coltrane:The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording

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On September 25, 2001, “Impulse!” label released “The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording”, the final live John Coltrane recording. It was recorded in April 1967, at the “Olatunji Center of African Culture” in New York City, and was produced by Bryan Koniarz.

Personnel:

  • John Coltrane – soprano and tenor saxophone
  • Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone
  • Alice Coltrane – piano
  • Jimmy Garrison – double bass
  • Rashied Ali – drums
  • Algie DeWitt – Batá drum, double bass
  • Jumma Santos – percussion

Track listing:

  1. Introduction by Billy Taylor
  2. Ogunde – John Coltrane
  3. My Favorite Things – Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein

Russell Malone

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On August 23, 2024, Russell Malone died aged 60. He was musician (guitar), recorded and performed with Jimmy Smith, Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall, Benny Green, Ron Carter, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, Kenny Barron, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Jack McDuff, Mulgrew Miller, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Hank Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Sonny Rollins, Houston Person, David Sanborn, Mose Allison, Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz, Stefano Di Battista, David Benoit, Don Braden, Gary Burton, Regina Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, The Chieftains, Jimmy Cobb, Natalie Cole, Will Downing, Jon Faddis, Macy Gray,  Dave Grusin, Vincent Herring, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Etta Jones, B. B. King, Gladys Knight, Jeff Lorber, Christian McBride, Bill Mobley, New York Voices, Johnny O’Neal, Kenny Rankin, Tony Reedus, Stephen Scott, Janis Siegel, Terell Stafford, Joss Stone, Billy Taylor, Steve Turre and Gerald Wilson. As leader, Malone released 15 albums.