Recording News

Webster Young: For Lady

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 6, 2011

Add Webster Young to your list of little-known but consequential trumpeters. Born in South Carolina in 1932, Young met Louis Armstrong early on and asked for some pointers. He soon shifted to Dizzy Gillespie's style after hearing the bop trumpeter play. Eventually, Young landed on Miles Davis' patient, breathy sound, grasping the trumpeter's phrasing and economy perhaps better than any other horn player. [Photo of Webster Young by Michael Gillispie] Webster Young recorded on only 10 albums, with much of ...

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Colin Vallon Trio "Rruga"

Source: ECM Records
May 5, 2011

Colin Vallon, Patrice Moret and Samuel Rohrer—Rruga Colin Vallon: piano Patrice Moret: double-bass Samuel Rohrer: drums Release Date: May 10, 2011 “Rruga," meaning 'path,' 'road' or 'journey' in Albanian, is the evocative title of the ECM debut by the trio of pianist Colin Vallon, bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Samuel Rohrer (who was previously heard on the ECM recordings “April" with Swiss/Dutch singer Susanne Abbuehl and “Currents" by the Wolfert Brederode Quartet). After shared musical experiences ...

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"Barabajagal" by Donovan

Source: Sound Insights by Doug Payne
May 5, 2011

The music of Donovan (b. 1946, Glasgow, Scotland) has long remained a perverse and pervasive fascination for me. Like most “flower power" hits of the sixties, “Mellow Yellow" and “Sunshine Superman" are emblazoned upon my musical transom. But whether it's the dated oddities of either song or the mere fact that we've all heard them a zillion times, I never took Donovan too seriously. Then I heard Gabor Szabo's frightfully moving cover of Donovan's “Ferris Wheel" (from the guitarist's 1968 ...

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A Welcome Reissue of Heiner Stadler's "Tribute to Bird and Monk" and How Wrong is Right

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
May 5, 2011

I keep coming back to Ken Burn's jazz series because it towed a particular party line (musically speaking) that I have disagreements with, and because it reached so many people who otherwise would not have gotten some kind of comprehensive overview of jazz in its 100-or-so- year history. (That's good, but that also means that a particular viewpoint was portrayed as THE view and that might not be good.) There was a point in the series where the question was ...

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The Cookers - Cast the First Stone (Plus Lion Music, 2011)

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

The Cookers is a collective unit primarily consisting of veteran musicians who came up in the wake of hard-bop and free jazz in the late 1960's and early 1970's. It's a pretty extraordinary unit, all things considered: Billy Harper on tenor saxophone; Eddie Henderson and David Weiss on trumpet, Craig Handy on alto saxophone, Azar Lawrence on tenor and soprano saxophones, George Cables on piano, Cecil McBee on bass and Billy Hart on drums.

The Cookers Cast the First Stone ...

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Something Else! Sneak Peek: P.J. Pacifico, "Waiting" (2011)

Source: Something Else!
May 5, 2011

By Nick DeRiso With a piano signature that mimics rain water trickling from a downspout, and an easy-going, almost confidential delivery that sounds like a softer Toad the Wet Sprocket (or a tougher Gin Blossoms?), P.J. Pacifico's “Waiting" couldn't seem more confectionary. At first, anyway. Though his subject matter seems firmly ensconced in the golden crushes of summer, he sings like autumn, a fragile brown leaf tumbling end over end. Sure, there's a youthful longing, but this tale of hoped-for ...

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Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motion "Live at Birdland"

Source: ECM Records
May 5, 2011

Konitz, Mehldau, Haden and Motian Live At Birdland Lee Konitz: alto saxophone Brad Mehldau: piano Charlie Haden: double-bass Paul Motian: drums A quartet of master musicians and a programme of jazz classics. “Live At Birdland" presents the finest moments from two inspired nights at New York's legendary club, as Konitz, Mehldau, Haden and Motian play “Lover Man," “Lullaby Of Birdland," “Solar," “I Fall In Love Too Easily," “You Stepped Out Of A Dream" and ...

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First Impulse: 50th Anniversary

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
May 5, 2011

After Creed Taylor formed Impulse Records in the summer of 1960, his first move wasn't to record and release LPs. It was to develop a strategic marketing plan. First, Creed and Fran Scott, his art director (and Tony Scott's wife) designed a strong logo. Next, they chose orange and black for the label's color scheme. These colors have been used most effectively in a new four-CD set, First Impulse: The Creed Taylor Collection 50th Anniversary Collection (Universal). Creed felt that ...

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