Jazz Articles

Hank Jones: Hanky Panky

by John Kelman
November 6, 2005

Octogenarian pianist Hank Jones' musical career has been consistently active since he first emerged in the late 1930s. However, Jones had an especially fruitful period as a leader during the 1970s, releasing no fewer than 25 albums between 1975 and 1980. Unfortunately, many of these recordings were originally released on Japanese labels like East Wind and Inner City, until now only available as expensive imports.

But 441 Records' Harvey Rosen created the subsidiary Test of Time Records to reissue many ...

Andrew Hill: Blue Black

by John Kelman
November 2, 2005

After releasing no less than thirteen albums on Blue Note from 1963-69, pianist Andrew Hill then seemed to completely drop off the map until 1974, when he entered into another fertile period, making ten records for a variety of labels until 1980, when he would again fall silent. Hill carried considerably less star power then than he did in the 1960s, working, for the most part, with lesser-known players. Three of those ten 1970s recordings were solo efforts, including 1975's ...

The Great Jazz Trio: At the Village Vanguard Again

by John Kelman
August 22, 2005

For the third and final reissue of performances culled from the Great Jazz Trio's three-night Village Vanguard run in '77--previously only available as expensive vinyl imports on the Japanese East Wind label--pianist Hank Jones, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams prove once again that standard material needn't imply standard delivery.

The first two volumes--At the Village Vanguard and At the Village Vanguard Vol. 2, both released earlier this year--augmented well-known material, ranging in style from overt bebop to more ...

The Great Jazz Trio: At the Village Vanguard Vol. 2

by John Kelman
July 24, 2005

With Test of Time continuing its archival reissue series of '70s Inner City and East Wind label recordings previously only available as expensive Japanese imports, this is a great time to be thinking about taking out a second mortgage on the home. Previous releases, including titles by Andrew Hill, Sheila Jordan, and Art Farmer have been uniformly strong, with Test of Time's DSD Mastering Process bringing out all the subtleties of the original masters, making them arguably the definitive issues. ...

Sheila Jordan: Confirmation

by Andrew Rowan
June 15, 2005

Sheila Jordan has the purity of heart of a child expressed through adult experience. When she dedicates this 1975 recording (originally on the Japanese East Wind label) to children of all ages, it is real. Confirmation has songs written by Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday (her two greatest influences) nestled alongside offerings from American popular song (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Frank Loesser, Arthur Dietz, and Richard Schwartz)--as well as pianist Steve Kuhn ("Pearlie's Swine, aka ...

Art Farmer: Yesterday's Thoughts

by John Kelman
April 17, 2005

Possibly better-appreciated in the latter period of his life and after his death, Art Farmer, along with Clark Terry, was instrumental in bringing the flugelhorn, a mellow cousin of the trumpet, to the fore. Appearing on literally hundreds of recordings and releasing over seventy albums under his own name, he may have been the perfect definition of the journeyman musician--well-known in music circles, but a name that tended to elude the larger record-buying public for many years. Still, with a ...

The Great Jazz Trio: At the Village Vanguard

by John Kelman
March 23, 2005

Pianist Hank Jones has been the only constant in the nearly thirty-year run of the Great Jazz Trio, but a stellar range of players have come and gone--including Jones' brother Elvin, Al Foster, and Jimmy Cobb on drums; and bassists Eddie Gomez, George Mraz, and Richard Davis. One of the most potent yet short-lived versions of the trio was its second incarnation featuring bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. Perhaps it's because, with their shared background as members of ...