John Pizzarelli discography (1985-2021)


 John Paul Pizzarelli Jr. (born April 6, 1960, in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American jazz guitarist and vocalist. He has recorded over twenty solo albums and has appeared on more than forty albums by other recording artists, including Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Rosemary Clooney; his father, jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli; and his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey. 





1985 Hit That Jive, Jack!
1990 My Blue Heaven
1991 All of Me
1993 Naturally
1994 Dear Mr. Cole
1994 New Standards
1994 The Best of John Pizzarelli - I Like Jersey Best
1996 After Hours
1996 Let's Share Christmas
1996 One Night With You - The John Pizzarelli Collection
1997 Our Love is Here to Stay
1998 Meets The Beatles
1999 P.S. Mr. Cole
2000 Kisses in The Rain
2000 Let There Be Love
2002 The Rare Delight of You
2003 Live at Birdland 2CD
2004 Bossa Nova
2005 Knowing You
2006 Dear Mr. Sinatra
2007 Blue Too (& Aaron Weinstein)
2008 With a Song in My Heart
2010 Rockin' in Rhythm - A Duke Ellington Tribute
2012 Double Exposure
2015 Midnight McCartney
2017 Sinatra & Jobim @ 50 (& Daniel Jobim)
2019 For Centennial Reasons- 100 Year Salute to Nat King Cole
2021 Better Days Ahead

VA - Boogie Woogie And Blues Piano (1935-41) [Mosaic Select 30] (3 CD, 2008/FLAC)


While most Mosaic limited-edition boxed sets concentrate on recordings by an individual bandleader or a single record label, Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano features sessions by a number of different artists from several labels active in the 1930s and early '40s, when boogie-woogie was very popular. Fifteen different pianists are featured (if one counts Lionel Hampton playing two fingered-duo piano in a band setting), though it is the giants of the genre, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, and Jimmy Yancey who are given the most exposure. The first three are individually paired (Johnson and Ammons) and play together as a trio, occasionally accompanying blues vocalist Joe Turner or adding a superfluous rhythm section. Lewis is clearly the most inventive of them all, especially when performing his hit "Honky Tonk Train Blues" (revived in a big-band setting by rocker Keith Emerson during the '70s) or his lesser-known "Whistlin' Blues." Ammons has the strongest rhythmic sense, as displayed in the two takes of "Shout for Joy." Johnson is heard in several small group sessions as well, featuring Turner along with alto saxophonist Buster Smith and trumpeter Hot Lips Page. Yancey, who was recorded more sporadically than Lewis, Johnson, and Ammons, is extensively featured, playing solo, accompanying singer Faber Smith and occasionally singing himself. Yancey's slower, blues-drenched style is unmistakable for anyone else, highlighted by his own "Yancey Stomp" and the two takes of "Yancey's Bugle Call." There is a sampling of other pianists, including Joe Sullivan, Mary Lou Williams (who played nearly every style that appeared during her lifetime with authority), Teddy Wilson (who never considered himself a talented boogie-woogie player), Nat King Cole, and Sir Charles Thompson (each of whom duets with Hampton and the more commercial Freddie Slack. The blues piano sessions of Cripple Clarence Lofton wrap this enjoyable collection with a flourish. The sound restoration and Dan Morgenstern's excellent liner notes add to the value of this limited-edition compilation.  






 

Jimmy Raney - Woody Herman's Cool Guitar Player (1949-1955) (Quadromania 4 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 
Jimmy Raney was the definitive cool jazz guitarist, a fluid bop soloist with a quiet sound who had a great deal of inner fire. He worked with local groups in Chicago before spending nine months with Woody Herman in 1948. From then on he was in the major leagues, having associations with Al Haig, Buddy DeFranco, Artie Shaw, and Terry Gibbs. His work with Stan Getz (1951-1952) was historic, as the pair made for a classic musical partnership. Raney was also very much at home in the Red Norvo Trio (1953-1954) before spending six years primarily working in a supper club with pianist Jimmy Lyon (1954-1960). After playing with Getz during 1962-1963, he returned to Louisville and was outside of music until resurfacing in the early '70s. 





