Vinyl Vault: Listen featuring Mel Martin

Next time on the Vinyl Vault, we’ll have an album from the band Listen, entitled “Listen, featuring Mel Martin.” The album was released in 1977 on Inner City Records.

Mel Martin is a San Francisco-based woodwind player. On the album with Listen, he played curved soprano sax, tenor sax, flute, and piccolo. Martin was joined on this album by Andy Narrell, who prominently played steel drums on many of the tracks. Narrell also played acoustic piano. Dave Dunaway on bass and George Marsh on drums and percussion rounded out the band.

The music is primarily late '70s fusion and features contrasts from fast, intricate blowing to slower, more introspective pieces. The band enjoyed whimsical song titles, and we’ll hear “The Mosquito Steps Out” and “A Tribute to Clark Kent.”

Join Geoff Anderson on the next Vinyl Vault and hear "Listen," on Tuesday. July 29, at 8:30 p.m. on KUVO JAZZ.