Charles Earland on Highnote

[CJ Shearn]

After d/l "Alexander The Great" from emusic, I am now strangely fascinated with The Mighty Burner, he cooks all over that record, altho his solo on "Explosion" has to be one of the most boring I've heard as he is obsessed with hammering a triplet lick repeatedly (sound like a certain guitarist we know and love? ) Anyway, Earland has never been a player thats really stood out to me, like Jimmy McGriff I find his playing often sort of plain, such as LD's "Hot Dog" and "Everything I Play is Funky". But some of the Highnote stuff with tunes like "Dolphin Dance" I dug when I heard on the radio. So out of his Highnote/Savant output, what do y'all like?

[kh1958]

Slammin' and Jammin' (with Melvin Sparks and Carlos Garnett) is a really good one.

[CJ Shearn]

thanks. what else is recommended?

[paul secor]

I've kept Cookin' with the Mighty Burner in my collection - an Earland band doing jazz standards - "Killer Joe", "Seven Steps", "Sister Sadie", etc. - tho I could do to hear this band with a different front line than Eric Alexander and James Rotondi. It's still a nice changeup from a lot of Charles Earland's releases.

[Free For All]

I realize this one isn't within the parameters of your question, but it's still worth mentioning...................

[CJ Shearn]

how is that one FFA? I've heard soundclips and was underwhelmed.

[Soul Stream]

He also backed up Irene Reid on a Highnote CD and it's pretty cool. For me, some of the Muse compilations such as The Almighty Burner and Organimically Correct are great too.

Also on Highnote, Cookin With The Mighty Burner is great with Alexander and Rotondi...

...lots of good stuff with Earland to be had.

[kh1958]

There's also If Only for One Night, which has Najee on sax, but actually is pretty good.

After Slammin and Jammin, I second the recommendation of Organommically Correct (a Muse collection, and a great one).

Edited October 27, 2005 by kh1958

[felser]

how is that one FFA?  I've heard soundclips and was underwhelmed.

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Earland and Joe Henderson have some nice solos on it, and the title track is a killer. Album's funked up 70's style a bit with Patrick Gleeson, etc, but worth having. On Earland, you have to have his debut on Prestige, Black Talk (second side, loooong versions of "Aquarius" and "More Today Than Yesterday" is killer), and his two releases on Milestone, 'Front Burner' and 'Third Degree Burn', and then fill in the gaps from there according to taste. I found him the most exciting of all organists when he was "on".

[Rooster_Ties]

I realize this one isn't within the parameters of your question, but it's still worth mentioning...................

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Can't remember if I own this one, or borrowed it recently from Spontoonious (and too lazy to go look and find out). Either way, it's a relatively solid date, though a bit uneven. By all means, get it if you find it for a decent price -- but (IMHO) it isn't worth a special order all by itself.

[BFrank]

"Black Talk" is considered one of his classics.

"Intensity" is pretty good and also has the last recording made by Lee Morgan.

"Charles Earland In Concert" is a burnin' live album, too.

None of these are on High Note but all are easily downloaded from eMusic.

[CJ Shearn]

Although for the "Charles Earland: Live in Concert" I've read one track ("Morgan") is edited, is that true? And for those of us that d/l and burn from emusic, do you consider that having a "real" copy of the album or do you go out and buy the real CD afterwards?

[PHILLYQ]

I realize this one isn't within the parameters of your question, but it's still worth mentioning...................

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Can't remember if I own this one, or borrowed it recently from Spontoonious (and too lazy to go look and find out). Either way, it's a relatively solid date, though a bit uneven. By all means, get it if you find it for a decent price -- but (IMHO) it isn't worth a special order all by itself.

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'Van Jay' & 'Never-ending Melody' are both great cuts on this one.

[mrjazzman]

blowing the blues away.............