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Hasaan Ibn Ali: Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album
by Karl Ackermann
The hard bop, Philadelphia pianist Hasaan Ibn Ali had a short, troubled life. On what was believed his only recording, The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan (Atlantic, 1965), the drummer placed Ali's full image front and center, his name in a larger font on the LP cover. Within the Philadelphia jazz community, he was well-known and considered uniquely talented, if unpredictable. He practiced with John Coltrane and saxophonist Odean Pope is among those who credit Ali with inspiring ...
read moreBrian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks: Orange Crate Art 25th Anniversary Edition (2 CD)
by Doug Collette
Personal estrangement, lawsuits and terminal illness permeated the Beach Boys' world when Orange Crate Art was originally released in 1995. It is thus little wonder it was greeted with more than a little ballyhoo (even if that was bit tentative), but that's also because it was, apart from the single song “Sail On Sailor" from Holland (Brother Records, 1973) the first longplaying-length collaboration between Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks since they teamed for the mythic album Smile (formal archiving ...
read moreThe New Riders of The Purple Sage: Thanksgiving in New York City
by Doug Collette
As preserved on Thanksgiving In New York City, The New Riders Of The Purple Sage were far more than just a mere offshoot of the Grateful Dead. Initially born in the folk surge of the late Sixties as the latter band's titular leader, Jerry Garcia, initially worked and learned with future NRPS chief songwriter John “Marmaduke" Dawson--"Friend of the Devil" is their most notable collaboration—the fledgling group was further nurtured in the most optimal circumstances possible, the prolific creative output ...
read morePromise Kept: The Complete Artists House Recordings
by Peter J. Hoetjes
A Man and His Word Art Pepper's career as an alto saxophonist is often said to exist in two eras, separated by incarceration and marriage, joined together by a penchant for substance abuse. In 1952, Pepper was a young jazzman on the rise in a world where John Coltrane and Miles Davis had yet to become household names. This era, which gained substantial steam with the release of The Art Pepper Quartet (Tampa, 1956), was one where he laid the ...
read moreDennis Coffey: Live at Baker's
by Doug Collette
The intimations of springtime on guitarist Dennis Coffey's Live at Baker's place it more closely in line with the balmy tone of Hot Coffey in the D: Burnin' At Morey Baker's Showplace Lounge (Resonance Records, 2016) than the insistent rhythm workout of One Night at Morey's: 1968 (Omnivore, 2018). Nevertheless, this three concert release, like its predecessors, features the former Funk Brother's sinewy playing married to comparably lean instrumental accompaniment on no-nonsense arrangements. This single set from May ...
read moreThe Long Ryders: Psychedelic Country Soul
by Doug Collette
The Long Ryders remained on the periphery of the so-called Paisley Underground of the '80s, resting virtually alone in the “cowpunk" niche until Uncle Tupelo appeared in the next decade under the aegis of “alternative country." Shepherded by Coal Porters member and Million Dollar Bash author Sid Griffin, The Long Ryders have periodically regrouped for brief reunions over the years in response to fan demands, but Psychedelic Country Soul is their first studio album of new material since 1987, the ...
read moreGreatest Other People's Hits
by Doug Collette
In keeping with his adopted moniker, John Wesley Harding, nee Wes Stace, has too often been a bit too clever in penning original material from his position in the circle of late Seventies-early Eighties songwriters including Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. As a result, his regular choice of cover material has simultaneously functioned as a respite from that unfortunate phenomenon and (re)affirmation he did indeed recognize the essential attributes of a well-wrought composition. Greatest Other People's Hits underlines that point ...
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