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Andy Fielding: Playing For Keeps
by Mike Neely
Pianist Andy Fielding is a bit of a romantic with extraordinary technique and deep roots in many of the traditional resources of jazz. He brings to the music an intimate awareness of ragtime, stride, and gospel music in addition to a creative imagination that has even broader horizons. Playing For Keeps is a recent Arbors release, ...
Milt Hinton & Friends: Old Man Time
by Mike Neely
Anyone who listens seriously to jazz has heard Milt Hinton’s solid, earthy bass. The number of early jazz, swing, and swing- influenced recordings Hinton has played on must be in thousands. This grand master of the instrument died this past December after a long, distinguished career. Back in 1990, Chiaroscuro Records released a double CD entitled ...
Dick Wellstood: Dick Wellstood: Live At Hanratty's
by Mike Neely
The Chiaroscuro Jazz label has begun the worthy project of re-issuing a series of recordings by the pianist Dick Wellstood. Live At Hanratty’s is an excellent introduction to this much underrated pianist. It is a solo outing, from 1981, digitally re-mastered. Throughout, Wellstood demonstrates why Sidney Bechet recorded with him twice, and also why he was ...
Blue Swing: Dan Barrett and Blue Swing
by Mike Neely
With a hand picked group of musicians, trombonist and arranger Dan Barrett’s Blue Swing debuts an outstanding swing band with the ever charming Rebecca Kilgore on vocals. Barrett has become a bit of a blue chip presence in the swing music world. Not only is he an excellent trombonist, but he is also a consistently interesting ...
Count Basie Orchestra: Atomic Swing
by Mike Neely
Count Basie usually brings to mind a legendary rhythm section, Lester Young, Buck Clayton, and such singers as Jimmy Rushing and Billie Holiday. But after World War II, long after his most famous orchestra dissolved, Basie put together another that is among the finest big bands in the history of jazz. Count Basie: Atomic Swing provides ...
Australian Cotton Club Orchestra: Nice Work if You Can Get it
by Mike Neely
Swing music is alive and well in Melbourne, Australia. Nice Work If You Can Get It showcases a solid regional band playing a lineup of attractively arranged standards. Since 1986 the Australian Cotton Club Orchestra has focused on big band jazz of the 1930’s and 40’s, mostly arranged by alto saxophonist Adrian Duff and leader/trombonist Tim ...
Bobby Gordon and Dave McKenna: Clarinet Blue
by Mike Neely
Clarinetist Bobby Gordon and pianist Dave McKenna have teamed up with Frank Tate and Joe Ascione to produce a quartet recording that is soulful in a low-key, swinging way. Gordon plays a rich toned, introspective clarinet with an emotional range that incorporates hesitancies and doubts, which plays off well against the seemingly casual virtuosity of McKenna. ...
Barney Bigard & Art Hodes: Barney Bigard & Art Hodes: Bucket's Got A Hole In It
by Mike Neely
Barney Bigard is one of the outstanding jazz clarinetists of the twentieth century. His bluesy, sensual tone and extraordinary agility graced the albums of the King Oliver, and Jelly Roll Morton before he became Duke Ellington’s regular clarinetist from 1927 to 1942. To top off this incredible career, after the second world war he became Louis ...
Wild Bill Davison: Wild Bill Davison: Pretty Wild & With Strings Attached
by Mike Neely
Wild Bill Davison did not always front a go-for-broke Dixieland band playing his cornet above a high-octane rhythm section. Arbors Records has reissued two albums featuring Davison with strings. Pretty Wild and With Strings Attached, originally recorded in 1956 and 1957, reveal a lyrical, reflective Davison playing ballads and slow to medium tempo standards. This other ...
Zoot Sims Quartet: Zoot At Ease
by Mike Neely
When Zoot Sims was “on” there were few saxophonists who could equal his seemingly effortless solos. He played with a rich bluesy tone that epitomized graceful, modern swing. Recorded in 1973, Zoot At Ease caught Zoot Sims at his best. But that’s not all: add a consistently inspired Hank Jones on piano, Milt Hinton on bass, ...
