Miles Jordan
Miles’s Contributions
June 2000 Albums
Beauty Secrets
Kenny Werner
Any talk of musical chameleons must surely put Kenny Werner near the top of the list. Since recording his first LP in 1977, a collection of piano music by Beiderbecke, Ellington, Gershwin and James P. Johnson, Werner went on to work and record with Mingus;...
March 2000 Albums
Mainstream
Vic Dickenson/Joe Thomas
When Stanley Dance coined the phrase "mainstream jazz" some 40 years ago, he described it as music that emphasizes "the twin virtues of communicable emotional expression and swing," which is perfectly typified by the robust music here. Trumpeter Thomas...
March 2000 Albums
Midnight at Minton's
Don Byas
First issued in 1973 on Onyx, this CD features tenorman Byas and trumpeter Joe Guyin, four different 1941 settings with Thelonious Monk, and unknown others. They back up Helen Humes on a lovely, relaxed "Stardust" and "Exactly Like You" with Humes et al...
December 1999 Albums
Winter Flower
Kenny Jr. Drew Trio
Drew, whose father brightened up the bop piano scene in this country in the '50s before emigrating to Europe in 1961, hasn't let much grass grow under his feet since winning the 1990 Great American Jazz Piano competition. He made his recording debut the...
December 1999 Albums
Lucky in Paris
Lucky Thompson
It's been 25 years since tenor saxophonist Eli "Lucky" Thompson disappeared from the music scene, tired of being manipulated by the "vultures" of the music business; so reissues such as this are more than postcards from the past: their rarity gives them...
November 1999 Albums
To Sweden With Love
Art Farmer
After the 1962 breakup of the Jazztet that he'd co-founded with Benny Golson, flugelhornist Farmer formed a pianoless quartet with Jim Hall that made three LPs for Atlantic before disbanding in 1964. Recorded in Sweden with bassist Steve Swallow and drummer...
November 1999 Albums
Here Is Phineas
Phineas Newborn, Jr.
Praised in some quarters for his "fabulous technique" and damned in others for his "lack of feeling," Phineas (say "Finus") Newborn, Jr. burst onto the NYC scene from Memphis like a sky rocket. Recorded in 1956 with his brother Calvin (unobtrusively) on...
November 1999 Briefs
Alone at Montreux
Ray Bryant
Bryant has always been one of those "I'd rather do it by myself" cats and his solo recordings are among the highlights of his career. This 1972 Montreux Festival performance is full of his swaggering, two-fisted playing. Included are his own "Cubano Chant...
October 1999 Albums
Let the Good Times Roll: The Anthology 1938-1953
Louis Jordan
Alto saxophonist Louis (Louie) Jordan believed in entertaining people and making them forget the cares of the day. As John Chilton aptly put it in Let the Good Times Roll, his excellent 1992 biography of the hard working band leader, "[His] controlled passion...
July/August 1999 Books
MusicHound Blues The Essential Album Guide
MusicHound Blues The Essential Album Guide Edited by Leland Rucker (513 pp, Visible Ink Press, $24.95) This is the latest in a series of "Music Hound" books that cover rock, country, R&B, and jazz. Some three dozen contributors have examined the careers...
June 1999 Albums
Julian
Pepper Adams
Recorded in 1975 at a Munich nightclub, Adams is accompanied by two of his Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra bandmates: pianist Walter Norris and bassist Georg Mraz, with Makaya Ntshoko capably filling the drummer's chair. The one-plus set's worth of music...
June 1999 Albums
My Romance
Houston Person
Take one experienced tenorman, put him alongside a very compatible rhythm section (Richard Wyands, piano; Ray Drummond, bass and Kenny Washington, drums), turn them loose on nine classic songs and look out! Houston Person (who produced this disc) has chosen...
June 1999 Books
Mister Satan's Apprentice: A Blues Memoir
Adam Gussow
The author of this occasionally fascinating memoir is the harmonica-playing half of Satan and Adam, a raw-sounding, energetic blues duo whose music throbs with the vitality of the Harlem street corner where they began their unlikely journey 13 years ago...
May 1999 Albums
Groove's Groove
Richard "Groove" Holmes
Culled from four LPs the Hammond B-3 master recorded for Muse from 1977 to 1980, this compilation definitely shows Holmes' nickname was well earned. Holmes-who needs no bassist-and his cohorts, mostly tenorman Houston Person, drummer Idris Muhammad, and...
May 1999 Albums
Servin' It Up
Benjie Porecki
Add another name to the roster of blues B-3 monsters-that of D.C.-area keyboard whiz Benjie Porecki-who serves up a very tasty entree of solid blues here with some superb side dishes of jazz. The two versions of the title track ("Breakfast"/"Dinner," fast...
April 1999 Briefs
Moment's Notice
Charlie Rouse Quartet
Originally issued on the Jazzcraft and Storyville labels in 1978, Moment's Notice features the tenorman with pianist Hugh Lawson, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Ben Riley, who-like Rouse-was a member of Monk's quartet in the ‘60s. The tunes range from...
E-mail
Share
RSS
Report