Kenny Drew Trio - The 20th Memorial - 1978-1992 (15 CD, 2013

A collection of previously unreleased materials by the Kenny Drew Trio, originally recorded for Japanese labels Baystate and Alpha beween 1972 and 1992, now released to commemmorate the 20th anniversary of his passing. A rich trove of superb piano trio performances!

American pianist Kenny Drew (1928-1993) moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1964. Although he may have somewhat faded from the radar of American jazz fans, he had a fantastic career in Denmark and was beloved by European and Japanese jazz fans. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Drew's popularity in Japan grew to incredible heights when he began recording for Japanese labels such as Baystate and Alpha under a partnership with Japanese producer Makoto Kimata.

To commemmorate the 20th anniversary of Drew's passing, a very special series was launched in Japan in 2013, with a release of previously unpublished materials recorded for the two labels between 1972 and 1992. They are alternate takes and takes that did not make onto the original albums released in this period. Danish super-bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen held the bass chair throughout, and the drummer is either Ed Thigpen, a fellow American expat who had settled in Copenhagen, or Alvin Queen.

It is quite amazing to hear the consistently high quality of these "outtakes" and to realize that there is enough material to fill 15 CDs in this series. Actually, many these "outtakes" tend to be more exciting than those takes that made the original albums. They may have been "cut" because they were slightly rough around the edges, but perhaps they were played with more freedom, abandon, and adventurous spirit. 

PCCY-30204 - Kenny's Music Still Live On: The Days of Wine and Roses (1978-1992) {50:40}

PCCY-30205 - Kenny's Music Still Live On: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1978-1992) {49:06}

PCCY-30206 - Kenny's Music Still Live On: Misty (1978-1992) {50:02}

PCCY-30207 - Kenny's Music Still Live On: Take the 'A' Train (1978-1992) {46:20}

PCCY-30208 - Kenny's Music Still Live On: Lullaby of Birdland (1978-1992) {49:21}

PCCY-30209 - Kenny's Music Still Live On: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (1978-1992) {50:54}

PCCY-30210 - Kenny's Music Still Live On: Live in Tokyo (1991) {59:34}

PCCY-30211 - Piano Night (1992) {57:29}

PCCY-30212 - Nature Beauty (1978-1980) {54:08}

PCCY-30213 - Live for Peace (1990) {67:05}

PCCY-30214 - A Child Is Born (1978) {44:46}

PCCY-30215 - Hush-A-Bye (1978) {41:27}

PCCY-30216 - Sophisticated Lady (1981) {41:32}

PCCY-30217 - Portrait: Oboe Concerto (1982-1991) {47:10}

PCCY-30218 - Season's Greetings (1988-1989) {37:23}

 

VA - The Jazz Box Set (3 CD, 1996/FLAC)

 

CD1

1. Stan Getz - Autumn Leaves

2. Dave Brubeck - Blue Rondo A La Turk

3. Stéphane Grappelli - Fascinating

4. Kai Winding - Morning Of The Carnival

5. Gerry Mulligan - Apple Core

6. Dizzy Gillespie - Slewfoot

7. Phil Woods - Caravan

8. Wynton Marsalis - My Funny Valentine

9. Chick Corea - Moment's Notice

10. Gary Burton - African Flower

11. Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Wheel Within A Wheel

12. Michał Urbaniak - Softly As A Morning Sunrise

CD2

1. Teddy Wilson - The Man I Love

2. Dexter Gordon - Lullaby Of Birdland

3. Woody Herman - Mood Indigo

4. Harold Betters - Girl From Ipenama

5. Lionel Hampton - Misty

6. Johnny Griffin - Hush-A-Bye

7. Stéphane Grappelli & Phil Woods - Star Eyes

8. Stan Getz / Paul Horn - Nature Boy

9. Gerry Mulligan - Song For Johnny Hodges

10. Kai Winding - Crazy He Calls Me

11. Lionel Hampton - This Could Be The Start Of Something Big

12. Bucky Pizzarelli - Volare

CD3

1. Art Blakey - Moanin'

2. Gerry Mulligan - Line For Lyons

3. Stéphane Grappelli - How Hig The Moon

4. Lionel Hampton - Undecided

5. Dave Brubeck - Take 5

6. Woody Herman - Early Autumn

7. Buddy Rich - Take The 'a' Train

8. Wynton Marsalis - 'round Midnight

9. Thelonious Monk - Off Minor

10. Kai Winding - Yardbird Suite

11. Dexter Gordon - Seven Come Eleven

12. Johnny Griffin - If I Should Lose You

Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - Chronogical Classics 1923-1932 (4 CD/FLAC)

 Bennie Moten (November 13, 1894 – April 2, 1935) was a noted American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri.

He led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the itinerant, blues-based orchestras active in the Midwest in the 1920s, and helped to develop the riffing style that would come to define many of the 1930s Big Bands.

Enrico Rava — The Complete Remastered Recordings On Black Saint & Soul Note (5 CD, 2010/FLAC)

Five of Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava's Black Saint and Soul Note recordings have been reissued by CAM Jazz in one of those pretty white box sets with each LP reproduced as a separate CD tucked into a miniature record jacket. Born at Trieste in 1939, Rava later attributed his lifelong pursuit of modern jazz to the influence of Miles Davis. One might add Don Cherry and Freddie Hubbard to that equation, along with maybe Richard Williams and Lee Morgan. In order to fully comprehend what he was up to from the '70s onward, it is important to consider the artistic company that Rava kept during the ‘60s. 

 

Charles Tolliver - Mosaic Select 20 (3 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 Mosaic gets plenty of accolades for its expansive (and sometimes exhaustive) limited-edition box sets of historic jazz recordings, and deservedly so. Some years after they started their project, president Michael Cuscuna and company got the idea to release smaller, three-disc sets by artists who either weren't as appreciated as they should be, or had recordings that were unavailable and that filled in important eras in their careers. The Mosaic Select series has a tremendous catalog with triple-disc sets by Curtis Amy, John Patton, Carmell Jones, a pair by Andrew Hill, Grachan Moncur, Johnny Mercer, Onzy Matthews, Bobby Hutcherson, Art Pepper, Randy Weston, Johnny Richards, and more. 

Charles Tolliver's volume in this series is an important one. First of all, these recordings were not owned by Blue Note or any of Capitol's subsidiaries; they are owned by the artist, and originally appeared on Strata East, a label he co-founded with the pianist on these dates, Stanley Cowell. It was a musician's label that recorded some of the greatest jazz music of the 1970s and was well distributed. (Unfortunately, with very few exceptions -- and a real comment on the record industry here in the U.S. -- the only way to procure most Strata East recordings on CD these days is from Japan.) Secondly, most of these sides were cut live at Slug's Saloon, a legendary, long gone spot on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a space now occupied by the Nuyorican Poet's Café (at least it was put to great use). Slug's was the go-to joint for musicians who were still developing the "new thing" after Coltrane, who played regularly and collaborated with one another. Its audience was hip and sophisticated and deeply interested in what was going on musically in the '70s. Lastly, Tolliver himself went all out to find more of the music recorded on these dates, and there are six selections, roughly a full CD, of completely unreleased music from the Slug's gigs. 

Charles Tolliver - trumpet

Stanley Cowell - piano

Cecil McBee - bass

Jimmy Hopps - drums

Clint Houston - bass

Clifford Barbaro - drums

 

Buddy Tate - Body & Soul (1975/2018/FLAC-HD)

Buddy Tate was one of the most relaxed, humorous and amenable of musicians, with a personal style that was glowingly reflected in the supple and occasionally gently mocking elegance of his saxophone playing. Like many of the lyrical and romantic jazz performers of his era, Tate could perform miniature miracles with minimal materials. Shuffling a handful of soft, buttery notes and mingling them with a textural repertoire of intimately whispering intonations, was one of the most agreeable experiences in postwar jazz. But Tate could also be an exciting, hard-swinging player too, and his control of the horn in its upper register predated many of the technical advances in saxophone playing that were made by the modernists in hard bop and the avantgarde. 

• Buddy Tate - ts, vo on 3
• Tete Montoliu - p
• Bo Stief - b
• Svend Eric Nørregaard - d
• Finn Ziegler - vln on 2, 4

Recorded at La Fontaine, Copenhagen, September 23, 1975.

01. Stompin' At The Savoy (7:12)

02. Body And Soul (Live) (8:54)

03. Buddy's Blues (7:45)

04. In A Mellow Tone (17:30)

05. I Surrender Dear (3:32)

Sarah Vaughan - A Miracle Happened (Quadromania, 4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 

CD1

01. If You Could See Me Now

02. Don't Worry 'Bout Me

03. Penthouse Serenade (When We're Alone)

04. Don't Blame Me

05. I Can't Get Started

06. The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else

07. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter

08. Black Coffee

09. As You Desire Me

10. Bianca

11. While You Are Gone

12. Just Friends

13. You Taught Me to Love Again

14. Lonely Girl

15. Fool's Paradise

16. You Say You Care

17. You're Mine, You

CD2

01. The Nearness of You

02. I'm Crazy to Love You

03. I Love You

04. Ev'ryday (I Fall in Love)

05. Dedicated to You

06. You're All I Need

07. Don't Be Afraid

08. Our Very Own

09. East of the Sun (West of the Moon)

10. Nice If You Can Get It

11. Can't Get Out of This Mood

12. Mean to Me

13. Come Rain or Come Shine

14. It Might as Well Be Spring

15. Ain't Misbehavin'

16. Goodnight My Love

17. Whippa-Whippa-Woo

CD3

01. Thinking of You

02. Ooh, What 'Cha Doin' to Me

03. Deep Purple

04. Vanity

05. My Reverie

06. After Hours

07. Just a Moment More

08. Pinky

09. A Miracle Happened

10. I Ran All the Way from Home

11. Time to Go

12. Corner to Corner

13. Street of Dreams

14. If Someone Had Told Me

15. Say You'll Wait for Me

16. Mighty Lonesome Feelin'

17. Sinner or Saint

CD4

01. I'll Know

02. These Things I Offer You

03. I Confess

04. A Blues Serenade

05. Can't Get Out of This Mood

06. Shulie a Bop

07. Lover Man

08. They Can't Take That Away from Me

09. Prelude to a Kiss

10. Polka Dots and Moonbeams

11. Body and Soul

12. Make Yourself Comfortable

13. You're Not That Kind

14. September Song

15. He's My Guy

16. April in Paris

17. Lullaby of Birdland

Blue Note Works 4000-4100 series [4051-4060]

