Afro/American Sketches

Last updated
Afro/American Sketches
Afro American Sketches.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 1962 [1]
RecordedSeptember 29 & November 10, 1961
Studio Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs
Genre Jazz
Length41:30
Label Prestige
PRLP 7225
Oliver Nelson Orchestra chronology
Main Stem
(1961)
Afro/American Sketches
(1962)
Impressions of Phaedra
(1962)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Down Beat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]

Afro/American Sketches is a jazz album by Oliver Nelson recorded in late 1961 and released in 1962. It is his first big band album as a leader. [6]

Contents

In a June 7, 1962, review for Down Beat magazine jazz critic Richard B. Hadlock said this of Nelson: "In his penchant for melodic simplicity and inner complexity he is close to the secret of Duke Ellington's most enduring scores, and in his thick linear voicing there are echoes of Gil Evans at his best." [7]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Nelson.

  1. "Message" – 5:56
  2. "Jungleaire" – 6:33
  3. "Emancipation Blues" – 8:11
  4. "There's a Yearnin'" – 4:24
  5. "Going Up North" – 6:11
  6. "Disillusioned" – 5:36
  7. "Freedom Dance" – 4:39

Recorded on September 29 (#1, 3, 4, 6, 7) and November 10 (#2, 5), 1961.

Personnel

Tracks 2, 5

Tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7

Related Research Articles

<i>New Life</i> (The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra album) 1976 studio album by Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra

New Life (Dedicated to Max Gordon) is a 1976 big band jazz album recorded by the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and released on the A&M/Horizon Records label. The album was nominated for a 1976 Grammy award in the Best Jazz Performance by a Big Band category.

<i>The Quintessence</i> 1962 studio album by Quincy Jones

The Quintessence is an album by Quincy Jones and his orchestra. It was released in 1962 and was his only album for Impulse! One critic called it "the sound of the modern, progressive big band at its pinnacle."

<i>Delightfulee</i> 1967 studio album by Lee Morgan

Delightfulee is an album by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan released on the Blue Note label in 1967. It was recorded on April 8 & May 27, 1966 and features performances by Morgan with a quintet featuring Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Bob Cranshaw and Billy Higgins and a big band featuring Ernie Royal, Tom McIntosh, Jim Buffington, Don Butterfield, Phil Woods, Wayne Shorter, Danny Bank and Philly Joe Jones with arrangements by Oliver Nelson.

<i>African Waltz</i> 1961 studio album by Cannonball Adderley

African Waltz is an album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, released on the Riverside label and performed by Adderley with an orchestra conducted by Ernie Wilkins. The title track had been a UK hit single for Johnny Dankworth.

<i>Goin Out of My Head</i> (album) 1966 studio album by Wes Montgomery

Goin' Out of My Head is an album by American jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery that was released in 1966. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard magazine R&B chart. At the 9th Grammy Awards Goin' Out of My Head won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group.

<i>Newport 61</i> 1961 live album by Quincy Jones

Newport '61 is a live album by Quincy Jones that was recorded on July 3, 1961, at the Newport Jazz Festival.

<i>Bashin: The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith</i> 1962 studio album by Jimmy Smith

Bashin': The Unpredictable Jimmy Smith is a 1962 studio album by the American jazz organist Jimmy Smith, accompanied by a big band arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson. It was Smith's first album for Verve Records. The first four tracks feature an ensemble that included future Tonight Show band members Doc Severinsen and Ed Shaughnessy.

<i>Roll Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big Bands</i> 1966 studio album by Shirley Scott

Roll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big Bands is an album by the American jazz organist Shirley Scott, recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.

<i>The Spirit of 67</i> (Oliver Nelson and Pee Wee Russell album) 1967 studio album by Pee Wee Russell and Oliver Nelson

The Spirit of '67 is an album by American jazz clarinetist Pee Wee Russell and composer/arranger Oliver Nelson featuring performances recorded in 1967 for the Impulse! label.

