Fifty Year Friday: Tony Scott – Music for Yoga Meditations and Other Joys; Al Kooper, Blood, Sweat & Tears – Child Is Father to the Man
As a jazz instrument, the clarinet can excel from the hottest of jazz styles to the coolest and laid back genres of jazz, but there is something inherently cool, soft and tender in the lower and mid range of the clarinet that lends itself particularly well to more impressionistic. more reflective, and more introspective music. As bebop extended into various flavors of cool jazz, Tony Scott first appeared on the jazz scene recording with Miles Davis and other jazz musicians on three tracks for “Sassy” Sarah Vaughan’s 1950 album, Sarah Vaughan In Hi-Fi. In 1953, he recorded a 10 inch album for Brunswick, “Music After Midnight”, with the music including elements bebop, cool and swing, showcasing the clarinet as well as the talents of now well-known jazz greats, bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Philly Joe Jones, as well as the versatile and gifted pianist Dick Katz.
In December 1959 , Tony Scott visited Japan and recorded some music for a radio program with Yasko Nakashima. When Tony asked Yasko if she would like to do some improvisation around the scale (set of notes) of the previous piece they had played, she deferred, not having a background in improvising: improvisation not being a component of traditional Japanese classical music. He then turned to the conductor of the ensemble, Shinichi Yuize, a koto player, who, though, had not previously improvised publicly, was willing to give it a go. Four years later, in early 1964, during Tony’s last visit to Japan, Shinichi Yuize, shakuhachi artist, Hozan Yamamoto and Tony recorded what many consider the first New Age album, Music for Zen Meditation.
No additional albums appeared to have been recorded or released by Tony Scott, until February 1968, when Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys was recorded. American Collin Walcott, student of Ravi Shankar, and later Paul Horn associate and then member of Oregon plays sitar pairing up with Tony Scott who is on clarinet. This album, with its wide stereo separation and forwardness of the clarinet and sitar, comes more closely to being New Age material then the 1964 “Zen” album which is more a blend of jazz and true classical Japanese music.
For whatever reason, Verve waited until 1972 to release Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys.
Track listing [from Wikipedia]
- “Prahna (Life Force)” – 4:15
- “Shiva (The Third Eye)” – 5:06
- “Samadhi (Ultimate Bliss)” – 4:49
- “Hare Krishna (Hail Krishna)” – 6:15
- “Hatha (Sun and Moon)” – 3:40
- “Kundalina (Serpent Power)” – 4:42
- “Sahasrara (Highest Chakra)” – 3:10
- “Triveni (Sacred Knot)” – 3:20
- “Shanti (Peace)” – 2:48
- “Homage to Lord Krishna” – 5:04
- All music composed by Tony Scott
Personnel
Production
- Acy R. Lehman – art direction
- Ronald Walotsky – cover illustration
- Val Valentin – engineer
- Pete Spargo – producer
Musician, Producer and songwriter, Al Kooper, put together the first jazz-rock group, Blood, Sweat and Tears, recording Child is the Father to Man in late 1967, with Columbia releasing the album on February 21, 1968. Though this album is far more pop and rock than jazz, there are some jazz elements, including Randy Brecker on trumpet and flugelhorn supplemented with saxophone, trombone and an additional trumpet. Kooper provides the starting point from which the later versions of BS&T evolve, and paves the way for other jazz-rock ensembles like Chicago, Chase and Lighthouse.
Al Kooper departed from BS&T shorted after the release of this album, apparently due to creative differences, with his next project the bluesy jam album Super Session with Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills.
Personnel [from Wikipedia]
Blood, Sweat & Tears
- Randy Brecker – trumpet, flugelhorn
- Bobby Colomby – drums, percussion; backing vocals (tracks 4, 10)
- Jim Fielder – bass guitar, fretless bass guitar
- Dick Halligan – trombone
- Steve Katz – guitars; lead vocals (tracks 3, 8); backing vocals (tracks 3); lute (track 6)
- Al Kooper – organ, piano; lead vocals (tracks 2, 4-7, 9-12); ondioline (track 8)
- Fred Lipsius – piano, alto saxophone
- Jerry Weiss – trumpet, flugelhorn; backing vocals (track 4)
Additional musicians
- Anahid Ajemian – violin
- Fred Catero – sound effects
- Harold Coletta – viola
- Paul Gershman – violin
- Al Gorgoni – organ, guitar, vocals
- Manny Green – violin
- Julie Held – violin
- Doug James – shaker
- Harry Katzman – violin
- Leo Kruczek – violin
- Harry Lookofsky – violin
- Charles McCracken – cello
- Melba Moorman – choir, chorus
- Gene Orloff – violin
- Valerie Simpson – choir, chorus
- Alan Schulman – cello
- John Simon – organ, piano, conductor, cowbell
- The Manny Vardi Strings
Production
- Producers: Bob Irwin, John Simon
- Engineer: Fred Catero
- Mixing: John Simon
- Mastering: Vic Anesini
- Arrangers: Fred Catero, Al Gorgoni, Fred Lipsius, Alan Schulman, John Simon
- Art direction: Howard Fritzson
- Photography: Bob Cato, Don Hunstein
- Packaging: Michael Cimicata
zumpoems 