Recording News

Fans Invited To Create Miles Davis Album For Legacy

Source: Chris M. Slawecki
September 5, 2011

On August 1, 2011, Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, launched The Miles Davis Fan Project, an innovative online initiative designed to introduce the music of the American jazz composer-trumpeter-bandleader to a digital audience via Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/MilesDavis) and Davis' official website (milesdavis.com). Throughout the month of August, 40 classic Miles Davis tracks—representing multiple aspects and phases of the iconic Davis canon from the post-bop cool of Kind of Blue through the ferocious fusion of Bitches Brew to ...

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John Coltrane - The Impulse! Albums Volume 4 (Hip-O Select, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
September 5, 2011

This ongoing series of boxed sets has been taking the recordings of saxophonist and composer John Coltrane and restoring them to their original LP format, stripping alternate takes, extra liner material and the like while returning the music to its originally released format, with the artwork and notes as appeared during their first release in 1965-1968. Included in this set are the albums Expression, Live at the Village Vanguard Again!, Om, Cosmic Music (co credited to Alice Coltrane) and Selflessness ...

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Harris Eisenstadt - Canada Day 2 (Songlines 2011) ****a1/2

Source: Free Jazz by Stef Gijssels
September 5, 2011

By Joe Higham Personnel: Nate Wooley: trumpet; Matt Bauder: tenor saxophone; Chris Dingman: vibraphone; Eivind Opsvik: bass; Harris Eisenstadt: drums, compositions. One might expect daring musical adventures from this group of forward thinking musicians, yet the album the second in the Canada series, is not as avant-jazz as one might expect, however that doesn't mean it's not original. The compositions are excellent, dynamic and complex, the playing (as expected) top quality, and that's what counts in my books. Eisenstadt's 'Woodblock ...

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Jazzwax List: Labors of Love

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 5, 2011

On Labor Day, we wistfully celebrate the end of summer and hope to take advantage of sales. But originally, the holiday was created to give workers a day off. The first Labor Day dates back to 1894, following the deaths of unionized workers by the U.S. Military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike. To commemorate work and rest, here's a list of my favorite jazz tracks and albums bearing the word “work..."

Work of Art—Art Farmer Septet (1953) Work—Thelonious ...

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Texas-based jazz vocalist Laura Ainsworth truly dazzles on new CD

Source: Lauren Rogers
September 5, 2011

The last thing anyone would expect from a jazz album would be a cover of a song from '80s New Wave vet Marshall Crenshaw. But on her latest record, Keep It To Yourself, vocalist Laura Ainsworth does just that, stripping away the power pop from Crenshaw's 1991 original and instead focusing on its yearning romanticism. Gifted with a sultry, swoon-inducing croon, Ainsworth can sing any words and command attention; given lines of poetry from Crenshaw's golden pen, and she truly ...

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Gimme Five: The Pat Metheny Trio

Source: Something Else!
September 4, 2011

By Mark Saleski Many artists, when asked to pick a favorite from their own discography, will lean toward their most recent release. Sure, I can see that. You work on new material, it's fresh and exiting, and right there in the front of your mind. I've wondered what Pat Metheny's response would be if he was asked to pick a favorite from his many trio lineups. Obviously, this is like asking him to do a little apple/orange comparing ... and ...

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Lenny Kravitz - Black and White America (2011)

Source: Something Else!
September 4, 2011

No major artist has or will ever claim to be more of a 1970s-styled musical chameleon than Lenny Kravitz, since his whole career has been about simulating the analog sounds and feel of that decade (and arguably, into the 1980s a bit). Black And White America signals a departure not in style by in themes. Here, he takes up the topic of race relations—one that strikes close to home for this son of a white father and black mother. Like, ...

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Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey - The Race Riot Suite (2011)

Source: Something Else!
September 3, 2011

The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is a band that's clearly relished keeping people guessing—down to the fictional person in the band name—and while jazz has always been the starting point for their music, it's anyone's guess where the band would take it from one album to the next. We last visited JFJO more than three years ago when Lil Tae Rides Again was the fresh new dish, and there's been two albums since then. The third one just went on ...

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