Performer Notes:

• Personnel: Ilona Knopfler, Oscar Brown, Jr. (vocals); Dan Faehnle, Kenny Burrell, Pat Kelley, Russell Malone (guitar); Don Palmer, Jean Sudbury, Norm Hughes, Harry Scorzo, Francine Walsh, Ted Falcon (violin); James V. Ross, Karen Elaine Bakunin, Alexis Carreon (viola); Alan Mautner, Victor Lawrence (cello); Jerry Dodgion (flute, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Sam Most (flute); Eric Alexander , Ralph Moore, Teddy Edwards (saxophone); Jessie Bartlett Davis (alto saxophone); Frank Wess, James Moody Sextet, Jimmy Heath, Kamasi Washington (tenor saxophone); Jay Brandford, Gary Smulyan (baritone saxophone); Eddie Henderson, Jimmy Owens, Jon Faddis, Nicholas Payton, Oscar Brashear, Sean Jones , Bill Armstrong, Frank Greene (trumpet); Kurt Snyder (French horn); Dennis Wilson Quintet, Luis Bonilla, Benny Powell, Douglas Purviance (trombone); Tom Rainer, Eugene Maslov, Mulgrew Miller, Renee Rosnes, Cedar Walton (piano); Joey DeFrancesco (organ); Calvin "Koko" Brunson, Orrin Evans (keyboards); Terry Gibbs (vibraphone); Kenny Davis (acoustic bass); Peter Washington (upright bass); Gerry Gibbs, Steve Cobb, Jeff Hamilton , Lewis Nash , Ralph Penland, Stix Hooper, Willie Jones III , E.J. Strickland, Skeeto Valdez (drums); Ray Armando (congas); Lenny Castro (percussion).
• Audio Mixer: Reed Ruddy.
• Recording information: Island Recorders, Chicago, IL (06/2002).
• Arrangers: Tom Rainer; Gerald Wilson.
• Legends & Lions: Blues is a series assembled by Detroit's Mack Avenue label that pairs its roster's veteran artists with its up-and-coming personas thematically. The first two volumes in the series -- Swingin' and Swoonin' -- were successful in their way. The Blues volume is another attempt at the formula and it meets with very mixed results. First off, one wonders how the label defines the word blues. The version of John Coltrane's "Equinox" here, by the brilliant Gerald Wilson Orchestra, brings out the blues in its soloist's parts, but the band underscores the changes and stretches them until the blues all but disappears. Far more successful is their second number "Blues for Manhattan (The Diminished Triangle)" where the blues are out, front and center, and it's a killer track to close with Too bad everything here isn't that good. Ilona Knopfler's reading of "Unchain My Heart," is, for this performer, typically daring and uses a polyrythmic approach to the blues. The cut feels more like Santana playing the blues with a female vocalist, until the strings kick in. It works beautifully. Terry Gibbs' version of "Jumpin' with Symphony Sid" is strident but stiff, as is the version of "St. Louis Blues" that's so laid-back it's almost unrecognizable. It should be mentioned that some of the sidemen on these sessions are very prominent names in jazz -- Eddie G?mez, Ralph Moore, Jon Faddis, Renee Rosnes, Cedar Walton, Jimmy Heath, and Oscar Brown, Jr. (whose "But I Was Cool," is one of the real high points here) just to name a few. Interesting but forgettable, Legends & Lions: Blues doesn't quite measure up to Mack Avenue's previous compilations. ~ Thom Jurek

Producer: Gretchen Carhartt, Stefan Kukurugya, Jimmie Haskell, Al Pryor, Stix Hooper, Terry Gibbs

Format: CD (1 Disc); Stereo

Country: USA

Studio/Live: Studio

Release Date: 1 August, 2006

Label: Relativity Entertainment

Dimensions: 12.6 x 14.3 x 1.1 centimeters (0.07 kg)