Not knowing what other musical presentations were being offered on the QE II’s Nov. 1999 transatlantic voyage, it nevertheless may be assumed that catching a … Read More “Henry Johnson Quartet: An Evening At Sea”
Best known to jazz historians and record collectors as lead altoman Earl Warren’s replacement in Count Basie’s 1943 to ’47 band, Preston Love, since then … Read More “Preston Love: Omaha Blues”
Global jazz-fusion might be a convenient term to use in reference to at least some of the music that altoman T. K. Blue offers on … Read More “T.K. Blue: Eyes of the Elders”
Herman West Coast jazz scene, for around 25 years now Sea Breeze has remained a beacon of light and hope for both aficionados of the … Read More “Jerry Ascione Big Band: Beautiful Love”
Although the rampant romanticism that suffuses tenorman Allen’s balladeering may not meet the imperatives of contemporary improvisation that avant-gardists have set for our music, so … Read More “Harry Allen: Love Songs Live!”
To label the collective performance on this CD as The Satchmo Legacy is to put forth the boldest of claims ever. It is as if … Read More “Benny Bailey: The Satchmo Legacy”
With a range, power, and technique even the gentle Fats would have killed for, trumpeter Mac Gollehon here engages 12 numbers, four of which-“Eb-Pob,” “Nostalgia,” … Read More “Mac Gollehon and Smokin’ Section: In the Spirit of Fats Navarro”
A contemporary of Rollins, Mobley and Trane, tenorman Buck Hill, of Washington, D.C., managed to elude national fame for decades by remaining a day-job-bound family … Read More “Buck Hill: Uh Huh! Live at Montpelier”
Followers of the Nagel-Heyer label know what to expect from this high quality, amazingly consistent German firm-hot, live, combo-jam performances by some of the best … Read More “George Masso Sextet: C’est Magnifique!”
Although likely to fall between the cracks of the dozens of Ellington tributes released during the globally celebrated centennial anniversary of Duke’s birth last year, … Read More “Andre Previn/David Finck: We Got it Good: An Ellington Songbook”
Outside of Ellington’s three original concerts, as recently reissued on RCA’s mammoth boxed set, this is probably the only recording that brings together so many … Read More “Big Band De Lausanne: Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music”
Short of discovering another batch of previously unissued recordings of the classic late 1930s Goodman big band, the best stroke of fortune in recent years … Read More “Bob Wilber and the Tuxedo Big Band: Fletcher Henderson’s Unrecorded Arrangements for Benny Goodman”
Satch Plays Fats is rightfully judged, along with Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy, as of one of the two most compelling albums that the Armstrong … Read More “Louis Armstrong: Satch Plays Fats”
Satchmo the Great comes largely from the soundtrack of an eponymous TV documentary coproduced and narrated by Edward R. Murrow. With the New Orleans-born swing … Read More “Louis Armstrong: Satchmo the Great”
Recorded in Amsterdam, Milan, Hollywood and New York, the performances on Ambassador Satch are largely of the same order as those on Satchmo the Great, … Read More “Louis Armstrong: Ambassador Satch”
At the height of their success as star soloists with the Benny Goodman orchestra in 1938 and 1939, respectively, drummer Gene Krupa and trumpeter Harry … Read More “Gene Krupa/Harry James: The Complete Capitol Recordings of Gene Krupa and Harry James”
If it’s difficult to avoid a sense of cynicism regarding this studioman outing, it’s only because Severinsen’s highly polished product is too superficial, glitzy and … Read More “Doc Severinsen and his Big Band: Swingin’ the Blues”
Thirty-three years after its first performance at the Village Vanguard under the name of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, today’s version of that inspired group … Read More “The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: Thad Jones Legacy”
Co-directed by reedman Miles Osland and pianist/narrator Dick Domek, the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra is, to my knowledge, the only academically-situated ensemble perpetuating the whole … Read More “Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra: Ellington Celebration”
Rightly proclaimed as being the most significant concert in jazz history, the Jan. 16, 1938, appearance of the Benny Goodman orchestra at Carnegie Hall was … Read More “Benny Goodman: Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall-1938: Complete”
On this unusual recording, we find two widely experienced North American jazzmen, tenorman Rich Perry and pianist Harold Danko, embracing nine pieces by Brazilian composers … Read More “Rich Perry/Harold Danko: Cancoes do Brasil”
In 1943, when Ben Webster first heard Charlie Parker play the tenor, he is reported to have said, “That horn ain’t s’posed to sound that … Read More “Nick Brignola: All Business”
While some of his sons have received more than considerable attention from both the jazz press and other forms of media, the regrettable fact is … Read More “Ellis Marsalis: Duke in Blue”
Back in the mid 1930s, when jazz itself was as young as most of the musicians playing it, a handful of devoted fans banded together … Read More “Various Artists: The Complete H.R.S. Sessions”
Although endowed with a full, rounded sound, good intonation, and chops to spare, trumpeter Eddie Henderson had the misfortune to enter the business at a … Read More “Eddie Henderson: Reemergence”
A significant addition to Ellington’s latter day recordings, this double-disc release presents for the first time in true stereo every note that the band played … Read More “Duke Ellington: Ellington at Newport 1956 (Complete)”
Recorded in July and August 1956 during the Gillespie big band’s State Department-sponsored tour of South America, the ten tracks heard here augur well for … Read More “Dizzy Gillespie: Dizzy In South America, Vol. 1”
What a responsibility, what an inspiring challenge, what an honor it is to have the opportunity to replicate and help preserve the greatest body of … Read More “Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra: Live in Swing City Swingin’ With The Duke”
The first American release by New York-based, Russian-born pianist and composer/arranger Nick Levinovsky, this program of six originals and two standards, a swinging “My Favorite … Read More “Nick Levinovsky Big Band: Listen Up!”
A massive project, but one well worth the effort and time that went into it, this collection of all existing recordings by Duke Ellington for … Read More “Duke Ellington: The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings”