Ron Carter's Pastels from 1977

 

This one album by Ron Carter I thought was just genius.  I suppose he's a pretty well-known bassist in pure jazz circles, but I didn't really think he delved into the progressive fusion domain, just the standard modern bebop stuff which I really can't listen to anymore.  But he indeed put out this one album at a time when I guess most of his colleagues dipped their toes in fusion or dunked themselves in it.

Compositions are by Ron Carter, but arrangements by the great Don Sebesky, featured before on this blog, back here with his gorgeous and masterful classical arrangements.  So I think this collab is what makes this particularly compelling.  Information on this record with all the credits here.

The unbelievable beauty, with its gentle chord modulations, of the generically entitled chamber piece called Ballad:

This owes a lot obviously to the orchestral arrangements by Sebesky.  I tried to locate all the albums he arranged in the mid-1970s that would be interesting to hear, but there weren't many, with Giant Box being the standout.  I think I also linked that one back in the Sebesky post.

The title track is also amazing:

More similar 1970s US progressive fusion coming.