Charlie Rouse
Cinnamon Flower
Resonance Records
Most people who know of Charlie Rouse remember him for the 11 years he served as Thelonious Monk’s tenor sax man. I count myself among those who didn’t know Rouse’s work as a leader. I saw some of his discs as leader, but didn’t take the time to explore. Cinnamon Flower is a revelation. Charlie Rouse had a powerful voice of his own and the empathy to lead a large ensemble. Cinnamon Flower explores Rouse’s appreciation of Brazilian music with an outstanding 11-piece band.
The album was recorded in the mid-‘70s at Sound Ideas Studio in New York. George Klabin engineered the original sessions and also engineered this reissue. The original release was produced by Alan Douglas for his Casablanca-distributed Douglas Records. The original release had overdubs added to “sweeten” the sound. Douglas added keyboards, strings, horns and percussion to give the record a but more polish and punch. The original version of “Backwoods Echos” starts with a pensive solo sax line, then slams you to the wall with the brash sound of the full ensemble.
This reissue has the originally released Douglas Records version of the album, but it also has the version as originally conceived by Rouse and Klabin. On the two-album version, one LP is the Douglas version, and the other is the Sound Ideas master tapes without the overdubs. On the CD, The first half of the set is the Douglas release and the second half is the Sound Ideas version. There are times when producers can ruin a good album with overdubs. Thankfully, that didn’t happen here. Both versions of the album are quite remarkable. The Douglas version is punchier, yet I prefer the Sound Ideas version for its subtler take on the tunes. The overdubs weren’t necessary, but may have made commercial sense in 1977. The collection ends with the previously unreleased, “Meeting House,” a lilting samba with a cheery flute taking the lead.
