Ballads & Blues

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Total Tracks: 7   Total Length: 43:45

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Muhal Richard Abrams Updates the Big Band
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Muhal Richard Abrams Updates the Big Band

By Kevin Whitehead, eMusic Contributor

Muhal Richard Abrams is likely best known as a driving force behind the hugely influential Chicago co-op the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), but he's also an underappreciated composer. Not unknown by any means — he won Denmark's first Jazzpar Prize in 1990, before the international jury got around to David Murray, Lee Konitz, Tommy Flanagan and Roy Haynes. But Abrams 'orchestra rarely got the attention it deserved in its '80s and… more »

They Say All Music Guide

For the CD reissue of this session, two selections were added to the original seven-song LP release. Pianist Tommy Flanagan and bassist George Mraz do not really stick to the plot of the title, playing a few bop standards that are neither blues nor ballads (such as “Scrapple from the Apple,” “Star Eyes” and “How High the Moon”), in addition to some blues and ballads (most notably Tom McIntosh’s haunting “With Malice Toward None”). The intimate and mostly lightly swinging music is fine, but one does miss the momentum that would have been provided by a drummer. – Scott Yanow