 

...The Modern Jazz Series continued into the 1970s with the LPs listed below. Many were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 84000 series).  Most of the 4000 series have been reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 4000" series); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-4###



BN.4051- Jackie McLean- 1959- Jackie's Bag {RVG Remaster}
BN.4052- Tina Brooks- 1960- Back to the Tracks
BN.4053- Lou Donaldson- 1958- Light-Foot
BN.4054- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers- 1960- Meet You At The Jazz Corner Of The World vol.1
BN.4055- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers- 1960- Meet You At The Jazz Corner Of The World vol.2
BN.4056- Freddie Hubbard- 1960- Goin' Up
BN.4057- Stanley Turrentine With The Three Sounds- 1960- Blue Hour. The Complete Sessions
BN.4058- Hank Mobley- 1960- Roll Call {RVG Remaster}
BN.4059- Kenny Drew- 1960- Undercurrent {RVG Remaster}
BN.4060- Donald Byrd- 1960- At the Half Note Cafe vol.1 {RVG Remaster}

Scott Hamilton dicography [1977-2021]

 

Scott Hamilton (born 12 September 1954) is a jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing (music) and mainstream jazz.

He emerged in the 1970s and at the time he was considered to be one of the few musicians of real talent who carried the tradition of the classic jazz tenor saxophone in the style of Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins as well as Zoot Sims and Don Byas forward. He began playing in various rhythm & blues outfits in Providence (Rhode Island), but subsequently shifted to jazz and the tenor saxophone. In 1976 he moved to New York City at, in part the recommendation of Roy Eldridge. He there joined Benny Goodman for a period of time and in 1977 recorded his debut album for Concord Records, with whom he would have a long recording career in his own name and as one of their Concord Jazz All Stars. He also worked as a backing musician for singer Rosemary Clooney and others.

In the early 1980s he had formed his own quintet and toured all over the world. By then free from his drinking habit, in 1982 he had matured sufficiently to be able to break away from the spell of mainly Ben Webster and Zoot Sims, whom he had been criticized of imitating. From this point on both his playing and his tone were very much his own.

Living in New York City, he toured all around the world during the 1980s, playing Japan and all over Europe. He was in particular a recurrent visitor to the UK, Sweden and the Grande Parade du Jazz, held in Nice, France. By the early 1990s he was ready for a next step and by 1994 when he released Organic Duke, he had developed a quite singular style: a large, well-rounded but still focused tone and improvising, ostensibly still based on the swing idiom (especially Ellington), but incorporating more modern elements. During this period, he relocated to London, and formed his current quartet, featuring British musicians John Pearce (p), Dave Green (b) and Steve Brown (dr), with whom he recorded East of the Sun in 1993. (East of the Sun features Brian Lemon on piano, not John Pearce.) He is currently active touring all over Europe.

Artie Shaw — The Indispensable Artie Shaw (1938-1945) (6 CD, 1995/FLAC)

 

Artie Shaw (born Avraham Ben-Yitzhak Arshawsky, May 23, 1910, New York City, New York, USA - died December 30, 2004, Thousand Oaks, California, USA) was an American clarinetist and bandleader.

His first public appearance leading his own band was in his native New York City on the 24th of May, 1936 and he became one of the biggest names in jazz and popular music during the late 1930's and 1940's swing heyday. He last toured as a performing clarinetist with a big band in 1950, and made his last live / public performing appearances with a small group in 1954. Shaw made his last records of new material (on which he was merely conducting and not playing) in 1955. He spent much of the second half of his life devoted to writing and other pursuits, although he returned to the recording studios in 1968 to conduct an album of some of his biggest instrumental hits (from 1938-39) with a band that was filled by other notable veteran sidemen of the Swing Era, some of whom had worked for him three decades earlier and were at the time still working professional musicians in their prime. In 1983 he surprised the music world once again by assembling a 16-piece touring big band under the direction of clarinetist Dick Johnson and Shaw appeared with it through 1986-87, at which time he turned the band over to Johnson once and for all. The anti-nostalgic Shaw explicitly stated that he wanted this last band to focus on jazz and lesser known later works from 1944-45 and especially 1949, as well as new material written for the band, much of which was never recorded. He was married eight times including to Lana Turner (1940) and Ava Gardner (1945-46).