Marion Brown - Soul Eyes (1979) [re-rip]

On this date Brown assembles an amazing quartet of similarly gifted musicians of which none need any introduction. This album eluded US sales by being released in Japan. Although a CD was released later, it still remains hard to obtain. The music presented is a well performed mixture of Brown, Waldron, Heyman, Sour, Eyton & Green Mingus and Monk compositions. Apart from Brown’s own tunes all players place their mark to great effect and cohesion to the other familiarised pieces. If you were to procure this album for just one track my choice would be the beautifully executed title track “Soul Eyes” {Mal Waldron}. Brown’s tone and deliverance is impeccable and alongside Barron’s clean piano lines the piece is a joy right throughout. In having praised the main soloists it would be criminal not to shower additional accolades on the rhythm section. McBee manages to really lock together these sets and of course without Jones’ driving percussive force there would have been ample opportunity for the tunes, especially Mingus’ and Monk’s to be trivialised. Overall this album is a must have if you are a Marion Brown aficionado or a newcomer to Modern-Avant-Garde Jazz.

Baystate Records, RVJ-6036, 1979

Recorded 14^th & 15^th November, 1978 at Sound Ideas Studios, New York City

Personnel:

Marion Brown - Alto Saxophone

Kenny Barron - Piano

Cecil McBee - Bass

Philly Joe Jones - Drums

Track Listing:

A1. Sunshine Road {Marion Brown} (9:13)

A2. Soul Eyes {Mal Waldron} (10:15)

A3. Body And Soul {Heyman, Sour, Eyton, Green} (7:14)

B1. Afrisa {Marion Brown} (5:18)

B2. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat {Charles Mingus} (8:40)

B3. Blue Monk {Thelonious Monk} (11:25)

Credits:

Producer - Yoshio Ozawa

Co-Producer - Fumimaru Kawashima

Recording & Mixing Engineer - Jim McCurdy

Assistant Engineer - Kathy Dennis

Mastering Engineer - Tohru Kotetsu

Photography - Shingo Satoh

Design - Katsuhiko Iida