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Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra: Vitoria Suite
by Chris May
Does anyone over there realise how good they are? That's to paraphrase what tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins asked about British pianist Stan Tracey, who led the house band at Ronnie Scott's club in London during the 1960s. “Does anyone here realise how good he is?" was Rollins' actual question (and decades later, the endorsement is still ...
Miriam Makeba: South Africa's Skylark
by Chris May
As was the case with her mentor, partner and fellow social radical, singer Harry Belafonte, South African-born singer Miriam Makeba's breakthrough international hits were sunny, folk-based pop singles devoid of the explicit political content which would later inform much of her work. Belafonte scored with the calypsos “Banana Boat Song" and “Island In The Sun" in ...
Senegal's Etoile de Dakar featuring Youssou N'Dour and south London's Yaaba Funk
by Chris May
The birth of mbalax in Senegal towards the close of the 1970s, and a 2010 highlife/funk hybrid from south London, show how the embrace of imported styles by African musicians can enrich the continent's music. Etoile de Dakar featuring Youssou N'Dour Once Upon a Time in Senegal: The Birth of Mbalax 1979-1981 ...
The Waitiki 7: New Sounds Of Exotica
by Chris May
The Waitiki 7New Sounds Of ExoticaPass Out Records2010 As kitsch as a Jeff Koons Valentine card, and as camp as a Liberace Christmas TV special, exotica first flourished, primarily in the US, between the mid-1950s and the early 1960s. As the Pacific returned to peace after the ...
Thelonious Monk / John Coltrane / Art Pepper / Dave Brubeck: Remastered Classics
by Chris May
An extension of the Original Jazz Classics series launched in 1982, the OJC Remasters strand applies the sonic benefits of modern remastering to albums in the OJC catalogue which were released on compact disc before 24-bit technology was available. On the first batch of Remasters, engineer Joe Tarantino's work adds new depth and presence to the ...
Nat Birchall: Guiding Spirit
by Chris May
Nat BirchallGuiding SpiritGondwana Records2010 Who would have guessed that a group of musicians in the brash English city of Manchester would, in 2010, be rekindling the astral jazz forged by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and harpist and pianist Alice Coltrane in the late 1960s? But it's happening, and happening ...
Dexter Gordon: American Classic
by Chris May
Reissued as part of the Warner Jazz Elektra Masters series, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon's American Classic was originally released in 1982. It was part of a late-period American renaissance enjoyed by Gordon, who, after 15 years in Europe, had made a much lauded return to the New York club scene in the mid 1970s. Gordon's renaissance ...
Marco Benevento: Between The Needles & Nightfall
by Chris May
Marco Benevento covers a lot of ground in his search for the lost chord--jazz, rock, jam band and spangly pop--but the Brooklyn-based composer and keyboard player is no fusionist. To borrow a description applied to bassist and producer Bill Laswell in the mid 1980s, Benevento is a collisionist: he doesn't so much sit on the fence ...
Ska Cubano: Mambo Ska
by Chris May
A blast--a raucous, riotous, irresistible blast. Ska Cubano is a London-based, Caribbean retro band led by the singer/songwriter Natty Bo (aka Nathan Lerner) and featuring his ex-wife, Miss Megoo (aka Megumi Mesaku), a fiery ska saxophonist in the grand tradition of Roland Alphonso and Tommy McCook. Japanese-born Miss Megoo, who also plays some of the honkingest, ...
Dave Stapleton Quintet: Between The Lines
by Chris May
Leading a band while simultaneously recording other musicians for your own label is no easy feat, but it's one pianist Dave Stapleton is achieving with style. Between The Lines is the third disc by the feisty and engaging Dave Stapleton Quintet for Edition Records, whose catalogue includes well received albums by Polar Bear saxophonist Mark Lockheart, ...
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