Re-Post: The Al Gafa Quinteto: Leblon Beach (1976)

This is one of only a few Pablo albums not reissued on cd. And it's a rather atypical album for the label. Unlike so many sessions issued by Norman Granz' label, which where deep-seated in the swing/mainstream jazz of the 1940's/50s, this album with Kenny Baron's warm fender rhodes and the breezy, Brazilian flavoured rhythms of Al Foster is clearly a product of the 1970s.

This was requested to appear here again and i'm pleased to satisfy that wish.

Gafa is wonderful throughout. His playing is fluid and melodic with a great sense of space. Unfortunately this seems to be Gafa's only album as a leader. He did lot's of session work in the studios (Monkees, Astrud Gilberto), stayed a few years with Gillespie (Dizzy's "Bahiana" for Pablo featured several Gafa compositions, "Barcelona" and "Land of the Living Dead" among them), played with Duke Pearson (the latin-tinged "The Phantom"), Mike Longo (another Gillespie alumni, check "Matrix") and others. He's sometimes credited as Al Gaffa or Alexander Gaffa.

Kenny Barron plays rhodes on most tracks but uses the (superbly recorded) acoustic piano on some occasions. Barron's soli are a joy to behold. His ideas never seem to run dry. He's reaching ecstatic heights, always deeply interlocked with the rhtyhm section.

Half of the tracks are originals by Gafa. All are beautiful, but "Land Of The Living Dead" with it's steady alteration between latin and funky feeling stands out.

The foreign material stems from Ivan Lins, whose "Abre Alas" offers a perfect basis for some beautiful, mellow jamming, Jose Feliciano, on whose "Affirmation" Gafa is somehow reminiscent of Gabor Szabo, and Gafa's former employee, Dizzy Gillespie. Surprisingly "Con Alma" is played as a straight swinging blues, given that this is initially a latin piece and most of the remaining tracks on the album are at least latin-flavoured.

A wonderful album throughout.

P.S.: Leblon is a beach in Rio.

A1 Barcelona 7:35
A2 Abre Alas (Ivan Lins) 8:20
A3 Land Of The Living Dead 6:45
B1 Sometime You Win, Sometime You Lose 8:25
B2 Affirmation (Jose Feliciano) 8:08
B3 Con Alma (Dizzy Gillespie) 5:46

All tracks written by Al Gafa except as noted.

Al Gafa (g) Kenny Barron (p, e-p) Ben Brown (b) Al Foster (d) Azzedin Weston (perc)
Produced by Norman Granz; Recorded April 8, 1976 at RCA, New York
Pablo Records 2310 782, 1976