<i>Full Nelson</i> (album) 1963 studio album by Oliver Nelson Orchestra

Full Nelson is a jazz album by Oliver Nelson recorded in 1962 and 1963, and released on Verve Records. It is one of his first big band albums. Nelson has also arranged his Hoe Down, originally based on an Aaron Copland composition, which initially appeared in a septet version on The Blues and the Abstract Truth, in a driving big band arrangement that features Clark Terry.

<i>Jazzhattan Suite</i> Compilation album by Oliver Nelson

Jazzhattan Suite is a big band jazz album composed and arranged by Oliver Nelson and performed by the Jazz Interactions Orchestra. It was recorded in late 1967 and released in 1968 on Verve Records.

<i>Gillespiana</i> 1960 studio album by Dizzy Gillespie

Gillespiana is an album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie featuring compositions by Lalo Schifrin recorded in 1960 and released on the Verve label. The album features Schifrin's suite written to feature Gillespie and his orchestra.

<i>Carnegie Hall Concert</i> (Dizzy Gillespie album) 1961 live album by Dizzy Gillespie

Carnegie Hall Concert is an album by trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie recorded in 1961 at Carnegie Hall, New York City and released on the Verve label.

<i>Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods</i> 1975 studio album by Dizzy Gillespie and Machito

Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods is an album by Dizzy Gillespie and Machito, featuring arrangements by Chico O'Farrill, recorded in 1975 and released on the Pablo label.

<i>Soul Street</i> (album) 1962 studio album by Jimmy Forrest

Soul Street is an album by saxophonist Jimmy Forrest compiled from four different sessions between 1960 and 1962 and released on New Jazz Some tracks appear as CD bonus tracks on other CDs but this is the only album on which the Big Band tracks appear.

<i>Latin Mann</i> 1965 studio album by Herbie Mann

Latin Mann is an album by American jazz flautist Herbie Mann recorded for the Columbia label and released in 1965. Mann's contract with Atlantic Records allowed him to record the album for another label.

<i>Our Mann Flute</i> 1966 studio album by Herbie Mann

Our Mann Flute is an album by American jazz flautist Herbie Mann released on the Atlantic label in 1966. The album features tracks from sessions that produced the albums The Common Ground (1960), My Kinda Groove (1964) along with more recent recordings.

<i>Impressions of Phaedra</i> 1962 studio album by The Oliver Nelson Orchestra

Impressions of Phaedra is an album by saxophonist/composer/arranger Oliver Nelson recorded in 1962 and released on the United Artists Jazz label. The album features Nelson's arrangements of Mikis Theodorakis music from the 1962 motion picture Phaedra.

<i>The Sound of Feeling</i> 1968 studio album by Oliver Nelson

The Sound of Feeling is a jazz album featuring two separate groups featuring Oliver Nelson recorded in late 1966 and released on the Verve label. The split album begins with five tracks by the Los Angeles based group The Sound of Feeling, featuring identical twin vocalists Alyce and Rhae Andrece and pianist Gary David with the addition of soloist Nelson. Four tracks are by the Encyclopedia of Jazz All Stars, a big band drawn from the ranks of top New York studio musicians, arranged and conducted by Nelson which were recorded to accompany Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties.

<i>Encyclopedia of Jazz</i> 1967 album by Oliver Nelson

Encyclopedia of Jazz is an album released on the Verve label compiled by jazz journalist Leonard Feather featuring tracks which were recorded to accompany Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Sixties. The album features three tracks by the Encyclopedia of Jazz All Stars arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson along with one track each by Jimmy Smith with Wes Montgomery, Count Basie and Johnny Hodges with Earl Hines.

References

  1. Billboard Feb 24, 1962
  2. Allmusic review
  3. Down Beat: June 7, 1962, vol. 29, no. 12
  4. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide . USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp.  151. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
  5. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1071. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. Afro/American Sketches at Jazzdisco
  7. Down Beat: June 7, 1962, vol. 29, no. 12