Released February 1981 Artist Clare Fischer Label Pausa Records | Clare Fischer
&
Salsa Picante Present
"2 + 2"
(1981) Machaca
(1981) Release date February 1981 Genre Latin jazz | |
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Recorded September 1980
at Capitol Records Clare Fischer albums First Time Out, Alone Together, ONE ‑ to get ready: FOUR, The State of His Art, Surging Ahead |
Clare Fischer & Salsa Picante Present "2 + 2" is an album by American keyboardist/composer-arranger Clare Fischer, recorded in September 1980 and released in February 1981 by Pausa Records, and in Germany on the MPS label, as Foreign Exchange – The First Album. Tracks 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 would be reissued on CD in 1999, and as a digital download in 2012, as Latin Patterns, a compilation of remastered highlights from four of Fischer's MPS LPs from this period.
Contents
The album represents a number of firsts for Fischer, including his first Grammy (specifically, the album's final track, "Guajira Pa' La Jeva," named 1981's Best Latin Recording), as well as a pair of recording debuts, first, that of 2 + 2, the vocal quartet with which Fischer supplemented his Latin jazz ensemble (thus tying together two key components of his wide-ranging musical universe), and, of equal if not greater import, that of his son Brent Fischer, marking the beginning of a fruitful – and more than three-decade-long – professional association.
Reception
Los Angeles Times jazz critic Leonard Feather awarded the album four stars, making particular note of the album's seamless blend of vocal and instrumental units:
Their blend is splendid, they are at times expertly integrated with the band through Fischer's compositions, lyrics and arrangements; and they are quadrilingual, starting in German and proceeding to English, Spanish and doo-be-doo, the Esperanto of jazz. The rhythm, generally timbales-oriented, could have used more bottom. Darlene Koldenhoven, the lead soprano, is a striking discovery.
Track listing
All selections composed by Clare Fischer except where noted.
Side A
- "Du, Du...." (trad./arr. Clare Fischer) - 5:57
- "Legacy" - 2:35
- "Morning" - 3:36
- "Guajira Pa' La Jeva" (words - Jose "Perico" Hernadez, music - Poncho Sanchez and Clare Fischer) - 4:30
Side B
- "Leavin'" - 3:25
- "Funquiado" - 6:46
- "Thru the Ages" - 4:21
- "Melancolico" (words - Barbara Ransom, music - Clare Fischer) - 7:07