Over the course of four decades, the saxophonist, composer and bandleader David Murray has created a body of work remarkable for its magnitude (over 150 albums), importance (a Grammy Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Bird Award, a Danish Jazz Bar Prize, etc.) and breadth (co-founding iconic bands such as the World Saxophone Quartet, and performing with everyone from the Grateful Dead to the Gwo Ka Masters of Guadeloupe to The Roots). Motéma Music released one of Murray’s most surprising and beautiful accomplishments to date: David Murray Cuban Ensemble Plays Nat King Cole en Español.
The album is based on two recordings that were as improbable 50 years ago as Murray’s excavation of them is today. Released in 1958 and 1962, respectively, Cole Español and More Cole en Español found Cole singing melodies from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil and Argentina: Osvaldo Farrés’s “Quizás, quizás, quizás,” Richard Egues’s “El bodeguero,” and Bobby Capo’s “Piel canela,” to name a wide-ranging few. On his album, otherwise comprised of covers (of covers), Murray includes one original, which is also a Cole tribute, entitled “Black Nat.”
Winged Wheel anchor their Space Age grooves in rock, the muscle of drum and bass and guitar undergirding wild flights of fancy. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 3, 2024