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Cal Tjader: Our Blues

by David Rickert
Before Cal Tjader made his mark on the Latin-jazz front, he was a fine straight-ahead player and probably the best vibraphonist on the West Coast. This two-fer CD is made up of two early albums recorded for Fantasy that show how well Tjader worked in conventional settings. Despite his West Coast pedigree, the live half of ...
Stan Kenton: Stompin' At Newport

by David Rickert
For Stan Kenton fans this CD is legendary, rumored to exist but never released. Simply put, Norman Granz recorded one of the finest editions of the Kenton band at the 1957 Newport festival, but the recording was never issued until now. Stompin’ At Newport is a fairly comprehensive overview of what Kenton was up to at ...
Roy Eldridge: Decidedly

by Derek Taylor
Norman Granz, legendary label impresario and concert organizer, had his own niche in the Seventies. Take an aging, but estimable swing star; match him with a band built on the talents of younger players; incite some sparks through friendly rivalries both manufactured and genuine; apply some promotional spin and watch the greenbacks roll in. Such was ...
Carla Thomas: Gee Whiz

by C. Andrew Hovan
While the current teen set may be too busy choosing their next American Idol live on television or too young to care that every generation has its own iconic favorites, those with a few more years under their belts will likely remember a 16-year-old Lesley Gore singing “I’ll Cry If I Want To” to scores of ...
Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington Live at the Alhamabra

by David Rickert
The success of Ellington’s appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956 reinvigorated his career and once again made him a world-wide concert draw at a time when many other big bands were struggling to find work. His appearance at the Alhambra two years later has been circulating in bootleg form for years and is finally ...
Eric Kloss: About Time

by C. Andrew Hovan
No better title could have been placed on this disc because it certainly was “about time” that saxophonist Eric Kloss’ first two Prestige albums come back into circulation after years of purgatory. All of just 16 years old when Kloss cut his first album in 1965 ( Introducing Eric Kloss ), the maturity displayed is still ...
Frank Strozier: Quartets and Sextets

by C. Andrew Hovan
Talk about long overdue, the two albums contained on this new two-fer by neglected and forgotten saxophonist Frank Strozier have been highly sought after collectors items on vinyl, often fetching as much as $50 to $75 for mint copies. Now we have both Long Night from 1961 and the following year’s March of The Siamese Children ...
Junior Mance Trio & Orchestra: That Lovin' Feelin'

by C. Andrew Hovan
Along with stylists such as Gene Harris and Bobby Timmons, pianist Junior Mance is too frequently thrown into a category of players put down for using the blues and other implicit forms that speak directly with their audience. The fact is, Mance can be a deftly imaginative artist whose best work can be heard on a ...
Rusty Bryant: For The Good Times

by C. Andrew Hovan
While never quite able to break through to the average jazz consumer in the way that peers such as Willis Jackson, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and Houston Person had during the ‘60s and ‘70s, Columbus native Rusty Bryant was still definitely one of the “Boss Tenors” and he left behind a small but rewarding catalog of recordings ...
Sal Nistico: Heavyweights

by C. Andrew Hovan
It’s been over a decade now since the death of saxophonist and composer Sal Nistico and as of yet no substantive rediscovery of his talent has yet to take place. However, that might change now with the reissue of his first two recordings as a leader. Nistico’s maiden voyage was the 1961 Jazzland set Heavyweights, which ...