With: Mina Aoe (vocals), Freddy Cole (vocals, piano), Grover Washington Jr. (soprano saxophone), Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Jim Powell (trombone), Ted Nash (tenor saxophone), Jerry Byrd (guitar), Mal Waldron (piano), George Mraz (bass), Billy Hart (drums), Steve Berrios (percussion)
Record date: March 3-7, 1993
I'll never get used to this kind of thing. Japanese singer Mina Aoe teams up with some of the top American jazz musicians of those days. The result is an overly sweet, old fashioned out of style and very dull record. Mina Aoe must have been quite the singer in her homeland. She has recorded lots of music back in the 1960's. She could sing okay but has this huge Japanese accent. The music played here is so not my cup of tea. In my opinion we have past this kind of thing in the 1940's. And even then: it was performed a zillion times better back in those days. Love some of the standards but not the way they are performed here.
1 star for the music. 1 more for the excellent musicians playing here and Freddy Cole's voice. Try it yourself, maybe you will like it. I don't and mostly bought it to complete the collection. I would definitely not spend the money some Discogs sellers dare to ask for it.
Agree this is one of the few albums Mal is on that I really don't like AT ALL. Matter of fact I'm selling it on Discogs! A buyer with an Asian sounding username hit the buy button on it several years ago but never completed the transaction. Doubt it will ever sell.
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