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Benny Carter: Jazz Giant
by David Rickert
“Jazz giant” is a term immediately greeted with skepticism, yet Benny Carter fills the role better than most. Perhaps the greatest of the big band leaders that most people have never heard of, Carter finally settled down in Hollywood in the fifties and began to record the full-length albums that eventually cemented his reputation. Jazz Giant ...
Brook Benton: Songs I Love To Sing
by David Rickert
Brook Benton came up with the concept of Songs I Love To Sing while recovering in the hospital from an illness. He wanted to record an album of songs that in his estimation were among the best ever written, and recruited his collaborator Clyde Otis to write the charts. This was quite a departure for Benton ...
The Modern Jazz Quartet: The Complete Modern Jazz Quartet Prestige & Pablo Recordings
by David Rickert
The Modern Jazz Quartet may best be remembered for bringing a heightened sense of respectability to jazz – the coattails and gentlemanly demeanor helped bring the music from smoky clubs to concert halls and thus to a wider audience. The concept the MJQ employed – fusing a classical sense of composition to basic jazz improvisation – ...
World Music: Ellington and Barbieri
by David Rickert
Bolivia/Under Fire Gato Barbieri 1971/1973 Gato Barbieri announced his arrival on a couple of Don Cherry albums with a piercing tone and a seemingly reckless, avant-garde leaning. Later he would strike gold with the passionate soundtrack to “Last Tango in Paris”, a much more restrained affair that showcased the tenor saxophonist’s melodic ...
Frank D: After the Ball
by David Rickert
Frank D’Rone was one of many singers after a piece of the Sinatra pie, and the suave, debonair fellow on the cover certainly had the promising look of the next big crooner. However, although D’Rone is a fine singer, he lacks that elusive quality that allows one to jump the gap between an interpreter and an ...
Johnny Griffin & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Quintet: Tough Tenors
by David Rickert
The appeal of a good cutting session is similar to that of a good boxing match: we all enjoy watching two competitors locked in combat, pushing themselves to new boundaries and discovering untapped resources. Johnny Griffin and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis went so far as to establish a quintet which allowed them repeated opportunities to duke it ...
Vocal Goodies: Forgotten Artists From Verve
by David Rickert
Verve has recently released a number of vocal jazz records as part of their LPR series. Before handling the heavyweights, here are two discs from forgotten artists. After the Ball Frank D’Rone 1960Frank D’Rone was one of many singers after a piece of the Sinatra pie, and the ...
Columbia Monk
by David Rickert
Monk’s Columbia recordings have never been as highly regarded as the Riverside sessions, some critics claiming that Monk was merely rehashing material he had previously recorded in inferior versions. However, Monk was always going to offer something new with each session, and in newly remastered versions with extended running time, Monk’s last sessions deserve another look.
Chuck Wayne: Morning Mist
by David Rickert
Chuck Wayne was one of many jazz musicians who made their living primarily in studio orchestras, forgoing any sort of fame they might have achieved as a recording artist or club fixture. Thus he falls into the perilous realm of being a “guitarist’s guitarist,” which is just a polite way of saying that his records weren’t ...
Charlie Byrd: Solo Flight
by David Rickert
Solo guitar albums can be a tricky affair; even the best of them, like Joe Pass’s Virtuoso occasionally flirt with tedium and seem to exhaust all possibilities relatively quickly. As a result, many guitarists tend to stay away from the demands of the format, preferring the company of at least one other sideman to share the ...
