"CTI Records: The Cool Revolution" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – featuring 1970 to 1976 Album Tracks by Stanley Turrentine, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, Esther Phillips, Joe Farrell, Deodato, Johnny Hammond, Airto, Milton Jackson, Bob James, Astrid Gilberto, Randy Weston, Gerry Mulligan and more (May 2015 UK and EUROPE Sony Music/Masterworks Jazz 4CD 39-Track Hardback Digibook of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...We Got A Good Thing Going... "

Just the right side of Jazz Funk and Jazz Fusion for yours truly - Creed Taylor indeed knew how to capture cool. 

Much to discuss – so let's get to the painted faces, red and blue clay landscapes and those beautifully enigmatic glossy LP sleeves and CTI label bags... 

UK and EUROPE released May 2015 - "CTI Records: The Cool Revolution" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Sony Music/Masterworks Jazz 88875079812 (Barcode 888750798121) is a 4CD 39-Track Hardback Digibook Set of Remasters covering 1970 to 1976. Part of CTI Records 40th Anniversary Celebrations; each CD is title-themed and plays out as follows:

CD1 "Straight Up" (75:38 minutes):

1. Sugar - STANLEY TURRENTINE (10:04 minutes) from the January 1971 US LP "Sugar" on CTI Records CTI 6005

2. Moment's Notice - HUBERT LAWS (6:56 minutes, John Coltrane cover) - from the May 1974 US LP "In The Beginning" on CTI Records CTX 3+3

3. So What - RON CARTER (11:17 minutes, Miles Davis cover) - from the February 1975 US LP "Spanish Blue" on CTI Records CTI 6051

4. Autumn Leaves - CHET BAKER (7:05 minutes) - from the February 1975 US LP "She Was Too Good To Me" on CTI Records CTI 6050

5. Speed Ball - STANLEY TURRENTINE (6:35 minutes, Lee Morgan cover) - from the July 1972 US LP "Cherry" on CTI Records CTI 6017

6. The Intrepid Fox - FREDDIE HUBBARD (10:43 minutes) - from the May 1970 US LP "Red Clay" on CTI Records CTI 6001

7. Ifrane - RANDY WESTON (5:12 minutes) - from the June 1972 US LP "Blue Moses" on CTI Records CTI 6016 - not issued on CD in the USA  

8. Free As A Bird - DON SEBESKY featuring FREDDIE HUBBARD and GROVER WASHINGTON, Jr. (8:09 minutes) - from the December 1973 US 2LP-set "Giant Box" on CTI Records CTX 6031/32 

9. So What - GEORGE BENSON (9:05 minutes, Miles Davis cover) - from the May 1973 US LP "Beyond The Blue Horizon" on CTI Records CTI 6009

CD2 "Deep Grooves/Big Hits" (76:53 minutes):

1. Red Clay - FREDDIE HUBBARD (12:09 minutes) - from the May 1970 US LP "Red Clay" on CTI Records CTI 6001

2. It's Too Late - JOHNNY HAMMOND (10:50 minutes, Carole King cover) - from the 1971 US LP "Breakout" on Kudu Records KU 01

3. Home Is Where The Hatred Is - ESTHER PHILLIPS (3:25 minutes, Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson cover) - from the January 1972 US LP "A Whisper To A Scream" on Kudu KU 05

4. We Got A Good Thing Going - HANK CRAWFORD (5:55 minutes, The Corporation cover) - from the January 1973 US LP "We Got A Good Thing Going" on Kudu KU 08

5. White Rabbit - GEORGE BENSON (6:55 minutes, Grace Slick cover, Jefferson Airplane) - from the 1972 US LP "White Rabbit" on CTI Records CTI 6015

6. Fire And Rain - HUBERT LAWS (7:55 minutes, James Taylor cover) - from the 1971 US LP "Afro-Classic" on CTI Records CTI 6006

7. What A Difference A Day Makes - ESTHER PHILLIPS (4:28 minutes, Dinah Washington cover) - from the 1975 US LP "What A Difference A Day Makes" on Kudu KU 23

8. Follow Your Heart - JOE FARRELL (6:50 minutes, John McLaughlin cover) - from the 1970 US LP "Joe Farrell Quartet" on CTI Records CTI 6003  

9.Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) (8:58 minutes, Strauss cover) - from the 1972 US LP "Prelude" on CTI Records CTI 6021

10. Mister Magic - GROVER WASHINGTON, JR. (9:02 minutes, Ralph McDonald cover) - from the 1975 US LP "Mister Magic" on Kudu KU 20

CD3 "The Brazilian Connection" (70:09 minutes):

1. Stone Flower - ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM (3:19 minutes) - from the 1970 US LP "Stone Flower" on CTI Records CTI 6002

2. Ponteio - ASTRUD GILBERTO with STANLEY TURRENTINE (3:55 minutes) - from the 1971 US LP "Gilberto With Turrentine" on CTI Records CTI 6008 

3. First Light - FREDDIE HUBBARD (11:05 minutes) - from the 1971 US LP "First Light" on CTI Records CTI 6013

4. Salt Song - STANLEY TURRENTINE (7:14 minutes, Milton Nascimento cover) - from the 1971 US LP "Salt Song" on CTI Records CTI 6010

5. Pensativa - HUBERT LAWS (6:14 minutes, Claire Fischer cover) - from the 1975 US LP "The San Francisco Concert" on CTI Records CTI ZK 40819

6. Tombo In 7/4 - AIRTO (6:21 minutes) - from the 1973 US LP "Fingers" on CTI Records CTI 6028

7. Sunflower - MILT JACKSON (8:50 minutes, Freddie Hubbard) - from the 1973 US LP "Sunflower" on CTI Records CTI 6024

8. Return To Forever - AIRTO (10:13 minutes, Chick Corea cover) - from the 1972 US LP "Free" on CTI Records CTI 6020

9. Wave - PAUL DESMOND (6:21 minutes, Antonio Carlos Jobim cover) - from the 1974 US LP "Pure Desmond" on CTI Records ZK 40806

10. Carly & Carole - DEODATO (3:38 minutes) - from the 1972 US LP "Prelude" on CTI Records CTI 6021 

 

CD4 "Cool And Classic" (78:22 minutes):

1. My Funny Valentine - GERRY MULLIGAN and CHET BAKER (8:38 minutes, Rogers & Hart cover) - from the 1975 US LP "Carnegie Hall Concert Vol.1" on CTI Records CTI 6054

2. All Blues - RON CARTER (9:35 minutes, Miles Davis cover) - from the 1973 US LP "All Blues" on CTI Records CTI 6037 - not released on CD in the USA

3. Song To A Seagull - DON SEBESKY featuring PAUL DESMOND (5:44 minutes, Joni Mitchell cover) - from the 1974 US 2LP-set "Giant Box" on CTI Records CTX 6031

4. Pavane - HUBERT LAWS (7:40 minutes) - from the 1971 US LP "The Rite Of Spring" on CTI Records CTI 6012

5. What'll I Do - CHET BAKER (3:54 minutes) - from the 1975 US LP "She Was Too Good To Me" on CTI Records CTI 6050

6. Westchester Lady - BOB JAMES (7:23 minutes) - from the 1976 US LP "Three" on CTI Records CTI 6063)

7. A Child Is Born - KENNY BURRELL (9:22 minutes, Thad Jones cover) - from the 1971 US LP "God Bless The Child" on CTI Records CTI 6011

8. Take Five - GEORGE BENSON (7:07 minutes, Paul Desmond cover) - from the 1974 US LP "Bad Benson" on CTI Records CTI 6045

9. Concierto De Aranjuez - JIM HALL (19:18 minutes, Joaquin Rodrigo cover) - from the 1975 US LP "Concierto" on CTI Records CTI 6060

Housed in a colourfully put-together Hardback Digibook with Attached 20-Page Booklet inside (two discs clipped into the front and rear covers) – 4CDs and 39-Tracks have been Transferred and Remastered from original tapes at Battery Studios in New York by a team of quality Engineers – MARK WILDER, MARIA TRIANA and DONNA KLOEPFER. The Audio is lovely throughout even when the earlier recordings threaten to whig-out just once-too-soloing-often. What’s new? All of these famous Jazz, Jazz Fusion and Jazz Funk albums have been reissued on CD over the years, but Tracks 7 on CD1 and 2 on CD4 are not issued on CD in the USA before. 

Visually - littering the essay "CTI Records: The Cool Revolution" by DAN OUELLETTE on Pages 3 to 15 and beyond (he is a contributing writer to DownBeat magazine and author of a biography on the double-bass player Ron Carter) are classy black and white promo photos of the staggering array of Jazz talent Creed Taylor recorded. Primarily taped between 1970 and 1975 and issued on CTI Records and its sidekick Kudu – CTI was in fact originally an imprint of Herb Alpert's A&M Records in 1967 - when Taylor finally decided to take the label and its stellar cast/emerging sound to the public in 1970. 

Creed's manta was to make Jazz that was true to its artist's vision while at the same time reach into a curious mainstream too (art and commercialism combined) - and mostly, he ended up doing just that. Rock guys like me who we're loving Prog and the strange Jazz-Rock sounds of say Soft Machine, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Colosseum and even Jeff Beck LPs - were drawn to Jazzers doing say Carole King's gorgeous "It's Too Late" from her magical "Tapestry" album. I bought CTI albums simply because they were on CTI and I knew the quality would be in there - just maybe more accessible than straight-up Blue Note puritanism. The weird thing is that the great white man CREED TAYLOR himself isn't pictured anywhere in the text! 

The songs range from three minutes to nearly twenty with most being elongated Jazz workouts of six to eight minutes. Love that Miles Davis up-date that Ron Carter does to his "So What” (from the classic "A Kind of Blue" album) - Esther Phillips spotting the genius of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson for "Home Is Where The Hurt Is" and Don Sebesky with Paul Desmond as they rearrange some new girl from Canada who was making waves at the time – Joni Mitchell and her debut album's "Song To A Seagull" (I wonder what she thought of their version?). And on it goes like that, nice surprise after nice surprise.  

When I bought this 4CD Digibook Pack a good few years ago now, it was regularly on offer for under £20. But in January 2021, it has jumped back up to over £70. 

If you can nab one at the right price, "CTI Records: The Cool Revolution" will indeed do what it claims on the tin. As Mrs. Taylor once said, I feel the Creed in me. 

Nice one...