Happy belated birthday to Fela Kuti!
Tag Archives: trumpet
Cuco – Lo Que Siento
Roy Hargrove Quintet – Strasbourg Saint-Denis
Miles Davis – Ife
3 Nov 1973
FMD 8/10/18: Brass
Let's talk about brass. Jazz, ska, swing, whatever genre. Songs that utilize it just a little bit, songs that embrace it. What do you like? What don't you like? Which trumpet player was the best? What's the best use of a french horn in cinema (Young Frankenstein, right?)? Does that 76th trombone really add anything that the 75th didn't? Etc.
I was a trumpet player in school, so brassy sounds are something that always resonated with me, and I don't think we've talked about instruments for a while, so it seemed like something worth throwing out there.
I used this version of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" on my summer mix this year, specifically because of the brass:
Then drop your top 10s and have a wonderful Friday!
Camera Obscura – Honey in the Sun
Miss this band. RIP always Carey Lander.
Mathias Eick Quartet – Skala
I somehow had overlooked Eick until he released Midwest, a meditation on Norwegian immigration to America, in 2015. Eick's visit to the upper Midwest inspired him to create a "road" album that begins in his home village, Hem, and travels to North Dakota, carrying Norwegian cultural sensibilities into an interplay with the American landscape. It was one of my favorite albums of the year.
This tune's from his album previous to Midwest.
Lake Street Dive – Take On Me
Yes, it's another cover by these guys, but hey, it's a decent one, so please kindly deal with it.
2017
Count Basie & His Orchestra – April In Paris
Here's a good song to make an entrance to at work today.
1965
Ibrahim Maalouf – True Sorry
There are some amazing, groundbreaking jazz trumpet players out there right now: Tomasz Stanko, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Avishai Cohen, Enrico Rava, Arturo Sandoval, Ambrose Akinmusire, Terrence Blanchard... and Ibrahim Maalouf. Maalouf's music blends the sonic landscape of his Lebanese heritage with classical training at a Parisian conservatory, a self-cultivated jazz impulse, and funk-inflected rock.
I gave you the longer, more intimate, small-venue live cut of "True Sorry," but if you like it I hope you'll check out this more expansive, atmospheric live recording made possible by the concert venue a Alcaline. I don't think I can pick between them.
I know you may have been expecting a video by Prince today. Instead, I'll leave you with footage of Ibrahim Maalouf in concert, showcasing a sound that embraces everything Prince stood for (and which he would have most certainly dug):