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Clark Terry: This Could Be The Start Of Something Big! - Clark Terry Plays TV Themes
by Ken Dryden
The late NEA Jazz Master Clark Terry was known for his brilliant playing and sense of humor, the latter which first came into wide recognition when he introduced his “Mumbles" routine in two original blues on the album Oscar Peterson Trio + 1—Clark Terry (Mercury, 1964). By the early 1970s, he was well established and had briefly led a big band as well, though his primary focus remained on small groups. This previously unissued session of television themes was suggested ...
Continue ReadingCarmen McRae: Carmen McRae: Live at Sugar Hill - San Francisco
by Samuel Chell
This overlooked on-location session from 1963 reveals, perhaps more than any other recording, why Carmen McRae at the time deserved to complete the dominating triumvirate in which Ella Fitzgerald's and Sarah Vaughan's places were always secure. In the 1970s the marketplace would often hamstring her choice of material and settings, and in the 1980s the years of smoking began to have a noticeable effect on the breath-stream that once sustained her enviable instrument. On this occasion, however, she retains the ...
Continue ReadingAl Cohn & Zoot Sims: Easy As Pie
by AAJ Staff
Once again, Label M mines the vast resources of jazz performances that Baltimore's Left Bank Jazz Society sagaciously recorded, knowing that they were hearing unparalleled music in their midst but not knowing that it would entertain jazz listeners thirty-plus years hence. It seems that the Left Bank group was at its best when it recorded horns, and particularly saxophonists. Even on Easy As Pie, Dave Frishberg's piano lacks clarity due to the on-site instrument's limitations. Unfortunately, the same problem occurred ...
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