Machito, Toots, Benny and a sneak Weather Report

...A decade after Afro-Cuban rhythms set the jazz world on fire, we find the maestro playing the Concord, a popular lakeside resort 90 miles north of New York City. So it is a “tourist” album, probably given away or sold as a souvenir. The liners and photos tell as much about where to find swimming director Buster Crabbe as Machito. For popular Latin, it has the top standards, as well as a few Machito surprises. The former includes obligatory covers of Perez Prado’s smashes “Guaglione” and “Patricia,” plus cha cha cha counterparts.... ...Weather Report was an influential jazz fusion band of the 1970s and 1980s. Along with Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters,it is seen as a definite representation of jazz fusion in the 1970s. This outfit had an enduring staying power as they were active for over fifteen years. The band was originally a spin-off from the group of musicians associated with Miles Davis in the late sixties and early seventies. The stable core of the group was the duo of pianist/leader Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter, while the other musicians were rotated with almost every album…..... ....The remarkable jazz harmonica player Toots Thielemans has essentially had no competition ever since he decided to fully focus on that instrument, rather than the guitar, in the early 1950s. This sampler CD, Verve Jazz Masters 59 is, fortunately, programmed in chronological order, contains some rather rare tracks, and covers a wide period of time although it mostly focuses on the ’70s and ’80s. Thielemans is first heard with the George Shearing Quintet (which at the time included vibraphonist Cal Tjader) in 1953 playing “Undecided” and “Body and Soul.” The ’60s are represented by a quartet version of his “Flirt” and a forgettable movie theme with Quincy Jones & His Orchestra...Read More