The Archivist
August 2008 By Scott Yanow
Live at the Club Baby Grand Vols. 1-2
Blue Note Records
Jimmy Smith, who burst onto the jazz scene in 1956 and forever changed the way the organ is played, recorded prolifically for Blue Note during six-year period that followed his emergence. Live at the Club Baby Grand Vols. 1-2 had previously eluded other...
August 2008 By Scott Yanow
Live In Zurich
TCB
Despite how many of their CDs are available, one can never have too many Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington albums. The Austrian TCB label has dug up two previously unreleased live sets that were performed in Zurich. Armstrong’s Live in Switzerland is from...
August 2008 By Scott Yanow
Classic Hawaiian Steel Guitar Performances 1933-34
Origin Jazz Library
A Hawaiian steel guitarist well worth discovering, Sol Hoopii was a pioneer, taking guitar solos in 1925 (before Eddie Lang) and serving as an unacknowledged influence on Western swing of the 1930s and ’40s. Classic Hawaiian Steel Guitar Performances 1933...
March 2008 By Scott Yanow
Hamburg, Germany February 29, 1956
Fresh Sound Records
During 1944-57, Norman Granz produced Jazz at the Philharmonic, a series of organized all-star jam sessions that brought together many of the great solo stars of swing and bop on tours of the United States and Europe. Imagine getting to see Dizzy Gillespie...
March 2008 By Scott Yanow
Teddy Wilson in Copenhagen
Storyville
The Danish Storyville label has extensively documented American jazz musicians touring Europe for the past 50 years. Four recent sets of previously unreleased material are part of its In Copenhagen series. Teddy Wilson in Copenhagen is a typical trio set...
March 2008 By Scott Yanow
The Hilversum Session
ESP-Disk
Bernard Stollman founded the ESP-Disk label in 1964 and put out 45 albums, mostly of improvised free-jazz, before things slowed down in 1974. The music has resurfaced several times since then and, in recent times, Stollman has been accelerating the number...
March 2008 By Scott Yanow
The Best Of Von Freeman On Premonition
Premonition
Von Freeman, a brilliant tenor saxophonist based in Chicago who has always had a sound of his own, recorded four CDs for Premonition. The Best of Von Freeman on Premonition has 18 selections on two CDs drawn from those sessions (two are previously unreleased...
March 2008 By Scott Yanow
The Complete Hit of the Week Recordings, Volume 3
Hit of the Week
The Hit of the Week label was quite unique. Every Thursday during much of 1929-32, a one-sided record was released on a piece of cardboard and sold at newsstands for 15 cents. Most of the performances were as much dance music as jazz, although Duke Ellington...
December 2007 By Scott Yanow
Penthouse Serenade/The Piano Style of Nat King Cole
Just One of Those Things/Let’s Face the Music
Songs From St. Louis Blues/Looking Back
Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love/Ballads of the Day
Love Is the Thing/Where Did Everyone Go
Ramblin’ Rose/Dear Lonely Hearts
The Touch of Your Lips/I Don’t Want To Be Hurt Anymore
Cole Español/More Cole Español
Collectors' Choice
One of the great swing pianists of the 1940s, Nat “King” Cole was a highly rated jazz performer in 1950 when he struck pay dirt with “Mona Lisa.” That recording, which featured his warm vocal, a string orchestra and none of his piano, became a No. 1 hit...
December 2007 By Scott Yanow
Live at the 1971 Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival
The Monterey Jazz Festival reached the half-century mark in 2007, being the only jazz festival held at the same venue for 50 straight years. While there have been “live at Monterey” recordings before, most notably the arguable high points in the careers...
