Reassessing
Kelly Blue
by C. Michael Bailey
The classic Wynton Kelly Trio comprised Kelly on piano, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Besides being Kelly's most stable trio, this rhythm section provided the underpinning for several important recordings and tours for Miles Davis in the late '50s and early '60s. These include Kind of Blue (Columbia Records, 1959) and Davis' 1960 European Tours, Someday My Prince Will Come (Columbia Records, 1961), In Person, Vol. 1--Friday Night at the Blackhawk (Columbia Records, 1961), In Person, Vol. 2--Saturday ...
Continue ReadingTrio and Quintet
by C. Michael Bailey
Pianist and composer Elmo Hope has more in common with Tadd Dameron than most of his other jazz peers. Both men were primarily composers and arrangers who concentrated on their own music rather than standards. Both men spent their professional lives in New York City during the twilight of bebop and the flourishing of hard bop. Neither man boasted large discographies as leaders, but appeared on a significant number of recordings as sidemen. Their careers were both shortened dramatically by ...
Continue ReadingThe Cry!
by Richard J Salvucci
This recording is, at first glance, a bit of an unusual choice by Craft Recording for its Contemporary Records Acoustic Sound Series audiophile vinyl series. Neither Prince Lasha (pronounced Lashay) nor Sonny Simmons make an appearance in Bill Kirchner's The Oxford Companion to Jazz (Oxford University Press, 2000). An earlier reviewer for AAJ allowed as how both players were talented, but probably understood no more about Ornette Coleman's theory of “harmolodics" than the average listener did. Skepticism or, indeed, lack ...
Continue ReadingRollin' With Leo
by Richard J Salvucci
Leo Parker may not be a name that instantly springs to mind in the world of late 1940s bebop. There was one point, in 1948, however, when serious people, like Barry Ulanov, regarded Parker as the best baritone saxophonist around--in company with Charlie Parker and Fats Navarro. That is fancy company, so it is worth asking why he is so little remembered today? Parker was a contemporary of the now better known (or at least remembered) ...
Continue ReadingThe Fox
by Richard J Salvucci
There was once a legendary trumpet player named Jack Purvis who was a disciple of Louis Armstrong. Purvis was an excellent player, but he was in and out of trouble for most of his life. So he spent some time in jail. In fact, so much time that Purvis once led (documented in the Fort-Worth Star Telegram, March 30, 1938) a broadcast from a Texas prison in Huntsville. Purvis led many lives, and was sometimes spotted in odd places like ...
Continue ReadingSahib Shihab and the Danish Radio Jazz Group
by Joshua Weiner
Many jazz fans will know saxophonist and flautist Sahib Shihab primarily for his stint in the 1940s with Thelonious Monk, and his playing captured on Monk's Genius of Modern Music Blue Note sets. Keen-eyed perusers of liner notes, however, will know him as an able sideman on classic albums by John Coltrane, Quincy Jones, Art Blakey, Benny Golson, Milt Jackson and others. Shihab also recorded as a leader in the 1950s and 1960s with Savoy, Debut and Argo, before moving ...
Continue ReadingThe Time Is Now!
by Joshua Weiner
The early '70s were difficult times in the United States, not least for the jazz community. The optimism of the flower-power and peace movements had given way to political radicalism, conflict and paranoia, and the excitement of the initial free jazz and jazz-fusion eras had begun to wane. John Coltrane and Albert Ayler were dead. Miles Davis was playing thick, unrelenting funk. Important record labels such as Columbia and Atlantic were largely pursuing multiplatinum rock acts rather than jazz. Some ...
Continue ReadingShelly Manne and His Men at the Black Hawk 1
by Richard J Salvucci
For many years, but certainly for most of the '50s and '60s, the top jazz drummer--by public opinion--was Shelly Manne. Although he was typically associated with West Coast Jazz, (a term he disliked), Manne had come West from New York City in the '50s and settled in Los Angeles in the halcyon days of the post-war boom. He was a guy of many parts; he raised horses, had married an ex-Rockette, and become part-owner of what was to become the ...
Continue ReadingHouse Rent Party
by Jason Young
Nothing sparks musical intrigue like a trip back in time. Such was the case when in 1992, Delmark Records released Sunnyland Slim's House Rent Party, featuring Jimmy Rogers, Willie Mabon and St Louis Jimmy. A part of their Apollo series, it gave blues enthusiasts an audio lens into the budding of Chicago blues.Tracing back to St. Louis, Missouri, Delmark has been a trusted label for jazz and blues music since 1953. In 1962, label owner Bob Koester purchased ...
Continue ReadingThe Electric Years Box Set
by Mike Jurkovic
In a year that has brought us a true bounty of previously unheard majesty including Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy (Impulse!), and Bill Evans; Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969), (Elemental Music) it is only fitting that Miles Davis get his due. And in a very, very big way. Seared into modern memory, modern art, the music presented on the gloriously massive, eleven LP set Miles Davis: The Electric Years ...
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