New Jazz Adds – 7/10/2018
New Jazz Adds – 7/10/2018
John Bailey – In Real Time (Summit): Based in NYC, trumpeter John Bailey plays in several genres including jazz, R&B, pop and classical music. “He became a member of the Buddy Rich Band while still in college, and his career has included tenures with Ray Charles, Ray Barretto and New World Spirit, The Woody Herman Orchestra and Frank Sinatra, Jr. He has performed and recorded with James Moody, Kenny Burrell, and Dr. Lonnie Smith,” among others. (http://www.summitrecords.com/release/in-real-time-john-bailey/) This appears to be his first release as leader and he showcases his wonderful reach of styles, often a cool mode with perfect execution. In addition to Bailey (trumpet, flugelhorn), the players are Stacy Dillard (tenor, soprano sax), John Hart (guitar), Cameron Brown (bass) and Victor Lewis (drums, cymbals). Everyone plays with fantastic precision. This is a uniquely marvelous release. Click here to listen to samples of two songs on this disc.
John Coltrane – Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album (Impulse): Newly recovered and never previously released recordings by John Coltrane should in its significance demand your attention, but you may think that if the music was so essential why has it only been released now? This never completed set has only recently been discovered and the material was never completed in the finished state that Coltrane wanted. “The after-the-fact title—alluding to a conversation Coltrane had with Wayne Shorter about the possibility of improvising as if starting a sentence in the middle, moving backward and forward simultaneously—helps turn a possible liability into a strength.” (https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/john-coltrane-both-directions-at-once-the-lost-album/) The group includes McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. “This is like finding a new room in the Great Pyramid.” (Sonny Rollins) It is essential listening. Click here and scroll way down to listen to samples from this release.
Erroll Garner – Nightconcert (Mack Avenue): “Nightconcert presents Garner at the peak of his genius, recorded at a midnight concert in November 1964 at The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with an audience of 2000 highly enthusiastic and enraptured people of all ages. Also notable is that this album features eight never-before-heard Garner song interpretations, including a newly discovered original.” (http://errollgarner.com/nightconcert/) Garner was accompanied by Eddie Calhoun (bass) and Kenny Martin (drums) in presenting these wonderful versions of “Night And Day”, “On Green Dolphin Street”, and a few original compositions by Garner himself: “Theme From ‘A New Kind Of Love’”, “That Amsterdam Swing” and “No More Shadows”. The performances are terrific throughout, reminding us once again what a unique and magnificent musician Garner was. I regret I am unable to find a sample from this performance, but click here to listen to Garner’s performance of “Where Or When” from 1962.
Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra – Mulgrew-ology (Detroit Music Factory): Composer/arranger/pianist Scott Gwinnell leads this tribute to pianist, composer, and educator Mulgrew Miller who passed away in 2013. Miller was widely recognized for his clarity of touch and rhythmic style. Gwinnell opens with an original tribute to Miller and follows up with of Miller’s compositions and other songs associated with his playing. Contributing musicians are Keith Kaminski, James Hughes, Steve Wood, Carl Cafagna, and Mark Berger (woodwinds); Bob Jensen, Paul Finkheimer, John Douglas and Justin Walter (trumpets); Dave Jensen, Terry Kimora, Tony Buccilli and Stefan Stolarchuk (trombones); Jordan Schug (bass) and Scott Kretzer (drums) with guests Janelle Reichman (tenor sax), Anthony Stanco (trumpet), Mike Pashance (bass trombone) and Emma Aboukasm (vocal). This is a wonderful tribute and a wonderful listening experience. Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Hendrick Meurkens / Bill Cunliffe – Cabin In The Sky (Height Advantage): This duo features Hendrick Meurkens on harmonica and Bill Cunliffe on piano. Meurkens contributes two originals and Cunliffe one. The remainder of the set are covers ranging from Joe Zawinul’s “Young And Fine” and Wayne Shorter’s “Miyako” to Bobby Gentry’s “Ode To Billie Joe” and Jobim’s “Wave”. They interact very well throughout. Click here to listen to the title tune.
Bob Mintzer Big Band / New York Voices – Meeting Of Minds (Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild): Bob Mintzer’s Big Band joins forces with the New York Voices, Kim Nazarian, Lauren Kinhan, Darmon Meader and Peter Eldridge, to present ten jazz and pop classics including “Autumn Leaves”, “The Way You Look Tonight”, “You Go to My Head”, “Speak Low” and one Mintzer original, “Weird Blues”. The Voices are spectacular and the musical backing features outstanding solos and ensemble work as well. Band members include Mintzer (tenor sax, flute); Bob Sheppard and Lawrence Feldman (alto sax, flute); Bob Malach (tenor sax); Roger Rosenberg (bari sax, clarinet); Bob Millikan, Frank Greene, Scott Wendholt, and James Moore (trumpets); Keith O’Quinn, Jeff Bush, and Jay Ashby (trombones); David Taylor (bass trombone); Phil Markowitz (piano); Marty Ashby (guitar); Jay Anderson (bass); and John Riley (drums). The band is solid and the vocals create lots of variety by working as a whole group sometimes and by shifting lead voices as well as the composition of singers from song to song. Click here for an introduction to this disc.
Ted Nash Quintet – Live At Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (Plastic Sax): Ted Nash is “a co-founder of the New York-based Jazz Composers Collective, a musician-run, non-profit innovative entity dedicated to presenting the original works of composers pushing the boundaries of their self-expression. Nash is also a long-standing member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, with Wynton Marsalis.” (http://tednash.com/about/) He has also released a dozen recordings as a leader. This release features Nash on alto sax, clarinet, flute and piccolo with Warren Wolf (vibes), Gary Versace (piano), Rufus Reid (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums) in live performance at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. Two of the eight pieces are originals and the covers include “Windows” (Chick Corea), “Spinning Wheel” (Herbie Nichols), even Henry Mancini’s “Baby Elephant Walk” and a blow out version of Kenny Clark and Thelonious Monk’s “Epistrophy”. Fantastic! Click here for an introduction.
Charles Pillow Large Ensemble – Electric Miles (Mama): The title basically tells the story, however, this large ensemble jumps right into the middle of the room rather than keeping the relatively distant tones Miles used at this phase of his career. Much of this disc is from “Bitches’ Brew”, but the sound enters your ears much fuller and more directly. This gives the music a fresh touch that truly makes the music sound new. Charles Pillow (arranger, alto and soprano sax, flute and alto flute) has put together a large band that delivers in a new approach. The players are Colin Gordon (alto and soprano sax, flute), Luke Norris (tenor sax, clarinet), CJ Ziarniak (tenor sax), Karl Stabnau (bass clarinet), Michael Davis, Abe Nouri and Jack Courtright (trombone), Gabe Ramos (bass trombone), Tony Kadleck (lead trumpet), Charlie Carr, Clay Jenkins and Tim Hagans (trumpet), Julian Garvue (electric piano), Chuck Bergeron (electric bass), Mike Forfia (acoustic bass), Jared Schonig (drums), and special guest David Liebman (soprano sax). Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Soggy Po’ Boys – Perhaps It Is Time To Go Home (Self-produced): A bit down home but solidly connected with the jazzy side of old blues. With the exception of “Old Rugged Cross”, the Soggy Po’ Boys are offering today’s gutbucket blues from the edge of the city limits. This release saw the light of day in 2014. The players are Mike Effenberger (piano, accordion), Stuart Dias (vocals, guitar), Eric Klaxton (soprano sax), Nick Mainella (tenor sax, clarinet), Zach Lange and Colin Mainella (trumpet), and Claude Fried (sousaphone). They consider their baseline to be old New Orleans jazz with all of its Caribbean influences in tact. Click here to check them out in their earliest iteration.
Soggy Po’ Boys – No Worse For Wear (Self-produced): A year later, the Po’ Boys were still soggy and maybe even more so! The players are mostly the same: The players are Mike Effenberger (piano), Brett Gallo (drums), Stuart Dias (vocals, guitar), Eric Klaxton (soprano sax), Nick Mainella (tenor sax, clarinet), Zach Lange and Colin Mainella (trumpet), and Claude Fried (sousaphone) and all of the songs are originals. The older New Orleans style with blues and rumba is more prominent this time outing Dias shifts into vocal style seemingly drawn from Tom Waits on the bluesier songs. Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Soggy Po’ Boys – Smoke (Self-produced): This is the brand new Soggy Po’ Boys release. The band has made one change in personnel, replacing tuba player Claude Fried with Nick Phaneuf (upright bass). The program contains eight new originals and two covers. The sound is a bit closer to Dixieland and sounds more light-hearted and there is no question that the group is playing their best to date. The last song has the closest style to the earlier discs. Click here to listen to the songs on this disc.
Dr. Michael White – Tricentennial Rag (Basin Street): Dr. Michael White (clarinet) is getting things together to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of New Orleans and he has pulled together numerous players to celebrate the occasion on ten of his new compositions before closing with “When The Saints Go Marching In”. The constantly shifting players are Richard Anderson (trombone), Alexander R. Belhaj (guitar), Detroit A. Brooks and Seva Venet (banjo), Mark Brooks and Kerry G. Lewis trading off on bass, Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown and Gregory Stafford (trading off on trumpet, vocal), Shaye Cohn (cornet), David L. Harris (trombone), Herman Lebeaux (drums), Steve Pistorius (piano), and Dimitri Smith (sousaphone). Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of some songs from this disc.
Kopasetically,
Professor Bebop