 

Blue Note Works 4000-4100 series [4126-4140]

 

 

...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.4126- Herbie Hancock- 1963- My Point Of View {RVG Remaster}
BN.4127- Kenny Dorham- 1963- Una Mas {RVG Remaster}
BN.4129- Stanley Turrentine- 1963- Never Let Me Go {RVG Remaster}
BN.4130- John Patton- 1963- Along Came John
BN.4131- Horace Silver- 1963- Silver's Serenade {RVG Remaster}
BN.4132- Grant Green- 1962- Feelin' The Spirit {RVG Remaster}
BN.4133- Dexter Gordon- 1962- A Swingin' Affair {RVG Remaster}
BN.4134- Horace Parlan- 1963- Happy Frame of Mind
BN.4135- Freddie Hubbard- 1962- Here To Stay {RVG Remaster}
BN.4136- Solomon Ilori- 1963- African High Life
BN.4137- Jackie McLean- 1963- One Step Beyond {RVG Remaster}
BN.4139- Grant Green- 1963- Am I Blue {RVG Remaster}
BN.4140- Joe Henderson- 1963- Page One {RVG Remaster}





Sphere discography [1982-1997/FLAC]

 

Sphere was an American jazz band which began as a tribute to pianist Thelonious Monk, whose middle name was "Sphere".

The band consisted of pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Buster Williams, and two members who had been Monk's bandmates, drummer Ben Riley and saxophonist Charlie Rouse. After Rouse died in 1988, Sphere disbanded but reunited ten years later with Gary Bartz taking Rouse's place.

Sphere recorded its first album on the day that Monk died, February 17, 1982. This was a tribute album of tunes by Monk. The band recorded several more albums which included jazz standards and original compositions.





1982 - Four In One
1983 - Flight Path
1985 - On Tour (Live)
1986 - Pumpkins Delight (Live At Umbria Jazz)
1987 - Four For All
1988 - Bird Songs
1997 - Sphere

Frank Rosolino & Conte Candoli - Just Friends (Live) [1977/2016 remaster/FLAC]

 

This album continues the quintet’s exciting impromptu dialogue at Munich’s Domicile jazz club, as the band plays classic jazz standards with a drive and exuberance indicative of the onstage comradery. Stella By Starlight is taken at a bright tempo with stellar solos by Candoli and Rosolino. Isla Eckinger’s masterful solo demonstrates why he is one of Europe’s outstanding bassists, and Frank and Conte trade dazzling eight and four bar passages before playing the theme out. The quintet maintains a scintillating tempo on Just Friends, and keeps the heat up on There Is No Greater Love. Thelonious Monk’s classic Well You Needn’t is played up-tempo. Rosolino and Candoli fluently maneuver their way through the changes, while pianist Rob Pronk tips his hat to Monk’s pianistic magic. There’s some incendiary four bar exchanges between the horns and drummer Todd Conedy on the 16 bars before the last theme. Jobim’s bossa Quiet Nights morphs into incandescent swing, while the band transforms the ballad My Funny Valentine into an infectious hard-swinging letter of love to the art of improvisation. 





Recorded May 1975 at Domicile Jazz Club in Munich, Germany

Frank Rosolino, trombone
Conte Candoli, trumpet
Rob Pronk, piano
Isla Eckinger, bass
Todd Canedy, drums

01 - Stella by Starlight 07:46
02 - Just Friends 07:22
03 - There Is No Greater Love 09:57
04 - Well You Neednt 08:10
05 - Quiet Nights 08:53
06 - My Funny Valentine 07:53

Cab Calloway - Chronogical Classics 1940-1949 (5 CD/FLAC)

 
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer, dancer, bandleader and actor. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years.

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the most popular dance bands in the United States from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. His band included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Cozy Cole.

Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher", originally recorded in 1931. He reached the Billboard charts in five consecutive decades (1930s–1970s). Calloway also made several stage, film, and television appearances until his death in 1994 at the age of 86. He had roles in Stormy Weather (1943), Porgy and Bess (1953), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Hello Dolly! (1967). His career saw renewed interest when he appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

Calloway was the first African American musician to sell a million records from a single and to have a nationally syndicated radio show. In 1993, Calloway received the National Medal of Arts from the United States Congress. He posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. His song "Minnie the Moocher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2019. He is also inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame and the International Jazz Hall of Fame. 




