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Eddie Costa: Guys and Dolls Love Jazz
by Craig Jolley
In retrospect it's hard to see how or why this record was made in the days before CD's as calling cards. Eddie Costa had little name recognition, and what fame he enjoyed was on piano, his primary instrument. The material--cute boy-meets-girl tunes written in subservience to 1950's-clever lyrics--does not lend itself to jazz interpretation. [A couple ...
John Lewis: Evolution II
by Craig Jolley
Together with Thelonious Monk and Tadd Dameron John Lewis defined the art composition for the bop generation. Beyond that he led a jazz ensemble for many years, acted as musical director for festivals and concerts, pioneered the fusion of European classical music with jazz, served as a music educator, sponsored young, unknown musicians in their first ...
Bob Belden: Black Dahlia
by Craig Jolley
Black Dahlia comes off better felt than listened to. In the liner notes Bob Belden describes his programmatic suite as a portrait of a mysterious, romantic loner who lived out her brief life through movies in post-WWII Hollywood. He borrows “moody" techniques from 1940's film score writers and gives them a jazzy spin. Miles Davis and ...
Martial Solal: Martial Solal Dodecaband Plays Ellington
by Craig Jolley
Martial Solal's big band is a revelation. I've loved his piano music since I started acquiring (mostly through mail order) his records in the late 60's. His big band writing can be seen as an extension of his piano, but it is much more. Like his piano playing there are all kinds of rhythmic stops and ...
Carl Saunders: Eclecticism
by Craig Jolley
The word on Los Angeles trumpet ace Carl Saunders: he can play can play “anything". His trumpet style is inspired by equal measures of Miles (relaxed, economical, no vibrato) and Dizzy (lean, hungry, and piercing). He is at ease in all registers. His high notes are dead center, not just special-effects squeaks. Diversity is the key ...
Joao Donato: Amazonas
by Craig Jolley
A less-celebrated contemporary of Jobim and Gilberto, pianist/composer Joao Donato has enjoyed a more diverse career than his fellow bossa nova pioneers. As a versatile, accomplished pianist also at home in extroverted Cuban rhythms Donato has recorded and played with Mongo Santamaria, Bud Shank, Cal Tjader, and Michael Franks as well as with many of the ...
Lee Wiley: Complete Fifties Studio Masters
by Craig Jolley
Like most great ballad singers Lee Wiley was grounded in the blues. Not that blues monopolized her repertoire (There is only one blues among the 51 tunes in this two-CD set.), but her blues-informed phrasing and timing gave her music a depth beyond that of the let's-cut-to-the-chase cutie pies. Combined with her cool, sensual sound and ...
Lee Wiley: Complete Fifties Studio Masters
by Craig Jolley
Like most great ballad singers Lee Wiley was grounded in the blues. Not that blues monopolized her repertoire (There is only one blues among the 51 tunes in this two-CD set.), but her blues-informed phrasing and timing gave her music a depth beyond that of the let's-cut-to-the-chase cutie pies. Combined with her cool, sensual sound and ...
Rob McConnell: Tentet
by Craig Jolley
Rob McConnell has trimmed his 17-piece Boss Brass to a streamlined tentet. Besides the advantage of economics the smaller band lends itself to extended soloing and to a flexible ensemble swing. McConnell's intelligently spaced voicings generally avoid the thin sound that sometimes comes out of cut-down bands. (The missing horns are most noticeable when a section ...
George V Johnson, Jr.: Next In Line!
by Craig Jolley
A student of the late Eddie Jefferson, Washington, D.C.-based vocalist George V. Johnson takes his cue from Jefferson's later (1970's) sound with a repertoire drawn largely from the contemporaneous Miles Davis book. The versatile Johnson whose resume includes acting, teaching, and producing wrote lyrics (mainly vocalese) for five of the tunes. “Freedom Jazz Dance," the most ...
