Tuesday 22 January 2013

The Visitors - Neptune

Influential Tuition

When I started this blog the idea was to post quick references to great music I was listening to at that time - a musical and celebratory diary of my likes. It has changed quite a bit over time, but I hope at its core is this celebration.

Tonight as I was inputting exam marks onto the computer [it's the marking season again, though the last time it will happen mid-year], I have been listening to The Visitors' jazz album Neptune, recorded for Muse Records in 1972. It's superb jazz sax playing. Of special and amazing interest is that the two brothers Carl Grubbs [alto] and Earl Grubbs [soprano and tenor] took saxophone lessons in the 1950s with the great John Coltrane who was then dating and later married their cousin Naima after whom the second track is titled. The influential tuition is pleasingly evident, as all good teaching should be. It is never flash here, but it can be delightfully energetic as on closing track Reflections On New York where the brothers sparkle in tandem.

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