The Great Pretender cover

The Great Pretender

Released

Trumpeter Lester Bowie’s first album for ECM, released in 1981, features Hamiet Bluiett on baritone sax, Donald Smith on piano and organ, Fred Williams on bass, Phillip Wilson on drums, and two singers: David Peaston and Bowie’s wife, Fontella Bass. It begins with a nearly 17-minute version of the title track that journeys through doo-wop, R&B, gospel, and multiple varieties of jazz, with Bluiett taking an astonishing solo — you’ll hear notes you never thought the baritone sax could produce. The rest of the album includes a New Orleans-style treatment of the theme from the 1950s kids’ TV show Howdy Doody; a sharp-edged urban funk version of the 1930s pop song “When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain”; and three Bowie originals which blend Latin funk, AACM-style atmospherics, and his pyrotechnic trumpet playing to stunning effect.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Spiritual Dimensions cover

Spiritual Dimensions

Wadada Leo Smith
Canyon Lady cover

Canyon Lady

Joe Henderson
The Vagabond cover

The Vagabond

Aaron Diehl
Trios cover

Trios

Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow
Artifacts cover

Artifacts

Mike Reed, Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid
Arctic Riff cover

Arctic Riff

Joe Lovano, Marcin Wasilewski
Historicity cover

Historicity

Vijay Iyer Trio
Inner System Blues cover

Inner System Blues

Last Days of May