''Surprises'' is an album by jazz flautist

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (inclu ...

featuring singer Cissy Houston which was released on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

label in 1976.Atlantic Records Catalog: 1600 series
accessed September 1, 2015

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

site awarded the album 3 stars.Allmusic listing
accessed September 1, 2015

Track listing

''All compositions by Herbie Mann except as indicated'' #"Draw Your Breaks" (

Derrick Harriott Derrick Clifton Harriott OD (born 10 February 1942) is a Jamaican singer and record producer. He was a member of the Jiving Juniors with Herman Sang before embarking on a solo career. He has produced recordings by Big Youth, Chariot Riders, ...

, David Scott) - 4:50 #"Cajun Moon" (

JJ Cale John Weldon "J. J." Cale (December 5, 1938 – July 26, 2013) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and sound engineer. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knop ...

) - 6:17 #"Creepin" ( Stevie Wonder) - 5:00 #"Easter Rising" (

Pat Rebillot Patrick Earl "Pat" Rebillot (born April 21, 1935) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life and education Born in Louisville, Ohio, Rebilliot studied music at Mt. Union College and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Jeno Tak ...

, Pat Kirby) - 4:40 #"

Asa Branca "Asa Branca" is a song written by Luiz Gonzaga and Humberto Teixeira in 1947. The ''asa-branca'' ("white wing") of the title is the picazuro pigeon. With its departure the desolation of the parched ''sertão'' (the arid backcountry) is complete, ...

" (

Luiz Gonzaga Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento (standard orthography 'Luís'; ; Exu, December 13, 1912 – Recife, August 2, 1989) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, musician and poet and one of the most influential figures of Brazilian popular music in the twen ...

, Humberto Teixeira, Divina Eulália Oliveira) - 3:55 #"The Sound of Windwood" - 2:34 #"Cricket Dance" - 4:17 #"The Butterfly in a Stone Garden" - 5:19 #"Anata (I Wish You Were Here with Me)" (Akiko Kosaka) - 3:07

Personnel

*Herbie Mann - flute * Minoru Muraoka - shakuhachi (track 6) *Yosei Sato - shō (tracks 6 & 8) *

David "Fathead" Newman David "Fathead" Newman (February 24, 1933 – January 20, 2009) was an American jazz and rhythm-and-blues saxophonist, who made numerous recordings as a session musician and leader, but is best known for his work as a sideman on seminal 1950s an ...

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 ...

(tracks 1-3) *

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Gladstone Anderson -

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 ...

(track 1) *

Winston Wright Winston Wright (19431993) was a Jamaican keyboardist. He was a member of Tommy McCook's Supersonics, and acknowledged as Jamaica's master of the Hammond organ. Winston was born in May Pen, Jamaica on September 5, 1943 and died in Kingston, Jamaica ...

- organ (track 1) *Hux Brown (track 1), Sam Brown (track 6), Radcliffe "Dougie" Bryan (track 1), Jerry Friedman (tracks 2-4, 7 & 9), Bob Mann (track 3-5, 7 & 8),

Hugh McCracken Hugh Carmine McCracken (March 31, 1942 – March 28, 2013) was an American rock guitarist and session musician based in New York City, primarily known for his performance on guitar and also as a harmonica player. McCracken was additionally ...

(track 2), Jeff Mironov (track 5) -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Eriko Kuramoto, Harumi Nakamaru, Kazuko Tsubamoto -

koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * K ...

(tracks 6 & 8) *Somei Sasaki -

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...

(tracks 6 & 8) *

Bob Babbitt __NOTOC__ Robert Andrew Kreinar (November 26, 1937 – July 16, 2012), known as Bob Babbitt, was a Hungarian-American bassist, most famous for his work as a member of Motown Records' studio band, the Funk Brothers, from 1966 to 1972, as well a ...

(track 4), Jackie Jackson (track 1)

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer, specializing in electric bass, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (since 198 ...

(tracks 2, 3 & 5-9) - bass *

Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the ''Modern D ...

(tracks 2, 3 & 6-9),

Rick Marotta Richard Thomas Marotta (born January 7, 1948) is an American drummer and percussionist. He has appeared on recordings by leading artists such as Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Hall & Oates, Ste ...

(tracks 4 & 5), Michael Richards (track 1) -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Raphael Cruz (track 5), Sammy Figueroa (track 5), Armen Halburian (tracks 2-9),

Ralph MacDonald Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was a Trinidadian and Tobagonian American, Trinbagonian-American percussionist, songwriter, musical arranger, record producer, steelpan virtuoso and philanthropist. His compositions ...

(tracks 2 & 3) -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Seiko Fujisya, Kisaku Katada, Hiromitsu Katada -

taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming m ...

(tracks 6 & 8) * Cissy Houston (tracks 1-5), Akiko Kosaka (track 9) -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Eunice Peterson, Rannelle Braxton -

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(track 1) *

David Nadien David Nadien (March 12, 1926 – May 28, 2014) was an American virtuoso violinist and violin teacher. He was the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic from 1966 to 1970. His playing style, characterized by fast vibrato, audible shifting noise ...

Gene Orloff Gene Orloff (June 14, 1921 – March 23, 2009) was an American violinist, concertmaster, arranger, contractor and session musician. Background The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from th ...

, Guy Lumia, Richard Sortomme -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(track 4) *

Emanuel Vardi Emanuel Vardi (21 April 1915 – 29 January 2011), an American violist, was considered to have been one of the great viola players of the 20th century. Early life Emanuel Vardi was born April 21, 1915 in Jerusalem. His mother, Anna Joffa Vardi, ...

, Richard Maximoff -

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

(track 4) *Charles McCracken, Jesse Levy -

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(track 4)

Charts

Liner notes

From the liner notes: "Cissy Houston. Only now is she beginning to emerge from her cocoon after so many years with the Drinkards and the

Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, Ciss ...

. Cissy...is showcased here like a star-in-waiting."

References

*''Surprises'', Herbie Mann. Atlantic Records SD 1682 (1976) (album cover and liner notes)

External links

''Surprises'' at Allmusic.com
{{Authority control Herbie Mann albums Atlantic Records albums Crossover jazz albums 1976 albums