Color as a Way of Life

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Color as a Way of Life
Color as a Way of Life.jpg
Studio album by Lou Donaldson
Released 1977
Recorded December 1976
Genre Jazz
Length36:31
Label Cotillion
Producer John Brantley, Rick Willard
Lou Donaldson chronology
A Different Scene
(1976)		Color as a Way of Life
(1977)		 Sweet Poppa Lou
(1981)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]

Color as a Way of Life is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson, his second recorded for the Cotillion label, featuring Donaldson with an orchestra arranged by Mike Goldberg and Dennis Williams. [2]

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".

Lou Donaldson American saxophonist

Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.

Cotillion Records was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records and was active from 1968 through 1985. The label was formed as an outlet for blues and deep Southern soul; its first single, Otis Clay's version of "She's About a Mover", reached the R&B charts. Cotillion's catalog quickly expanded to include progressive rock, folk-rock, gospel, jazz and comedy. In 1976, the label started focusing on disco and R&B. At that point, Cotillion's catalog albums outside those genres were reissued on Atlantic.

Contents

The album was awarded 2 stars in an Allmusic review. [3]

Track listing

All compositions by Lou Donaldson except as indicated
  1. "Too Much to Explain" (Al Broomfield) - 4:13
  2. "Love for Sale" (Cole Porter) - 5:04
  3. "Piece of Your World" (Broomfield) - 4:32
  4. "Passion Fruit" (Donaldson, Johnny Brantley, Rick Willard) - 4:03
  5. "Comin' Thru the Back Door" (Broomfield) - 3:42
  6. "Ebb Tide" (Robert Maxwell, Carl Sigman) - 5:18
  7. "Maker's Dream" - 4:53
  8. "Walkin' Sally" - 4:46

Personnel

Alto saxophone type of saxophone

The alto saxophone, also referred to as the alto sax, is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, and patented in 1846. It is pitched in E♭, and is smaller than the tenor, but larger than the soprano. The alto sax is the most common saxophone and is commonly used in concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire, military bands, marching bands, and jazz. The fingerings of the different saxophones are all the same so a saxophone player can play any type of saxophone.

Ernest Andrew "Ernie" Royal was a jazz trumpeter. His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big band recording The Genius of Ray Charles (1959).

Trumpet musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family

A trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the instruments with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BC; they began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through nearly-closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century they have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape.

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References

  1. ↑ Allmusic Review
  2. ↑ Lou Donaldson discography accessed December 16, 2009.
  3. ↑ Allmusic Review accessed December 16, 2009.
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