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Perfection: Jimmy Forrest - 'Soul Street' (1960)
Dial Records initiated the “tenor battle" concept in 1947 when the label brought bebop saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray into the studio to record Gordon's composition The Chase. Prestige Records then perfected and exploited the dueling-tenors format, starting in 1950, with Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons recording of Blues Up and Down and other 78 ...
Kandace Springs: Lady in Satin
You'd have to be out of your mind to cover Lady in Satin (1958), one of Billie Holiday's final LPs and widely considered a masterpiece today. Unless, of course, you can pull it off, and vocalist Kandace Springs does just that on her new SRP release. She has the voice, the phrasing and the feel—without making ...
Art Pepper: An Afternoon in Norway (1980)
Art Pepper spent much of his life in search of the love and admiration that eluded him in childhood. Throughout his career, he carried around the trauma inflicted on him by his parents. For Pepper, he entered the world in 1925 as a mistake, and his very presence quickly intruded on his mother’s alcohol-fueled good times. ...
Backgrounder: Music To Listen To Barney Kessel By
By 1957, Los Angeles was Shangri-La for many jazz studio musicians. They had settled in the San Fernando Valley north of the city, married, had kids, no longer had to tour, the weather was great, the highways weren't impossible yet and the Pacific Ocean's beaches were waiting. Provided their car started, they were in business for ...
Steve Allee: Naptown Sound
by Steve Allee
Submitted on behalf of Kyle Long, Producer/Host at WFYI in Indianapolis.If you ask the average music fan to name the greatest jazz cities in America, it's unlikely that Indianapolis would top their list. That's a shame, as those familiar with the city's history know better. They see the unique fingerprints of Indianapolis musicians across ...
Perfection: Sonny Stitt - Goin' Down Slow
Today, I'm serving up two tracks for this week's Perfection entry, because as anyone who bought Sonny Stitt's LP Goin' Down Slow in 1972 knows, it's impossible to listen to the first without the second. The two featured tracks are Stitt's Miss Ann, Lisa, Sue and Sadie and Where Is Love by Lionel Bart from Oliver! The ...
Six YouTube Clips: Terry Gibbs
I love Terry Gibbs. Like Shorty Rogers, Chubby Jackson, Teddy Charles and so many other jazz players, Terry had and still has wild, enthusiastic energy. And given that it rained in New York for two days and expected to return again tomorrow and Friday, what better way to perk up than with music by Terry. I'm ...
Steve Allee on The Baron
Back in March, I posted on The Baron, a terrific Fender Rhodes album led by drummer John “The Baron" Von Ohlen. It was recorded for Stan Kenton's Creative World label in January 1973. The Baron featured Claude Sifferlen (Fender Rhodes), Steve Allee (keyboard bass, piano, organ), Von Ohlen (drums) and Mary Ann Moss (vocals). Prior, I ...
Backgrounder: Sonny Rollins - Alfie (1966)
No album better reflects Sonny Rollins's personality than his Alfie: Original Music From the Score, arranged by Oliver Nelson. Recorded in New York in January 1966, the original music has his energy, passion, tenderness and his melancholy in one fell swoop. It's all very mid-1960s. To learn more about the recording, consult my two-part post on ...
Perfection: Erroll Garner - It's the Talk of the Town
It's the Talk of the Town was a 1933 song written by Jerry Livingston, with lyrics by Al J. Neiburg and Marty Symes. It quickly became a standard, with many pop artists recording it. Perhaps the best instrumental version was by jazz pianist Erroll Garner. Recorded on July 2, 1951 for Columbia, Garner was accompanied by ...
