African Violet (album)
Encyclopedia
African Violet is an album by American trumpeter Blue Mitchell
which features arrangements by McKinley Mitchell
recorded and released on the Impulse!
label in 1977.
Blue Mitchell
Richard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
which features arrangements by McKinley Mitchell
McKinley Mitchell
McKinley Mitchell was an American Chicago-based soul-blues and rhythm and blues singer, who started out performing gospel music. He recorded singles for Boxer Records, Chess Records , and a variety of other record labels. Most of his releases are still only available on records...
recorded and released on the Impulse!
Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City...
label in 1977.
Reception
The Allmusic review awarded the album 3 stars.Track listing
- "Mississippi Jump" (Larry Nash) – 6:38
- "Ojos de Rojo" (Cedar WaltonCedar WaltonCedar Anthony Walton, Junior is an American hard bop jazz pianist.-Biography:Walton grew up in Dallas, Texas. His mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and was Walton's initial teacher. She also took him to jazz performances around Dallas...
) – 4:04 - "Sand Castles" (Dana Kaproff) – 6:08
- "African Violet" (Steve Hulse) – 6:38
- "AsAs (song)"As" is a song written and performed by Stevie Wonder from his 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life. It reached #36 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Black Singles chart.-Covers:...
" (Stevie WonderStevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
) – 6:28 - "Square Business" (Walton) – 8:24
- "Forget" (Don SebeskyDon SebeskyDon Sebesky is an American jazz trombonist and arranger.-Biography:Sebesky trained in trombone at the Manhattan School of Music; in his early career, he played with Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, Tommy Dorsey, Warren Covington, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton...
) – 6:51- Recorded at The Burbank Studios in Burbank, California in 1977.
Personnel
- Blue MitchellBlue MitchellRichard Allen Mitchell was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, and funk trumpeter, known for many albums recorded as leader and sideman for Riverside, Blue Note and then Mainstream Records.-Biography:...
– trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
(tracks 1, 2, & 4-6), flugelhornFlugelhornThe flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
(tracks 3 & 7) - Herman RileyHerman RileyHerman Riley was a tenor saxophone jazz performer. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he was noted for his performances with, among others, Count Basie, Etta James and Jimmy Smith.-As Sideman:With Bobby Hutcherson...
(tracks 1 & 4), Harold LandHarold LandHarold de Vance Land was an American hard bop and post-bop tenor saxophonist. Land developed his hard bop playing with the Max Roach/Clifford Brown band into a personal, modern style. His tone was strong and emotional, yet displayed a certain fragility that made him easy to...
(tracks 2, 3 & 5-7) – tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble... - Sonny BurkeSonny BurkeSonny Burke was a big band leader. In 1937, he graduated from Duke University where he had formed and led the jazz big band known as the Duke Ambassadors....
– electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
(tracks 1 & 4-7), pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
(tracks 2 & 3) - McKinley Jackson (tracks 2, 4 & 7), Michael BoddickerMichael BoddickerMichael J. Boddicker , is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. Three times N.A.R.A.S. Most Valuable Player "Synthesizer" and MVP Emeritus, he was awarded a Grammy as a songwriter for Imagination from Flashdance in 1984...
(tracks 3, 5 & 6) – synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones... - Lee RitenourLee RitenourLee Mack Ritenour is an American jazz guitarist who has recorded over 42 albums, appeared on over 3000 sessions, and has charted over 30 instrumental and vocal contemporary jazz hits since 1976. One of his most popular songs was the smash hit, “Is It You” in 1981. Ritenour is considered to be a...
– electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
(tracks 1-7), guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
(track 7) - Scott Edwards – bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
(track 1), electric bassElectric BassElectric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...
(tracks 2-4 & 6) - Chuck DomanicoChuck DomanicoCharles Louis Domanico , better known as Chuck Domanico, was an American jazz bassist, playing both acoustic and electric bass on the West Coast jazz scene.Domanico was born in Chicago...
– electric bass (track 5), bass (track 7) - James GadsonJames GadsonJames Gadson is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B music....
(tracks 1-4 & 6), Harold Mason (tracks 5 & 7) – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Paulinho Da CostaPaulinho Da CostaPaulinho da Costa is a Brazilian percussionist born in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times. Playing over two hundred percussion instruments, he has participated in thousands of recording sessions, Grammy Award-winning albums, hit songs, soundtracks, radio...
– congas (tracks 1, 2, 4 & 6) - Eddie "Bongo" Brown – congas, percussion (tracks 3, 5 & 7)
- Bob Zimmitti – marimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
(track 7), percussion (tracks 5 & 7) - Julia Tillman, Luther Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, Oren Waters – vocals (tracks 3 & 5)
- The Sid Sharp Strings (tracks 3 & 7)