Late (Alvin Batiste album)

Late
Studio album by
Alvin Batiste
Released1993
GenreJazz
LabelColumbia[1]
ProducerAlvin Batiste
Alvin Batiste chronology
Bayou Magic
(1988) 		Late
(1993) 		Songs, Words and Messages, Connections
(1999)

Late is an album by the American clarinetist Alvin Batiste, released in 1993.[2][3] Issued as part of Columbia Records' "Legendary Pioneers of Jazz" series, it was Batiste's first album for a major label.[4][5]

Production

The album was produced by Batiste.[6] He led Kenny Barron on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, and Herman Jackson on drums.[7] Batiste wrote six of the album's eight songs.[8] "Banjo Noir" was inspired by a Creole folk song from the 1800s.[9] "Ray's Segue" is based on a melody that Ray Charles would play.[10] "Imp and Perry" is based on John Coltrane's "Countdown".[11] Wessell Anderson played saxophone on "Body and Soul".[12]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
Chicago Sun-Times[14]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[15]
MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide[6]
The Philadelphia Inquirer[16]

The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote: "Always light and elegant, Batiste weaves delicate, diaphanous strands on the title track and manages a street sensibility coupled with a highbrow complexity on 'Bat's Blues'."[16] The Chicago Tribune stated that "Batiste adds an alert technique and an intense, compositional approach to improvisation."[17] The Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "notes curl like liquid smoke from his blues treatments."[14]

The Times-Picayune stated that "Batiste's round, mellow tone alternates with tweaking arpeggios, gruff growls and jittering chromatics."[18] The New York Times listed Late among 1993's best jazz albums, noting that it moves "from absolutely cool late night atmospherics, to the experimental, and it always swings."[19]

AllMusic wrote that Batiste "has a conventional and pleasing tone that he utilizes to improvise in an unusual and harmonically advanced style."[13]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Late" 
2."Imp and Perry" 
3."Bat's Blues" 
4."Body and Soul" 
5."Banjo Noir" 
6."Ray's Segue" 
7."When the Saints" 
8."Kinshasa" 

References

  1. ^ "Clarinetist Alvin Batiste Dies at 74". JazzTimes. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Alvin Batiste Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic.
  3. ^ "Alvin Batiste, Clarinetist of New Orleans, Dies at 74". The New York Times. May 7, 2007.
  4. ^ Tunzi, Kristina (Jun 9, 2007). "Deaths". Billboard. Vol. 119, no. 23. p. 84.
  5. ^ "New Orleans born Alvin Batiste...". NPR. Jul 11, 1993.
  6. ^ a b MusicHound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide. Schirmer Trade Books. 1998. p. 77.
  7. ^ Point, Michael (29 July 1993). "Esoteric tunes fill out summer". Onward. Austin American-Statesman. p. 13.
  8. ^ Chapman, Geoff (22 Jan 1994). "Columbia has produced some gems...". Toronto Star. p. H8.
  9. ^ "A Saint Goes Marching Home". The Village Voice. May 29, 2007.
  10. ^ Wirt, John (June 25, 1993). "Batiste's major-label debut is Late". Fun. The Advocate. Baton Rouge. p. 8.
  11. ^ Kanzler, George (July 11, 1993). "The Clarinet, in All Its Versatile Glory". News. The Star-Ledger.
  12. ^ Blackwell, Dave (November 26, 1993). "Columbia Records has proven once again...". Deseret News. p. W7.
  13. ^ a b "Alvin Batiste Late". AllMusic.
  14. ^ a b Sachs, Lloyd (July 25, 1993). "Exposure Is Better 'Late' Than Never for Alvin Batiste". Show. Chicago Sun-Times. p. 8.
  15. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 464.
  16. ^ a b Stark, Karl (3 Aug 1993). "Alvin Batiste Late". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. E5.
  17. ^ Reich, Howard (5 Sep 1993). "Two Gems Evoke a Vanished World of Jazz". Arts. Chicago Tribune. p. 17.
  18. ^ Aiges, Scott (July 2, 1993). "Past Pleasures in Present Tense". The Times-Picayune. p. L6.
  19. ^ Watrous, Peter (5 Jan 1994). "The Pop Life". The New York Times. p. C17.