Sylvester - Living Proof

Beyond category.   Double LP recorded at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, on 03/11/1979.  Sylvester  - the Queen of Disco?  Labels are misleading.  This is a performance.  No lip-synching, no backing tracks -- full string orchestra and backing band.  Far from one-dimensional this captures his re-workings of the Beatles, Leon Russell, Billie Holiday, Thelma Houston, and Allen Toussaint songs.   It's an honest performance that doesn't hold back.  

Personnel: Sylvester (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Eric Robinson (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals); Tip Wirrick, Ralph Wash (guitar); Randall Pratt (harp); Leslie Drayton (strings, horns); Terry Adams , Kathy Walters, Barbara Riccardi, Marjorie Prescott, Adrienne Blackshere, Mary Anne Meredith, Ellen Dessier, William Pyncron, Stephen Gehl, Serban Rusu, Melinda Wagner, Emily VanValkenburgh, Melinda Ross, Julianne Feldman, India Cooke, Carl Pedersen, Patrice Anderson, Kenneth Harrison, Nathan Rubin, Edward Bogas, John Tenney (strings); Marc Baum, Jay Stolmac (flute, saxophone); Mel Martin (baritone saxophone); Ross Wilson (trumpet, trombone); Frederick Berry, Allen Smith, Dean Boysen (trumpet); David Sprunk (French horn); Dan Reagan, Julian Priester, Wayne Wallace (trombone); Michael Finden (keyboards); Patrick Cowley (synthesizer); Kelvin Dixon (drums); Rick Kvistad (timpani); David Frazier, Gus Anthony Flores (percussion); Izora Rhodes, Sharon Hymes, Jeanie Tracy, Martha Wash (background vocals).

Tracklist
Overture
Body strong
Black birds
Medley - Could it be Magic /A Song for You
Happiness
Loverman
Sharing something...
You are my Friend
Dance Disco Heat
You Make Me Feel Mighty Real
Can't stop Dancing
In my Fantasy
Can't stop...(reprise)

The last three songs are not included in the CD reissue.

Barry Manilow and Leon Russell (but Donny made it his).   Soaring and soulful....Izadora Rhodes and Martha Wash make this  - how they sing around Sylvester turns this into a beautiful expression of soul.  I feel this. 
 
Medley - Could It Be Magic/A Song for You

 

Arthur Blythe - Lenox Avenue Breakdown

1979 - Columbia release.  One of the coolest album covers of all time.  Why important....the most popular year for disco was 1979 - disco was everywhere and at the top of the charts.  Discofied theme songs and intros were commonplace on American television.  Who would think a jazz masterpiece would be recorded '79?  

This might be the last of the jazz classics.  This is also the last of the modern classics that didn't have a Marsalis name attached to it (written with tongue in cheek).  I've never been a huge fan of the alto saxaphone.   Blythe and Bartz are the two exceptions.....the more interesting question is where does the tuba fit into jazz.  And when has "Blood" Ulmer sounded so in the groove yet restrained?  No doubt that Blythe is impressive but the team of players working together carry the day.  Great example of a septet going off in a disciplined way. 

Personnel: Arthur Blythe (alto saxophone); James Blood Ulmer, Cecil McBee (guitar); James Newton (flute); Bob Stewart (tuba); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Guilherme Franco (percussion).

Tracklist
Down San Diego Way
Lenox Avenue Breakdown
Slidin' Through
Odessa

There is nothing I can say that can't be better said by listening to this composition. Bass parts carried by a tuba....Steady one drop rhythm....Boom ba boom. And James Newton channeling Roland Kirk.  Awesome.

Lenox Avenue Breakdown