Teo Macero — Impressions of Charles Mingus

★★★✰

   Albums issued on vinyl records can tell the complex story of music, performances and artists, trends and ideas, composers, instrumentalists, vocalists and lots of people being a part of the recording industry. Professional position of creative producer in the era of vinyl records was significantly higher than any time before and after. Those were the times of records as subjects of value, pieces of art and complete product. In the digital era, the ease of recording, simplicity of studio processing, cheap manufacturing of discs and possibility to download music in any format were the factors that rapidly changed the world of the musical industry. The compromise between quality of cutting the matrix and the length of the music recorded on one side of the record with worsening quality of sound with every overtime minute was the real technical problem and a symbolic frame for artistic freedom in all types of recording. The other side of the problem was audience demand and expectations. The role of any producer was to seek a balance between these factors and artists’ creative freedom.

Teo Macero — Impressions of Charles Mingus (1983)

   One of legendary producers was Teo Macero (1925-2008), professional musician himself, who sacrificed to support the careers and artistic development of many musicians of jazz and other genres. As composer and saxophonist he was one of these jazzmen who built professional positions in a narrow circle of insiders only. For the wide public he was producer of dozens of jazz albums, but among musicians he was recognized as a competent and creative artist, composer, arranger and saxophonist. Thank to his professional competences he was able to help artists to realize such cornerstone albums as Monk’s Dream and Underground by Thelonious Monk, Mingus Ah Um and Let My Children Hear Music by Charles Mingus, Time Out by Dave Brubeck, but above all groundbreaking fusion albums In a Silent Way and Beaches Brew by Miles Davis. He was producer of most Davis albums published by Columbia Records and his role was so prominent, Davis’ biographer Paul Tingen in book Beyond Miles stated, his role was similar to what George Martin was to The Beatles. Macero was also real friend for many musicians. Miles Davis dedicated him composition Teo (1961). The same did Thelonious Monk with his composition Teo (1964) and Maynard Ferguson with composition Teonova (1973).

Teo Macero — Impressions of Charles Mingus (1983)

   

   Born in Glens Falls, NY, Macero studied composition in Julliard School of Music. Active musician in the field of jazz, he was successful playing his own formations as well as a sideman recording with many others.  Beyond jazz he was producer of over one hundred classical music records. In post-war avantgarde movement he acted as performer and as a composer. He became famous as Columbia record producer taking part in most significant recording sessions. First of them was Kind of Blue (1959) recording session where he was not credited but already coworking with main producer Irving Townsend. From Sketches of Spain (1960) Teo Macero was constantly Miles Davis producer. As producer of groundbreaking works for many artists Teo Macero acted as an art curator – he was prolific as creative. Phenomenon of his work consisted in skillfully convincing artists of the value of artistic priorities. He was trusted for his professional musician competence and for artistic intuition, both in dynamic musical equilibrium. His own music, as is often the case, was overshadowed by production achievements. And this is why the album Impressions of Charles Mingus is as much significant. Listening to this gives the artist a chance for justice.

Mahavishnu

April 30 - INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY celebrated under the auspices of UNESCO since 2012

   In the history of fusion jazz the band called Mahavishnu was the legend. In fact the brand was shared by two different bands, even though both were closely related to English guitarist John McLaughlin. First Mahavishnu was performing in period 1971-1976 and it was the band playing blend of different styles from progressive rock to modern jazz and funky. Mahavishnu in seventies was the band establishing jazz-rock sound with violin, synthesizers and electrified guitar. Eight years after first Mahavishnu was disbanded, John McLaughlin back to the idea of fusion. In 1984 he reestablished under the name Mahavishnu whole new band with Mitchell Forman on keyboards, Jonas Hellborg on bass, Bill Evans on saxophones and drummer Billy Cobham, a pillar of first lineup and second member of both incarnations. New band was active to 1987 and recorded two studio albums – Mahavishnu (1984) and Adventures in Radioland (1986).
   Although both Mahavishnu bands were playing fusion by the assumption, and both were artistic projects by John McLaughlin, their sound and style characteristics were essentially different. Most clearly it was change of lineup. Tenor and soprano saxophones played by Bill Evans with deep sound and full-blooded jazz phrases gave whole band strong expressive character. Thickness of jazz structures founded on perfectly established bass phrases by Jonas Hellborg and dense keyboard progressions by Mitchell Forman are building quite new idea of fusion. Opening composition Radio-Activity is perfect sample of this new style, it’s more radical and far more electrified. There’s more of power jazz playing here than trying to reestablish any connections with rock or popular music. In fact 1984 was the moment when under pressure of disco and pop music, the best part of rock scene was declining into dark. And this paradoxically loosed the bounds with rock, giving new fusion band more space for clear jazz and sound experiments.

Mahavishnu (1984)

   And experiments with the sound became the basis of 1984 album John McLaughlin recorded with new lineup of Mahavishnu. Changes of instrumental setting, additional musicians and instruments Danny Gottlieb on percussion instruments, Katia Labeque on synthesizers and piano in When Blue Turns Gold, where played also Hari Prasad Chaurasia on flute and Zakir Hussain on table – all these artists gave the sound w the band their stigma. But what has changed most was guitar. Its sound became essentially new factor in Mahavishnu style. And not only the sound but whole performance is different. After series of great recordings with Shakti and various significant experiences with world music, John McLaughlin had powerful and potential for creating wide spectrum of improvising ideas. The sound spectrum of leader’s guitar is a beyond imagination. Guitar synthesizer Synclavier II, digital guitar and Les Paul Special he used were just state of the art equipment, giving much more possibilities than any artist really needed. Imagination and sound developments gave this record free feeling and noble stability. It’s one of best record of this strange year.