The Three MYSTERY Groups: Kitchen, Wynchester & Trio Paradiso
This is
probably the most mysterious and controversial of all three mystery groups for
which Claudio Slon was involved. Kitchen is the name of the
group that Claudio Slon formed with Paulinho da Costa when they both
left the employ of Sergio Mendes in the late 1970s. Claudio
wanted his own compositions played by this group. Claudio's idea
was for a group that would play fusion (funk and samba). At
least, that was the plan....
What happened?
According to the story that I have been told by
a Slon family member, record producer Lou Adler gave Claudio Slon the money to hire the
best musicians for the project. Claudio was also free to produce the
recording as HE wanted. Claudio took care of each detail in the
recording. A special designer was hired
to design the outfits of the musicians and they were going to do a huge
release party in a very famous place in Los Angeles. But something went terribly wrong with the contract that
Lou Adler had with the recording company. It is unknown at this time what the
problem was, but whatever it was, it totally prevented the group from
going forward with their plans. As a result of the problem, Mr. Adler wanted something like
$100,000.00 to assign the rights of the group to another person or
company. This is all that is known about this story...
Eight tracks, unreleased/unissed album. Tracks included Magic Feeling
(also recorded by the Wynchester group listed below); Latin America; I
Go To Rio; Put It Right Here; Sophisticated Lady; As; Growin' Your Own;
Nightbird.
Music credits:
Claudio Slon and D. Grusin wrote the music for Magic Feeling;
Claudio Slon co-wrote the music for Latin America with P. da Costa & Octavio Bailly, with lyrics by Claudio Slon;
Claudio Slon wrote the music and lyrics for Put It Right Here;
Claudio Slon and D. Grusin wrote the music for Growin' Your Own;
Claudio Slon wrote the music for Nightbird.
Musicians in the group include:
Don Grusin, keyboards; Claudio Slon,
drums; P. da Costa, congas, percussion; Octavio Bailly, bass; Al Ciner,
guitars; Henry Jackson, vocals; Diana Brooks, vocals; Don Markese, sax;
Steve Hufsteter, trumpet; Bill Reicherbach, trombone; Tom Scott, sax;
Chuck Findley, trumpet; Dick Hyde, trombone.
Six tracks, unreleased/unissued album. Track names, other than Magic Feeling are not known at this time.
Musicians in the group included Claudio Slon, Tom Scott, D. Grusin,
Paulinho da Costa, Frank Lombardo and two Stevie Wonder singers.
This group did manage to release a 45 rpm picture sleeve single in Japan which
is listed and pictured here.
It is not known why Wynchester did not make other recordings issued to
the public and why the single mentioned above was released only in
Japan.
Trio Paradiso
is a group that Claudio Slon formed in the 1990s. This is before
Claudio joined the new João Donato Trio in the late
nineties. It is not known why Trio Paradiso did not make
recordings issued to the public.
Nine tracks,
unreleased/unissued album. Tracks recorded in 1993 include
Passages, Emily, Niteroi, A Child Is Born, I Love You, The Very Thought
of You, The Dolphin, Cherokee & It Might As Well Be Spring.
Musicians in the group in addition to Claudio Slon are not known at
this time except for Octavio Bailly Jr. on bass and Frank Zotolli on
piano.