The Descendants Of Mike & Phoebe
Release Date: 01 October 2017
Label: Strata-east / Pure Pleasure Records
Packaging Type: Slip Sleeve (CD or Vinyl)
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 5060149622643
Genres: Jazz
Description
180g audiophile vinyl reissue, remastering by Ray Staff at Air Mastering, Lyndhurst Hall, London.
"One of the most unique albums on the Strata East label - and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the creative energies flowing through that legendary jazz outlet! Descendents Of Mike & Phoebe is a righteous little project put together by Spike Lee's father, Bill Lee, and his brothers and sisters (Cliff Lee, Grace Lee Mims, and Consuela Lee Moorhead) - working here in a group named after their slave ancestors, who are paid tribute in a beautifully flowing batch of tunes! Lee's round, warm bass tones are firmly at the head of the group on most numbers - recorded at a similar level to his excellent work with Clifford Jordan on Strata East during the same time - and other instrumentation includes piano from Consuela, flugelhorn from Cliff, and percussion from Sonny Brown and Billy Higgins – all used in a wonderfully evocative style that's even better than some of Lee's later soundtrack work. A few numbers feature vocals from Grace - singing wordlessly and with a really heavenly sort of quality - and together, the whole group have an undeniable sense of power and majesty, yet also one that's touched by a really personal sense of poetry too. Titles include a great version of Lee's "Coltrane", which was more famously recorded with Clifford Jordan." - Drago Museveni
Press:
"These are very nicely made records, pressed at Pallas and mastered by Ray Staff. The cover artwork is of good quality and neither record had any issues...Quiet backgrounds, no obvious gremlins, either from the surfaces or in the recordings themselves, to distract from the music." - Bill Hart, The Vinyl Press
Tracklisting
Nina Simone
Archie Shepp & Mal Waldron
The Descendants Of Mike & Phoebe
Lonnie Liston Smith
Nat King Cole
David Murray
John Stubblefield
The Piano Choir
Pat Matshikiza
Glebe
Tom Smith
Vincent Taeger & Le Jazz Kamasutra
Terry Callier
Misha Mullov-Abbado
Tuohi Klang
Skerik, Brian Haas, James Singleton, Simon Lott
