''Volcano Blues'' is an album by pianist

Randy Weston Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston (April 6, 1926 – September 1, 2018) was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection. Weston's piano style owed much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious M ...

and

Melba Liston Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. Other than those playing in all-female bands, she was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and 1960s, ...

, who arranged and conducted most of the music. It was recorded on February 5 and 6, 1993, at BMG Studios in New York City, and was released later that year by

Antilles Records Antilles Records was a record label founded as a division of Island Records. It began as a jazz label, recording Joanne Brackeen, Biréli Lagrène, and Phil Woods, though its catalogue did expand to include eclectic musicians like Brian Eno and ...

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

and Gitanes Jazz Productions. On the album, Weston and Liston are joined by saxophonists

Talib Kibwe Eugene Rhynie (born February 7, 1953),TK Blue Artist Profile
Motéma Music. known professionally as T. ...

Teddy Edwards Theodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards (April 26, 1924 – April 20, 2003) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Edwards was born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. He learned to play at a very early age, first on alto saxophone ...

, and

Hamiet Bluiett Hamiet Bluiett (; September 16, 1940 – October 4, 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument was the baritone saxophone, and he was considered one of the finest players of this instrument. A membe ...

, trumpeter

Wallace Roney Wallace Roney (May 25, 1960 – March 31, 2020) was an American jazz ( hard bop and post-bop) trumpeter. He won one Grammy award and was nominated twice. Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis from ...

, trombonist

Benny Powell Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr. (March 1, 1930 – June 26, 2010) was an American jazz trombonist. He played both standard (tenor) trombone and bass trombone. Biography Born Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana, he first played pr ...

, guitarist

Ted Dunbar Earl Theodore Dunbar (January 17, 1937 – May 29, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist, composer, and educator. Career Born in Port Arthur, Texas, Dunbar trained as a pharmacist at Texas Southern University, but by the 1970s he only did pharmac ...

, double bassist

Jamil Nasser Jamil Nasser (born George Joyner, June 21, 1932 – February 13, 2010)Obituary
at All About Jazz and also cre ...

, drummer

Charlie Persip Charles Lawrence Persip (July 26, 1929 – August 23, 2020), known as Charli Persip and formerly as Charlie Persip (he changed the spelling of his name to Charli in the late 1960s), was an American jazz drummer. Biography Born in Morristown, N ...

, and percussionists

Obo Addy Obo Addy (January 15, 1936 – September 13, 2012) was a Ghanaian drummer and dancer who was one of the first native African musicians to bring the fusion of traditional folk music and Western pop music known as ''worldbeat'' to Europe and th ...

and Neil Clarke. Guitarist and vocalist

Johnny Copeland John Clyde Copeland (March 27, 1937 – July 3, 1997) was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer. In 1983, he was named Blues Entertainer of the Year by the Blues Foundation. He is the father of blues singer Shemekia Copeland. In 2017, ...

also appears on two tracks.

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Ron Wynn Ron Wynn is a music critic, author, and AllMusic editor. Wynn was the editor of the first edition of '' The All Music Guide to Jazz'' (1994), and from 1993 to 1994 served as the jazz and rap editor of the '' All Music Guide''. Wynn is the former ...

wrote: "Liston's arrangements required disciplined solos, and Weston's steady hand generated impressive cohesion and interaction during the unison segments. A superb example of the African/African-American musical continuum." Critic

Gary Giddins Gary Giddins (born 1948) is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986, Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented conc ...

called the album "blithely entertaining" and "a chameleonic celebration of the twelve-bar sonnet that provokes and amuses and deepens with every hearing." A reviewer for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' noted "the communicative appeal of this music," and stated: "''Volcano Blues'' will remind listeners that there's more to blues expression than the skeletal, four-chord pattern that has sold millions of pop records around the world. Complexly layered rhythms, a subtle sense of swing, intricate orchestration, melody evoking ancient Africa-all of these elements express the spirit of the blues, as this album attests."

Reuben Jackson Reuben Jackson (October 1, 1956 – February 16, 2024) was an American poet, educator, jazz historian, and music reviewer. Early life and education Jackson was born in Augusta, Georgia on October 1, 1956. He grew up in the Brightwood neighborhood ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' commented: "Although a good deal has been written about the influence of the blues on jazz, few musicians associated with either genre have explored the countless rhythmic, melodic and textural possibilities inherent in the former as fearlessly and successfully as pianist Randy Weston." He praised the rendition of "Harvard Blues", in which Copeland's "alternatively seductive and grainy voice describes the difficulty of juggling scholarship and romance, sentiments echoed by the cooing solo of trombonist Benny Powell." The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' acknowledged the presence of "a firm hand in the arranging department," and wrote: "Liston takes control, rightly gaining a joint authorship credit... This is by no means a typical Weston record, and it's slightly difficult to locate vis-à-vis the rest. That shouldn't stop anyone sampling it. however." Writing for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', Richard Guilliatt described the album as "a spiritual heir of sorts" to Weston's 1991 release '' The Spirits of Our Ancestors'', and remarked: "''Volcano Blues'' traces the bloodlines of the blues from Africa to the Caribbean, the Mississippi Delta, the Kansas City big bands of Count Basie and on to New York... he approaches the blues with a wide vision."

Track listing

# "Blue Mood" (

Jessie Mae Robinson Jessie Mae Robinson (née Booker, October 1, 1918 – October 26, 1966) was an American musician and songwriter, whose compositions included many R&B and pop hits of the 1940s and 1950s, including " Black Night", " I Went to Your Wedding", ...

) – 2:42 # "Chalabati Blues" (Randy Weston) – 6:02 # "Sad Beauty Blues" (Randy Weston) – 3:18 # "The Nafs" (Randy Weston) – 2:33 # "Volcano" (

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

) – 2:25 # "Harvard Blues" (Count Basie, George Frazier,

Tab Smith Talmadge "Tab" Smith (January 11, 1909 – August 17, 1971) was an American swing and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist. He is best remembered for the tracks " Because of You" and "Pretend". He worked with Count Basie, the Mills Rhythm Bo ...

) – 4:09 # "In Memory Of" (Randy Weston) – 5:09 # "Blues for Strayhorn" (Randy Weston) – 3:46 # "Penny Packer Blues" (Randy Weston) – 4:12 # "J.K. Blues" (Randy Weston) – 2:25 # "Mystery of Love" (

Guy Warren Guy Warren of Ghana, also known as Kofi Ghanaba (4 May 1923 – 22 December 2008), was a Ghanaian musician, most notable as the inventor of Afro-jazz — "the reuniting of African-American jazz with its African roots" — and as a member of The ...

) – 6:22 # "Kucheza Blues" (Randy Weston) – 7:17 # "Blues for Elma Lewis" (Randy Weston) – 3:08

Personnel

– piano *

– conductor (tracks 2–10, 13) *

Talib Kibwe Eugene Rhynie (born February 7, 1953),TK Blue Artist Profile
Motéma Music. known professionally as T. ...

– flute, alto saxophone *

– tenor saxophone *

– baritone saxophone *

– trumpet *

– trombone *

– guitar *

– guitar, vocals (tracks 1, 6) *

Jamil Nasser Jamil Nasser (born George Joyner, June 21, 1932 – February 13, 2010)Obituary
at All About Jazz and also cre ...

– double bass *

– drums *

– percussion * Neil Clarke – percussion

References

{{Reflist, 30em 1993 albums Randy Weston albums Melba Liston albums Albums arranged by Melba Liston Antilles Records albums Verve Records albums