Aquarium

May 2010

May’s special edition of Aquarium features a Roy Ayers interview with the Fish, recorded after his show @ Bravo Caffè in Bologna. Roy speaks about his career and the incredible experience of his seven week stay in Lagos for the recording of his album with Fela Kuti.

We start though with We Are A Nation, the opening track from the Haki R. Madhubuti 1976 album Rise Vision Comin, followed by the hypnotic latin-jazz Kitty Bey by Byron Morris & Unity and then Thailand Stick, a masterwork by the drummer/percussionist Babatunde Lea and his group Phenomena.

Idris Muhammad is next, solid as a rock, with Piece of Mind taken from the album Power of Soul (1974), with the arrangements of the great Bob James, and featuring Grover Washington Jr. on Saxophone and Randy Brecker on trumpet.

The piano player Andrew Hill plays Bayou Red from the 1968 album Grass Roots, followed by the jazz-funk Felix Leo by another piano player, Rodney Franklin, from his third album You’ll Never Know (and he plays the bass too).

Then we have Alphonso Johnson and his very spiritual track Loves The Way I Feel Bout Cha from the Yesterday’s Dream album, featuring the smooth voice of Dianne Reeves. Take a look at how many great musicians play on this album: Sheila E, Lee Ritenour, Chester Thompson, Patrice Rushen, Grover Washington Jr., Ernie Watts, Philip Bailey etc.

After Pharoah Sanders with Yemenja from the 1979 classic Journey to the One we continue with a funkier tune, The Hump, from the bass player and composer Buster Williams album Pinnacle.

Little Dahoud’s Dance follows, a powerful track by the group Natural Essence from their 1973 album In Search of Happiness, and then a little gem: Street Scene 2 – Dark Alleys, by one of the greatest producer ever, Arif Mardin, taken from his one and only album Journey, which features a bunch of incredible artists such as Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Hubert Laws, Gary Burton, Ron Carter, Michael and Randy Brecker, Joe Farrell.

There’s another song from the poet and activist Haki R. Madhubuti’s album, Walk the Way of the New World, and a track by bass player Henry Franklin, Soft Spirit, from his 1974 Black Jazz Records album The Skipper at Home.

Then we have Easy To Say, a track from the Air Pocket album, produced by Oliver Nelson and featuring Chester Tompson on drums and all Fowler brothers (two of them were Zappa musicians) and Theme for a New Day, a tune by the saxophonist Azar Lawrence from his 1976 People Moving album.

We play Wife from the classic A Message from the Tribe by trombone player Phil Ranelin and saxophonist Wendell Harrison, and Half and Half from the Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison sextet album Illumination! (1968).

The last two tracks? Jaboobie’s March taken from the incredible album The Piano Choir recorded with seven pianists playing seven grand pianos together: Stanley Cowell, Nat Jones, Hugh Lawson, Webster Lewis, Harold Mabern, Danny Mixon, Sonelius Smith and finally, Oua-Train by The Har-You Percussion Group self-titled 1968 album.

Enjoy the show!

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