 

Bill Evans - Complete On Verve [18 CD, 1993]

The 18 CDs in this exhaustive set provide a comprehensive picture of Bill Evans from 1962 to 1969, a period when the pianist was both consolidating his fame and sometimes taking his music into untested waters, from unaccompanied piano to symphony orchestra. His work with multitracked solo piano, originally released as Conversations with Myself and the later Further Conversations with Myself, was the most remarkable new format for his introspective music. It gave Evans a way to be all the pianists he could be at once--combining densely chordal, harmonically oblique parts with surprising, rhythmic punctuation and darting, exploratory runs. Two dates with drummer Shelly Manne, in 1962 and 1966, reveal the stimulus Evans could find in a new playing relationship, as does the final disc with flutist Jeremy Steig. Evans also revisited significant earlier musical relationships. The Village Vanguard recordings from 1967 reunite him with the great drummer Philly Joe Jones, whose extroverted, polyrhythmic approach always worked wonderfully with the pianist's more introverted style. Along with the virtuosic young bassist Eddie Gomez, they make up one of the most stimulating of the many trios that Evans led throughout his career. There's also a superb set of duets with guitarist Jim Hall, another of Evans's most closely attuned musical partners. Evans's recordings with a symphony orchestra are marred by conductor Claus Ogermann's ponderous arrangements, and some false starts and multiple takes will appeal only to completists, but there are tremendous musical riches here. The set is packaged in an unfinished metal box designed to rust into an original object, but Evans's own originality is apparent everywhere.

 


 

Bud Shank & Bob Cooper - Mosaic Select 10 (3 CD, 2004/FLAC)


 For hardcore West Coast jazz fans, this Mosaic Select volume will be a kind of treasure-trove, though for most it will simply be a compelling curiosity piece. The collaborations of saxophonist and flutist Bud Shank and arranger, saxophonist, and oboist Bob Cooper created some tumult in the mid-1950s, when they recorded four albums together with various-sized ensembles, and, to a lesser degree, on Shank's date with Bob Brookmeyer arranged by Cooper. All tolled, there are five albums on these three discs: Bud Shank and Bob Brookmeyer (along with the session's remaining tracks that showed up on Bud Shank and Three Trombones on Pacific Jazz), Jazz at Cal-Tech (Pacific Jazz), Flute and Oboe (World Pacific), Swing's to TV, as well as the cuts from Jazz Swings Broadway (World Pacific) and of course, the classic, Blowin' Country (World Pacific). The quark strangeness and charm of these recordings cannot be underestimated, and neither can their swing. With sidemen like pianist Claude Williamson, drummers Chuck Flores or Shelly Manne, bassist Don Prell and others, these dates have a kind of quaintness that dates them in that restless yet ultra-hip period in the 1950s when almost anything went as long as it swung, and that stood outside the entire hard bop scene. These sides are not for everyone, but they are priceless for the sheer sophistication and adventurousness of their arrangements and the interplay between Shank and Cooper, which was symbiotic. A very fine idea by the folks at Mosaic. 




 

The Bad Plus discography [2000-2019]

  
The Bad Plus is a jazz trio from the United States, consisting of pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, and drummer Dave King, originating from Minneapolis, Minnesota.


The trio's music combines elements of modern avant-garde jazz with rock and pop influences. The band have recorded versions of songs by Nirvana, Aphex Twin, Blondie, Pink Floyd, Ornette Coleman, Pixies, Rush, Tears for Fears, Neil Young, David Bowie, Yes, Interpol, and Black Sabbath. Blunt Object: Live in Tokyo includes a cover of Queen's "We Are the Champions" along with the jazz standard "My Funny Valentine". Suspicious Activity? contains a cover of the theme from "Chariots of Fire", while a version of "Karma Police" by Radiohead appeared on the 2006 album Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads. The band has said that they changed their sound a little bit for their sixth album, For All I Care.





The Bad Plus.2000- The Bad Plus
The Bad Plus.2003- These Are The Vistas
The Bad Plus.2004- Give
The Bad Plus.2005- Suspicious Activity
The Bad Plus.2006- Blunt Object - Live In Tokyo
The Bad Plus.2007- Prog
The Bad Plus.2008- For All I Care
The Bad Plus.2009- For All I Care
The Bad Plus.2011- Never Stop
The Bad Plus.2012- Made Possible
The Bad Plus.2014- Inevitable Western
The Bad Plus.2014- The Rite Of Spring
The Bad Plus.2015- The Bad Plus Joshua Redman
The Bad Plus.2016- It's Hard
The Bad Plus.2018- Never Stop II
The Bad Plus.2019- Activate Infinity