Music Monday: Oliver Nelson, Jerome Richardson, and a bit of Hiromi

I listened to some music this weekend, but I’m feeling very stressed not only about things that I can control, but also by things that are well beyond my control.

Maybe music will help. So here’s what I’ve been listening to.

First, I’ve been enjoying Oliver Nelson’s Skull Session (1974). In Nelson tradition, I don’t love all the tracks on the album, but between his arrangement and Lonnie Liston Smith on keyboards and Jerome Richardson on various woodwinds (as well as a full big band), this album deserves to be in the rotation in my house.

This got me to check out some Jerome Richardson. I’m not sure that I love his solo stuff as much as I thought that I might, but I never say no to covers of movie songs. Check out Jerome Richardson’s Going to the Movies (1962). Richardson’s interplay with Less Spann is pretty nice, though. His version of “Never on Sunday” is… perhaps not as nice.

Richardson does play on Ahmed Abdul-Malik’s East Meets West (1959) along with Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Johnny Griffin, and Al Harewood on drums. I’ve noted this album as the inspiration for [Ahmed]’s Super Majnoon.

I am absolutely impressed with Hiromi’s abilities and I have enjoyed some of the tracks on some of her albums, especially when she plays in her trio with the late Anthony Jackson on bass and Simon Phillips on drums. Hecks, I’ve even mentioned her right here on this blog and I appreciate that she has virtuosic skills.

My point here is that I enjoyed the first track on her most recent album. In fact, I really like it. Check it out here. The rest of the album didn’t move me really, but I’ll listen to it more and maybe change my mind:

One last thing, yesterday was Antonio Carlos Jobim’s birthday. Here’s a link to his 1967 album Wave … which features Jerome Richardson on flutes: