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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 ...
10 Favorite Fender Rhodes Albums
Back in March, I posted about John Von Ohlen's The Baron (1973), a superb Fender Rhodes album. As mentioned back then, I'm a bit of a Rhodes nut, having fallen in love with the electric piano in the early 1970s in high school. I also hinted in my post that I planned on sharing my top ...
Backgrounder: O'Donel Levy - Black Velvet (1971)
The early 1970s was an explosive time for pop music. Trade quotas were lifted on Japanese electronic products, and America was flooded with affordable component stereo systems. Stores helped you match a turntable to an integrated receiver and speakers based on your budget. If you didn't have the money, you could always go with a Japanese-made ...
Perfection: Stan Getz - 'Stella by Starlight'
The very first song Stan Getz recorded for Norman Granz's Clef label, in December 1952, was Victor Young's Stella by Starlight. At the time, the Stan Getz Quintet was comprised of Stan Getz (ts), Duke Jordan (p), Jimmy Raney (g), Bill Crow (b) and Frank Isola (d). By then, the group had already been playing the ...
CTI: The Brilliance of Hubert Laws
If you asked me to name one artist whose albums for Creed Taylor's CTI label hold up best today, I'd have to say Hubert Laws. Laws is probably jazz's finest flutist and is still with us, yet you barely hear or read much about him. In fact, if I had to sell off all of my ...
Take Five with Saxophonist/Singer/Guitarist Vanessa Collier
by AAJ Staff
Meet Vanessa Collier Vanessa Collier's sixth album Do It My Own Way was recently released on Phenix Fire Records. Recorded on analog gear with the musicians largely in one room, Do It My Own Way is sonically inspired by the classic Memphis soul sound of Stax and Hi Records, especially that of the Staples Singers. The ...
