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Marian McPartland: Just Friends
by Robert Spencer
Marian McPartland is a magnificent institution, and this is a magnificent musical distillation of what she does best on her celebrated “Piano Jazz" series. There's none of the fascinating conversation, but the duets are here: two each with Tommy Flanagan, Renee Rosnes, George Shearing, Geri Allen, Dave Brubeck, and Gene Harris. McPartland rounds out the disc ...
Chick Corea: Origin
by Robert Spencer
In the early Seventies, Chick Corea played in Circle with Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul. Braxton, of course, was moving fast toward musical experimentation; Corea, in the grip of Scientology, wanted to go in a more commercial direction. Twenty-five years later, Braxton is a grand old man of the avant-garde, and Chick Corea is ...
Evan Parker / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton: At the Vortex
by Robert Spencer
Evan Parker's last disc for FMP called him “a star of free jazz," and that he certainly is. What's more, Parker / Guy / Lytton are a free jazz supergroup. They rank with Anthony Braxton's quartet with Marilyn Crispell, Mark Dresser, and Gerry Hemingway, as one of the most renowned, oft-recorded, and long-lived ensembles in the ...
Spontaneous Music Orchestra: For You to Share
by Robert Spencer
The orchestra here in question is the renowned English free drummer John Stevens and reedman Trevor Watts (on soprano here) plus – on the first track, the four-part “For You to Share" – “numerous young musicians and audience members." It was May 20, 1970. The sound is a bit dodgy, especially this first track, with the ...
Lol Coxhill / Veryan Weston: Boundless
by Robert Spencer
Lol Coxhill is quite the case, eh wot? He can gibber on his soprano saxophone with the best of them (cf. the brief opener, “School Test"), but he can also play acidly lyrical lines (which may be why the second track is named “Slurry," which as far as I know is the gooey sweet stuff that ...
Mulgrew Miller: Chapters 1 and 2
by Robert Spencer
Chapters 1 and 2 is a single-disc reissue of two of Miller's mid-Eighties releases – his first two as a leader: Keys to the City (1985) and Work! 1986. Miller is a versatile and well-traveled pianist whose work here shows his impressive pedigree to good effect: he's worked with Blakey, Betty Carter, Mercer Ellington, and a ...
Michael Brecker: Two Blocks From The Edge
by Robert Spencer
Two Blocks from the Edge is one of Michael Brecker's most impressive efforts. His tenor saxophone playing is at a peak of power and virtuosity. His band (pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist James Genus, drummer Jeff “Tain" Watts and percussionist Don Alias) stays with him every step of the way. Two Blocks from the Edge is an ...
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Aces Back to Back
by Robert Spencer
Step right up. Enclosed are four strong Kirk entries, too long unavailable: Left & Right (1969), Rahsaan Rahsaan (1970), Prepare Thyself to Deal with a Miracle (1973), and Other Folks' Music (1976). Any admirer of the raw-boned adventurousness, raucous joy and staggering virtuosity that were Kirk trademarks will find them all in abundance here, although these ...
Ramsey Lewis: Dance of the Soul
by Robert Spencer
Here's Ramsey Lewis doin' his thing, and even after all these years, nobody does it as ably or as amiably as Ramsey. On this disc there are, among the soloists, a fine trumpeter and an interesting guitarist, but the advance release leaves them anonymous. In any case, kudos to all. “Baile del Alma (Dance of the ...
George Benson: Standing Together
by Robert Spencer
George Benson on autopilot, or as the title of one of these tunes has it, cruise control. There's nothing wrong musically with this disc: Benson's guitar playing is as bright and bouncy as ever, his singing is buoyant and attractive, and the arrangements are competent. But this is just another record in a long string of ...
