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30 Day Song Challenge: Day 2 – A Song That Always Makes Me Smile

Posted in 30 Day Song Challenge with tags afro-cuban jazz, chico o'farrill, clark terry, impulse records, latin jazz, soul jazz, spanish rice on January 30, 2021 by curtjazz

Day 2 – A Song That Always Makes Me Smile – “Spanish Rice” – Clark Terry and Chico O’Farrill

It was a close contest between this and another Clark Terry tune, “Mumbles” but the fact that I am addicted to 60’s soul jazz and Latin-soul jazz, won the day for this classic. It’s the title track to the album that these two legends made in 1966 for Impulse Records. The album itself is good (not great) overall, but this tune’s groove is near-perfection, and the humorous bilingual patter between the two leaders is priceless. Terry gives us, what turned out to be, his wife’s recipe for the dish and then talks O’Farrill into a cab up to Harlem, to sample some, at “Fat Mama’s Soul Food”. Pure boogaloo fun and even a belch (gross!) from C.T., near the end. I’ve hear it a million times and it still never fails to make me smile!

Tomorrow: Day 3 – A song that makes me cry

My Best Jazz Albums of 2018 – The Complete List

Posted in Best Jazz Albums of 2018 with tags 9th Note, alfred sergel, allan harris, allegra levy, ambrose akinmusire, amos hoffman, best jazz of 2018, black art jazz collective, Blue Note Records, Camille Thurman, carolinas jazz, cecile mclorin salvant, cellar live records, chesky records, christian mcbride, christopher hollyday, cola jazz, criss cross records, ej strickland, emmet cohen, Freddy Cole, giacomo gates, Helen Sung, highnote records, houston person, impulse records, jazzheads records, jd allen, jeff hamilton, john bailey trumpet, john coltrane, kamasi washington, karrin allyson, kenny barron, kobie watkins, lonnie smith, lorraine feather, Mack Avenue Records, marquis hill, matthew stevens, noam lemish, origin records, pat bianchi, Posi-Tone Records, ron carter, roni ben-hur, ropeadope records, roxy coss, royal krunk jazz orkestra, sasha masakowski, savant records, sean higgins piano, steeplechase records, summit records, thandi ntuli, theo hill, thomas taylor, Tia Fuller, tiffany austin, tim warfield, walter smith iii on December 28, 2018 by curtjazz

Yeah. I know. I’ve been away from the blog since, well, since my last year-end review.

It’s been quite a year folks. A lot of time on the road and a lot of “spare” time devoted to getting CurtJazz Radio back up, running and viable. But you didn’t come here to hear my problems. In the midst of it all, I did manage to hear a good amount of music. Some not so good and some that was very good, to excellent. Those in the latter category are included in the list below.

They are in alphabetical order, by album title. I’ve divided the projects into Instrumental and Vocal. I also wanted to recognize a couple of outstanding EPs, so I did. Each title includes a link that will take you to a place where you can purchase the music, if you feel so moved.

At the bottom of the post are three CD length Spotify playlists, which will give you a chance to sample a track from most of the albums/EPs on our list.

Tracks from all of these albums and EPs will be featured on CurtJazz Radio, from now, through the end of January 2019. CurtJazz Radio, on Live365.com, is always on and always FREE. Click HERE to listen.

I will try to not be such a ghost in 2019.

Instrumental

Album Title	Artist	Label
All in My Mind	Dr. Lonnie Smith	Blue Note
Armor of Pride	Black Art Jazz Collective	HighNote
Both Directions at Once	John Coltrane	Impulse
Christian McBride’s New Jawn	Christian McBride	Mack Avenue
Concentric Circles	Kenny Barron Quintet	Blue Note
Diamond Cut	Tia Fuller	Mack Avenue
Exiled	Thandi Ntuli	Ndlela Music Co.
Future is Female	Roxy Coss	Posi-Tone
Get It How You Live	Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra	Ropeadope
Heaven and Earth	Kamasi Washington	Young Turks
In Common	Walter Smith III; Matthew Stevens	Whirlwind
In Real Time	John Bailey	Summit
In the Moment	Pat Bianchi	Savant
Interstellar Adventures	Theo Hill	Posi-Tone
Introspection	Roni Ben-Hur and Harvie S	Jazzheads
Jazzland	Tim Warfield	Criss Cross
Live from San Pedro	Jeff Hamilton Trio	Capri
Love Stone	JD Allen	Savant
Master’s Legacy Series; Vol. 2	Emmet Cohen	Cellar Live
Modern Flows; Vol. 2	Marquis Hill	PR
Movement	Kobie Watkins Grouptet	Origin
Origami Harvest	Ambrose Akinmusire	Blue Note
Pardes (Orchard)	Amos Hoffman & Noam Lemish	CD Baby
Remember Love	Houston Person and Ron Carter	HighNote
Straight Forward	New Faces	Posi-Tone
Telepathy	Christopher Hollyday	CD Baby
Warriors for Peace	E.J. Strickland Quintet	JamminColorS

Vocal

Album Title	Artist	Label
Art Market	Sasha Masakowski	Ropeadope
Genius of Eddie Jefferson	Allan Harris	Resilience
Looking at the Moon	Allegra Levy	Steeplechase
Math Camp	Lorraine Feather	CD Baby
My Mood is You	Freddy Cole	HighNote
Some of That Sunshine	Karrin Allyson	CD Baby
Sung with Words	Helen Sung	CD Baby
Unbroken	Tiffany Austin	Con Alma
Waiting for the Sunrise	Camille Thurman	Chesky
The Window	Cecile McLorin Salvant	Mack Avenue