''Black, Brown and Beautiful'' is an album by American jazz composer/arranger

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album ''The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signifi ...

featuring performances by a big band recorded in 1969 and first released on the

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Du ...

label. Selections from the album were released on Nelson's 1976 compilation ''A Dream Deferred'' while the title was also used for the CD rerelease of Johnny Hodges album ''

3 Shades of Blue ''3 Shades of Blue'' is the final album recorded as leader by American jazz saxophonist Johnny Hodges featuring performances recorded in 1970 with vocalist Leon Thomas and composer/arranger Oliver Nelson and first released on the Flying Dutchman ...

''.

Reception

Douglas Payne called it "A stirring tribute to

Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

that is as searching and angry as it is contemplative and compassionate. Nelson mixes dissonant orchestral moments that nearly lapse into free zones with lovely, more familiar territory which celebrate a joy of love and life. Highly recommended but (as of yet) unissued on CD and very hard to find."Payne, D.
Doug Payne Reviews
accessed February 8, 2016 The album has since been reissued on CD and is also available as a digital download.

Track listing

''All compositions by Oliver Nelson'' # "Aftermath" - 5:29 # "Requiem" - 7:03 # "Lamb of God" - 2:28 # "Martin Was a Man, a Real Man" - 4:08 # "Self-Help Is Needed" - 4:06 # "I Hope in Time a Change Will Come" - 2:33 # "3, 2, 1, 0" - 3:24 # "Black, Brown and Beautiful" - 3:26 # "Requiem, Afterthoughts" - 4:00

Personnel

Information is based on the album’s session notes *

- arranger (All tracks), conductor (2, 5-7, 9) * Stanley Wilson - conductor (1, 3-4, 8) *Orchestra including the following soloists: *Oliver Nelson -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(2, 4), alto saxophone (8), soprano saxophone (6, 9) * Bob Bryant -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(7) *

Chuck Domanico Charles Louis Domanico (January 20, 1944 – October 17, 2002), better known as Chuck Domanico, was an American jazz bassist who played double bass and bass guitar on the West Coast jazz scene. Domanico was born in Chicago. He settled i ...

- bass (9) *

John Gross John Gross FRSL (12 March 1935 – 10 January 2011) was an eminent English man of letters. A leading intellectual, writer, anthologist, and critic, ''The Guardian'' (in a tribute titled "My Hero") and ''The Spectator'' were among several pu ...

John Klemmer John T. Klemmer (born July 3, 1946) is an American saxophonist, composer, songwriter, and arranger. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and began playing guitar at the age of five and alto saxophone at the age of 11. His other ear ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

(1) *

John Guerin John Payne Guerin (October 31, 1939 – January 5, 2004) was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style. Biography Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer he began performing with Buddy De ...

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (born March 13, 1925) is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jaz ...

- drums (9) *Pearl Kaufman (2-3),

Roger Kellaway Roger Kellaway (born November 1, 1939) is an American composer, arranger and jazz pianist. Life and career Kellaway was born in Waban, Massachusetts, United States. He is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory. Kellaway has composed commissi ...

(7, 9) - piano *

Frank Strozier Frank R. Strozier Jr. (born June 13, 1937) is a jazz alto saxophonist. Strozier was born in Memphis, Tennessee, where he learned to play piano. In 1954, he moved to Chicago, where he performed with Harold Mabern, George Coleman, and Booker Litt ...

- alto saxophone (5) ;Technical *Ami Hadani - sound mixing *

Chuck Stewart Charles Stewart (May 21, 1927 – January 20, 2017) was an American photographer best known for his portraits of jazz singers and musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, and Miles Davis, as well as ar ...

- front cover photography

References

{{authority control 1970 albums Albums arranged by Oliver Nelson Albums conducted by Oliver Nelson Albums produced by Bob Thiele Flying Dutchman Records albums Oliver Nelson albums