Randy Weston – Blue Moses

Superb playing from everyone but I think Billy Cobham’s drumming just makes this record. Nothing about Grover’s blowing is smooth jazz here. This burns even when they are at the softest end of the dynamic range and the bass flutes are showcased.

My copy uses the U.S. metal parts (Van Gelder in Deadwax). Sounds fantastic!

Amazing album, although IMO the opening track is throwaway big band jazz. The longer tracks are in a spacey, ambient jazz funk style that was in vogue at the time. Used vinyl is cheap and easy to find, the CD's are a bit more expensive, but you can also buy the entire album in MP3 format on Amazon for a mere $4.99 at the time of this review.

It's a shame that CTI Records isn't more well-known outside of jazz circles - the label released some of the best funky, mainstream-leaning jazz of the 1970s, ranging from popular efforts like Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay to lesser-known but still excellent discs like Joe Farrell's Outback. Creed Taylor's signature productions are always pristine, giving a rich sound that makes the music feel warm, sultry, big. I don't know of anyone who ever recorded organs and electric pianos better, and the only person in the same stratosphere for jazz groups as a whole might've been Rudy Van Gelder.

After spending most of the 1960s adapting African rhythms and folk music into jazz structures, Weston approaches the funky style of CTI in an interesting way, bringing a big band into the studio. And not just any big band, either - this one features Freddie Hubbard, Bill Cobham, Ron Carter, Airto Moreira, Grover Washington, Jr., and Hubert Laws, and those are just the big names. The group also includes two additional percussionists and reedists, an 8-man brass section, and some Moog synthesizer. The result is a set of songs that move with the same zest as a typical CTI set but sound much fuller, almost symphonic in their heft.

The music here is heavily influenced by the traditional music of Morocco, where Weston had spent a lot of time visiting the Atlas mountains. This is especially prominent in "Ganawa (Blue Moses)," which plays like the cinematic soundtrack to a lively carnival. The larger sections of the band are utilized to play through the theme while the featured musicians add individual flair, the composition focusing in on several of them during its runtime, as if a camera paused from panning about a festival to focus briefly on a performer.

"Night in Medina" is as seductive and laid back as its title suggests, radiating the heat of a dark desert town and the calm that masks shady and sexy dealings. The bookending tracks are less overtly African in their influences, sounding a lot more like the mainstream jazz of the times, but the musicianship and arrangement place them both a level above most of the record's contemporaries. This is a must for anyone who knows CTI at all, and is highly recommended to anyone stumbling across this review any other way.

Freddie Hubbards best Solo of all time (including his own Lps) occur on #2 (Ganawa)....it is "sammokking"!!!!!!! ?....I've played it many times and I'll never forget it....

CTI had an oddball record or two. This is certainly one of them. It's jazz with a strange edge all the way through. Some very eerie samples have come from this album. Supposedly Weston hated it but you be the judge.