Recording News

"Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl - Expanded Edition" On Hip-O Select / Verve

Source: Chris M. Slawecki
July 26, 2011

Jazz At The Hollywood Bowl was the first recorded jazz concert at the prestigious Los Angeles outdoor venue. It was a prime example of jazz elevated to the concert stage, a concept developed by Norman Granz, record producer, label owner, artist manager and the foremost jazz promoter in the world. It was recorded August 15, 1956, the year Granz established Verve Records, and featured some of Verve's greatest talent: Ella Fitzgerald, Art Tatum, the Oscar Peterson Trio, et al.

Jazz ...

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Thelonious Monk - The Definitive Thelonious Monk on Prestige and Riverside (Concord, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
July 26, 2011

In 1951, pianist and composer Thelonious Monk was pinched in a bogus arrest that resulted in him losing his Cabaret Card, necessary for performing in New York City clubs. While he scrambled for out of town gigs, Riverside Records stepped up to record Monk in a wide ranging series of contexts, resulting in some of the finest records of his career. While all of the original albums are (I assume) still in print, and a fifteen CD boxed set is ...

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Bobby Broom's Deep Blue Organ Trio Salutes the Music of Stevie Wonder with "Wonderful!," out on Origin 8/16

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
July 26, 2011

With the release of their new CD Wonderful!, Chicago's acclaimed Deep Blue Organ Trio reveals just how well Stevie Wonder's songs adapt to a jazz-rooted setting. The disc, due out August 16 on Origin Records, features guitarist Bobby Broom, organist Chris Foreman, and drummer Greg Rockingham and their deeply informed, strongly felt versions of nine Wonder songs from the 1970s. “Stevie was a huge influence," states Broom, who produced and arranged Wonderful!, the trio's fourth CD and second for Origin. ...

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London-born Katerina Polemi delivers beautiful balance of Brazilian and Gypsy jazz on new CD

Source: Lauren Rogers
July 26, 2011

Greatness can exist from beneath the most humble of appearances. The goal of jazz artist Katerina Polemi may be to Spread the Music, Not the Name with her latest album, but she'll likely end up doing both whether she intends to or not. Polemi's record is a spicy amalgamation of Brazilian and Gypsy jazz with sweetly brewed Greek and world-music ingredients tossed in as well. Together they culminate in an unidentifiable genre all of Polemi's own. Welcome to the accessible ...

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Random Touch's "Tributary" Asks: Are Your Ready To Explore Beyond The Main Stream?

Source: Glass Onyon PR - Keith James
July 25, 2011

Asheville, NC—The tributary is where fish and amphibians go to spawn. It is the hatchery for all that dwells in the river. Random Touch's unique and fertile imagination presents Tributary, a rousing expression of music as emotional journey. Relentless and demanding, this is music without compromise. This is pure art, made for its own sake, and accountable only to itself. Tributary is a double CD, the group's 15th release, for a total of 19 discs in the public domain. Serendipity ...

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John Coltrane - Kulu Se Mama (Impulse, 1965, 2000)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
July 25, 2011

The sessions that make up this album show a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of saxophonist and composer John Coltrane's music. Four of the six tracks are with the well known “classic quartet" of McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. The other two performances on this album, from a session recorded a few months later, show the quartet augmented by a number of extra musicians. The album begins with one of the augmented ...

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Tarfala Trio - Syzygy (NoBusiness Records, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
July 25, 2011

Drawing on the legacy of Albert Ayler's extraordinary trio LP Spiritual Unity, The Tarfala Trio, consisting of Mats Gustafsson on saxophones, Barry Guy on bass and Raymond Strid on drums and percussion take the notion of open-ended free jazz and make an impassioned statement that would certainly have made Ayler proud. Opening with “Broken by Fire," the band sets the stage for their opening improvisation by probing at the edges of the music, before Gustafsson finds a path with ecstatic ...

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Joey Calderazzo - Amanecer (2007)

Source: Something Else!
July 25, 2011

By Mark Saleski The opening track of Joey Calderazzo's Amanecer, for once, gave the listener some insight into where the pianist was headed. “Midnight Voyager," which first appeared on Michael Brecker's Tales From The Hudson, is a complete reworking of the original. By “complete" I mean that I did not recognize the tune until nearing the end. Repeat listens revealed that Calderazzo has both deconstructed and expanded the piece. Quite amazing. Amanecer found Calderazzo stepping away from his Branford Marsalis ...

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