''The Golden Sword'' (subtitled ''Torero Impressions in Jazz'') is an album by the

Gerald Wilson Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. In addition to being a ...

Orchestra recorded in 1966 and released on the

Pacific Jazz Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founded ...

label.Pacific Jazz Records Catalog: 10100/20100 series
accessed January 29, 2016

accessed January 29, 2016

Music

The ten tracks "pay tribute to aspects of Mexico". "Carlos" is a tribute to bullfighter

Carlos Arruza Carlos Arruza (February 17, 1920 – May 20, 1966), born Carlos Ruiz Camino, was one of the most prominent bullfighters of the 20th century. He was known as "El Ciclón" ("the cyclone"). Arruza was born in Mexico to Spanish parents. He bega ...

Release and reception

''The Golden Sword'' was released by Pacific Jazz Records. ''

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 ...

'' rated the album with 4½ stars; in his review, Scott Yanow called it "One of Gerald Wilson's most memorable albums". An

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

reviewer described it as "one of the best Wilson albums of the entire Pacific Jazz lot".

Track listing

''All compositions by Gerald Wilson except as indicated'' # "The Golden Sword" - 3:11 # "Man of La Mancha" (

Joe Darion Joe Darion (30 January 1917 — 16 June 2001) was an American musical theatre lyricist, most famous for ''Man of La Mancha'', which is considered, by some critics, as a precursor to 1980s sung-through musicals such as '' Les Miserables''. Dario ...

Mitch Leigh Mitch Leigh (born Irwin Michnick; January 30, 1928March 16, 2014) was an American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer best known for the musical ''Man of La Mancha''. Biography Early years Leigh was born in Brooklyn, New York as Irw ...

) - 2:16 # " The Breeze and I" (

Ernesto Lecuona Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (; August 7, 1896 – November 29, 1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as ...

) - 5:23 # "Carlos" - 5:23 # "Chanson du Feu Follet (Song of Mad Fire)" (

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first ...

) - 4:07 # "Mi Corazon (My Heart)" - 2:58 # "Blues Latinese" - 5:35 # "The Feather (From "Teatihuacan Suite")" - 4:15 # "La Mentira (The Lie)" (

Álvaro Carrillo Álvaro Carrillo Alarcón (2 December 1921 - 3 April 1969) was a Mexican popular music composer and songwriter, born in San Juan Cacahuatepec, Oaxaca. He wrote over 300 songs, mostly boleros, including the great hits ''Amor mío'', ''Sabor a mí' ...

) - 2:05 # "The Serpent (From "Teatihuacan Suite")" - 4:05 *Recorded at TTG Sound Studios in Hollywood, CA on June 21, 1966 (tracks 4, 8 & 10) July 8, 1966 (tracks 1, 5 & 7) and August 19, 1966 (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8 & 9).

Personnel

- arranger, conductor,

maracas A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were ...

Conte Candoli Secondo "Conte" Candoli (July 12, 1927 – December 14, 2001) was an American jazz trumpeter based on the West Coast. He played in the big bands of Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie, and in Doc Severinsen's NBC Orc ...

(tracks 3, 6, 8 & 9), Jules Chaikin, Freddie Hill, Nat Meeks (tracks 1, 5 & 7), Mel Moore, Jimmy Owens (tracks 4, 8 & 10), Al Porcino -

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 ...

* Mike Barone, John Ewing, Lester Robertson -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

*Ernie Tack - bass trombone *William Green - flute, piccolo *

Jimmy Woods Jimmy Woods (born October 29, 1934, in St. Louis, Missouri; died March 29, 2018, in Anchorage, Alaska) was an American jazz alto saxophonist. Woods played with the R&B band of Homer Carter in 1951, and served in the Air Force from 1952 to 1956 ...

- soprano saxophone, alto saxophone (tracks 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 & 10) *Anthony Ortega - alto saxophone, flute *

Teddy Edwards Theodore Marcus Edwards (April 26, 1924 – April 20, 2003) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Biography Edwards was born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. He learned to play at a very early age, first on alto saxophone and the ...

Harold Land Harold de Vance Land (December 18, 1928 – July 27, 2001) was an American hard bop and post-bop tenor saxophonist. Land developed his hard bop playing with the Max Roach/ Clifford Brown band into a personal, modern style, often rivalling Cliffo ...

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 ...

Jack Nimitz Jack Nimitz (January 11, 1930 – June 10, 2009) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist. He was nicknamed "The Admiral". Career A native of Washington, D.C., Nimitz started on clarinet in his early teens before playing alto saxophone. Dur ...

- baritone saxophone *

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Po ...

(tracks 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 & 10),

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

(tracks 2, 3, 6, 8 & 9) -

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...

* Jack Wilson -

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 ...

Laurindo Almeida Laurindo Almeida (September 2, 1917 – July 26, 1995) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer in classical, jazz, and Latin music. He and Bud Shank were pioneers in the creation of bossa nova. Almeida was the first guitarist to receive Gra ...

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 strin ...

(tracks 2, 3, 6, 8 & 9) *Buddy Woodson -

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

*Mel Lee - drums *Max Garduno congas

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Sword, The Gerald Wilson albums 1966 albums Pacific Jazz Records albums Albums arranged by Gerald Wilson Albums conducted by Gerald Wilson