When it was released back in 1978, "Siembra" became the best selling salsa album in history and would stay that way for over twenty years (only to be topped by "Cuenta Conmigo" by Jerry Rivera in 1992). According to Wikipedia, almost all of its songs would eventually become hits in different Latin American countries.

I'm not sure exactly why the album cover has pictures of babies suspended over brightly drawn flowers, but I should say it makes for a pretty unique design.

Overall I think this is a fantastic album. Not only does it contain a variety of songs that are unique in themselves, but they each work together to give the album a sense of completion. The songs themselves are not only catchy, but have well-written arrangements for an accompanying piano, brass, and percussion that extend the lengths of the songs to a point that none of them become too repetitive.

First-time listeners will be thrown off by the introduction to the first song, "Plastico", where a string arrangement with a strong electric bass riff clearly indicate a disco feel. The song quickly transitions to salsa and fortunately stays for the rest of the album. The strong disco electric bass sound returns, however, later in the track "Plastico" as well as in "Maria Lionza", the sound bringing an excellent addition to the brass arrangements. The strings return as well in tracks such as the title track "Siembra". The powerhouse track of the album is "Pedro Navaja" which, inspired by the famous tune "Mack the Knife", is about a murderer. It became such a hit that a movie was made in Mexico in 1984 based on it.

Overall I greatly recommend this album for any fans of Latin America. However, I wouldn't approach this album with expectations of many jazz influences. The amount of improvisation here is minimal, if any.

Although released in 1971, The Bill Evans Trio "Live" was originally recorded in 1964 at the Trident Club in Sausalito, California. It is the first Bill Evans album recorded with drummer Larry Bunker on the Verve label, having played with him before on the Milestone live albums "Time Remembered" and "At Shelly's Manne Hole" a year earlier in 1963. Bassist Chuck Israels at this point has been playing quite consistently since the tragic death of Scott LaFaro in '61 after the famous Village Vanguard recordings and will continue doing so until 1966. He imitates the free style of LaFaro well enough but approaches his solos with more lyrical lines than LaFaro's more frantic approach.

At this stage in Bill Evans' career I believe I hear a notable change in his playing style. Although Evans' improvisations have always contained rhythmic interest as well as influences from the Bebop era, here I hear a slight increase in complexity. There is a possibly that at this point he is beginning to be influenced by the rise of Post-Bop.

So I give this album 6.5/10, perhaps being generous. Overall there's not necessarily anything entirely wrong with this album other than the fact that the groove and feel slightly miss the mark. The trio plays some good tunes (specifically "How My Heart Sings") but rarely do I find myself returning to this by desire rather than out of necessity.

I tend to feel negatively towards compilation albums, especially posthumous ones that seem to have the sole purpose of getting more money simply by re-releasing old tunes. You could say that in this case I actually fell victim to this while I was still new to jazz, and bought this compilation of Mingus tunes very vaguely named "The Best of". But at that moment, I had never heard any Charles Mingus and had been encouraged by a record store worker that I wouldn't regret buying Mingus.

And he was absolutely right. Being my introduction to Mingus, I was really impressed with everything this album had to offer. The soul, timbre, and chaos were unlike anything I'd ever heard before. There is a certain passionate attitude in this music I couldn't find from other jazz albums I'd been listening to. Eventually I did listen to other Mingus albums like "Mingus Ah Um" and realized this obviously wasn't truly the best of Mingus. In fact, no tracks from "Mingus Ah Um" are even on this compilation, despite the fact that it is regarded by many to be Mingus's best.

Despite all of this, I continue to enjoy the music from this compilation today. "Reincarnation of a Lovebird" is perhaps my favorite, creating such a beautiful melody out of obscure chord changes and rhythm still impresses me. "Moanin'" is probably the best baritone saxophone tune I've ever heard. "Pithecanthropus Erectus" uses dynamics to create a really mysterious sound before avant-garde chaos breaks through.

Although I would never recommend a compilation album, I still am inclined to give this 4/5.

I originally found this on CD at a yard sale about 2 or 3 summers ago for 2 dollars. It was a fantastic deal, and I'm glad I went for it. Since then I've had good feelings regarding this album. I've returned to it many times without disappointment, and can't help but regard this as truly one of the greatest hard bop albums of all time.

The lineup for most of the album consists of John Coltrane in a quartet with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. Unless my information is incorrect, it is the first album that consists of entirely Coltrane compositions and is the first album of Coltrane's on the Atlantic Records record label. In 2004 it was selected as one of fifty recordings added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.

And for good reason! Not only is the improvisation on the musicians' parts spot on, but the album as a whole offers a broad palette of hard bop tunes. "Giant Steps" is one of Coltrane's most famous tunes, if not his greatest. It features unorthodox chord changes that give a nod to the post bop that was to come a few years later. "Cousin Mary" is a blues tune that the musicians burn through with ease. "Countdown" is a very fast tune that actually doesn't have piano accompaniment for half of it. This particular aspect would be a prominent characteristic in future post bop tunes, like "Orbits" off of the Davis album "Miles Smiles", for example.

The last four tunes I especially think are special. "Spiral" has a cool feel to it as it has a slower tempo and held out chromatic chord changes in the accompaniment, which give the solos a nice textured background. "Syeeda's Song Flute" has the cool feel of "Spiral" but with a sense of subtle intensity.

"Naima" is probably one of my favorite jazz ballads. I believe it to rival the cool blueness of "Blue In Green" from Miles's famous "Kind of Blue". Not only does the ballad have a sadder sound to it than the typical jazz ballad standard, but it also uses some of the strangest chord changes that I have ever seen used in a ballad. Somehow, they still manage to function together to create something blue and beautiful.

"Mr. P.C." is a fast minor blues tune, and I would like to quickly clear up any millennial misunderstandings regarding the tune name.

"P.C." stands for "Paul Chambers", the bassist, and has nothing to do with computers.

While listening to the alternate takes, I discovered something interesting regarding the alternate take of "Giant Steps". The musicians play it at the same tempo, but hold notes longer in a way that feels lazier and less tight than the original. I noticed that in Coltrane's solo, he would begin playing licks that easily resemble those of the original solo before quickly changing his mind and moving in a direction that led the lick someplace else or just simply stopped playing. Overall, it doesn't sound like Coltrane was as deeply engrossed as the original.

Overall I think this album is a masterpiece and is essential for any jazz fan to own. It was not a disappointment for myself, and will hopefully continue to be this way for jazz fans to come.

What a cool album cover!

Smierc w miekkim futerku is the debut album of a nu jazz band from Poland, and a good one at that. The approach that they give to the genre is diverse, interesting, and unlike anything I've heard before. Although I admit this is the first nu jazz album I've studied, I'm certainly impressed with the textures and sounds created with the electronics and distorted guitar used with the saxophone.

The feel of the album overall is dark, which can be assumed from a look at the album artwork. The feel ranges from dark, ambient soundscapes created with electronics to tight, rock grooves with a saxophone melody to every band member improvising over the top of each other in a sudden chaotic storm of improvisation. Unconventional time signatures show up occasionally. In retrospect, the amount of what many would consider "jazz" is actually a little sparse here.

Whether or not many would consider it jazz or not, I think it sounds great.