Don Burrows, James Morrison – In Good Company (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:01:11 minutes | 1,69 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ABC Jazz
In Good Company documents an afternoon in the studio with Don and James, and represents a golden opportunity to witness these two brilliant musicians ‘jamming together’. In typically virtuosic style, they each play three instruments (Don on alto flute, clarinet and alto saxophone, James on trombone, bass trumpet and trumpet), accompanied by Phil Stack on acoustic bass. The recording showcases the intimacy of their duet, and the musical wit and invention that has seen them become two of the world’s most celebrated musicians over the past decades.
Don Burrows was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to jazz in 1973. He was named an Australian Living Treasure in 1989 and 1999, for outstanding work in the jazz industry. Now in his 80s, Burrows doesn’t play much anymore, but he sparkled through the Australian and international jazz scene for some 65 years, and this is officially his final album presented by ABC Jazz. Burrows founded the first jazz studies program in the Southern Hemisphere in the mid 1970s, and he inspiring countless young jazz musicians to bring the same joy of music to people that he did. In fact Burrows was teacher and mentor to another Australian jazz great: James Morrison. In this double disc In Good Company, the pair do what jazz musos do best: they have a musical conversation, often called a ‘jam.’ It represents an afternoon in the studio. Morrison explains in the sleeve notes, that one of Burrows’ sayings was that you’re only as good as the company you keep. “In his company, I’ve been at my best,” Morrison says of Burrows. Each is a virtuoso jazz man in the truest sense of the work, and each of them plays no less than three instruments: Don plays alto flute, clarinet and alto saxophone, and James plays trombone, bass trumpet and trumpet, accompanied by Phil Stack on acoustic bass. (Burrows himself started playing the trombone in recent years, as arthritis made playing flute and clarinet impossible).
The languid feel of Day in the Life of a Fool is underpinned by a rhythmic urgency, and I Fall in Love Too Easily the impeccable sense of harmony, melody and timing that Burrows and Morrison possess. I Thought About You was written by Jimmy Van Heuson in 1939 on a train trip to Chicago, and the mood here is somewhat cheeky, with various trombone glissandi, suggestive, and laid back. A bonus disc of recordings from their early years together is featured – including a live recording from the Sydney Opera House, and the first-ever release on CD of ‘Essa Cara’, a Brazilian tune written by Don and recorded live in 1982. In terms of WOW factor, Basin Blues, recorded at the Rothbury Estate in Pokolbin in 1983 is right up there. Beginning with a brilliant trumpet flourish by Morrison, this extended version (at 12mins 9sec) features each player in virtuosic capacity. It features Paul McNamarra on piano, Craig Scott on bass and Alan Turnbull on drums. Some lovely old photographs of the Australian Jazz Orchestra are featured in the sleeve. Hopefully one of Burrows’ best recordings: The Don Burrows Quartet – at The Sydney Opera House (1974) will one day be released on disc. –Meldi Arkinstall, The Culture Concept Circle
Tracklist:
01. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Phil Stack – (You’d Be So) Easy to Love (05:57)
02. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Phil Stack – A Day in the Life of a Fool (Manhã De Carnaval) (03:46)
03. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Phil Stack – I Fall in Love Too Easily (03:44)
04. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Phil Stack – Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone (05:13)
05. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Phil Stack – I Thought About You (07:29)
06. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Phil Stack – The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else) (05:55)
07. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Phil Stack – Teach Me Tonight (05:05)
08. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Phil Stack – What’s New? (06:11)
09. Don Burrows, James Morrison, George Golla, Tony Ansell, Craig Scott, Alan Turnbull – Sweet Georgia Brown (08:05)
10. Don Burrows, James Morrison, George Golla, Craig Scott, David Jones – Donna Lee (07:51)
11. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Craig Scott, Paul McNamara, Alan Turnbull – The 6th Variation (08:00)
12. Don Burrows, James Morrison, David Pugney, Andrew Gander – Honeysuckle Rose (03:55)
13. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Australian Jazz Orchestra – Lace Embrace (09:40)
14. Don Burrows, James Morrison, George Golla, Craig Scott, Laurie Kennedy, The Adelaide Connection – Squeeze Me (03:52)
15. Don Burrows, James Morrison, George Golla, Tony Ansell, Craig Scott, Alan Turnbull – Basin Street Blues (12:10)
16. Don Burrows, James Morrison, Paul McNamara, Craig Scott, Alan Turnbull – There Will Never Be Another You (07:12)
17. Don Burrows, James Morrison, George Golla, Tony Ansell, Craig Scott, Alan Turnbull – Satin Doll (10:48)
18. Don Burrows, James Morrison, George Golla, John Sangster, David Pugney, Andrew Garner, Alan Turnbull, Ed Gaston, Craig Scott – Essa Cara (06:11)
