David Sanborn - timeagain (2003)

A few posts back we claimed that this blog is dedicated to lesser-known jazz musicians deserving wider recognition. We'll break this rule for now on behalf of this great David Sanborn offering for Verve records, infused in the kind of polished, expertly delivered jazz Sanborn is famous for, with excellent choice of material to boot. Listening to it is like wearing an old, favorite pair of slippers, the perfect holiday companion imo. Enjoy and happy holidays to everyone out there.

Lew Soloff - With A Song In My Heart (1998)

Trumpeter Lew Soloff (1948 - ) might have cut his musical teeth with jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears during the late '60s (one's got to pay the rent somehow), but he is a jazzman to the bone. His collaborations read like a jazz Who is Who including the likes of Machito, Gil Evans, Tony Scott, Tito Puente, Clark Terry, Mongo Santamaria, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Gil Evans Big Band, Stanley Clarke, Jon Faddis, Sonny Stitt, Stanley Turrentine, Bill Evans, Carla Bley, Ray Anderson, Franco Ambrosetti, Ornette Coleman, Tony Bennett, Louie Bellson, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, the Bohuslän Big Band, the Manhattan Jazz Quintet and last but not least the George Russell Big Band (see previous post).

This 1998 offering teams up Lew with a dream rhythm section consisting of pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist George Mraz and drummer Victor Lewis as well as Emily Mitchell, Soloff's wife, playing the harp (the Harpo Marx type, not the harmonica) on two of the nine album cuts, one of which is a movement from a Tchaikovsky symphony.

Needless to say that the interplay between these top musicians is top-notch (pun intended) as embedded track Come Rain Or Come Shine amply demonstrates. Material is painstakingly chosen and sequenced to provide that winter-by-the-fireplace-holding-a-glass-of-brandy CD so rare nowadays, enjoy.





*this post is dedicated to my dear friend L.

George Russell - New York Big Band (1978)

George Allen Russell (1923 - ), American jazz pianist, composer and theorist, is considered one of the first jazz musicians to contribute to general music theory with a theory of harmony based on Jazz rather than European music, in his 1953 book, The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization which paved the way for the modal revolutions of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Russell's stylistic reach in his own compositions eventually became omnivorous, embracing bop, gospel, blues, rock, funk, contemporary classical elements, electronic music and African rhythms in his recent, ambitious extended works -- most apparent in his large-scale 1983 suite for an enlarged big band, The African Game. Like his colleague Gil Evans, Russell never stopped growing, but his work is not nearly as well-known that that of Evans, being more difficult to grasp and, in any case, not as well-documented by U.S. record labels.

We try to remedy this here with this magnificent 1978 session when Russell led a 19-piece big band at New York's Village Vanguard for six weeks, in a tremendously diverse performance displaying the many facets of his art -- including his first famous composition, the two-part "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop" written in 1947 for the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra that served as a solid vehicle of that band's pioneering experiments in fusing bebop and Cuban jazz elements, enjoy.

Buck Clayton - Jam Sessions From The Vault (1955-56)

Let's turn the clock back a bit and imagine it's 1955. Trumpeter Buck Clayton led a series of exciting studio jam sessions then in the company of stalwart swing soloists Joe Newman, Joe Thomas, Billy Butterfield, and Ruby Braff on trumpets; trombonists Urbie Green, Benny Powell, Henderson Chambers, Trummy Young, Bennie Green, Dicky Harris, J.C. Higginbotham, and Tyree Glenn; altoist Lem Davis; tenors Coleman Hawkins, Al Cohn, and Buddy Tate; Julian Dash doubling on tenor and alto; baritonist Charlie Fowlkes; several rhythm sections with pianists Sir Charles Thompson, Jimmy Jones, Billy Kyle, Ken Kersey, and the forgotten Al Waslohn. Results are trouser-flapping, unadulterated swing of the highest order and in pristine sonic quality to boot. Swing lovers should not miss this one.

Georges Arvanitas - Solo

In this great solo piano set from 1997 Arvanitas displays in spades what separates the men from the boys. His choice of material is impeccable and spans the whole history of jazz piano from Scott Joplin to Chick Corea.

Tracklisting:
1. The Entertainer
2. Rosetta
3. Ain't Mishbehavin
4. Blue And Sentimental
5. Come Sunday
6. Piano Is Art
7. Chelsea Bridge
8. This Way Out
9. Misty
10. Boucing With Bud
11. Monk's Mood
12. D & E
13. DJango
14. The Duke
15. Nica's Dream
16. Very Early
17. Dolphin Dance
18. Windows
19. Beautiful Florence

Georges Arvanitas (1931 - 2005)

The web abounds with excellent jazz blogs who present major jazz masters, past and present, in a most comprehensive and respectful manner. As regular visitors of this blog should know by now, what we do here is try to raise awareness for lesser-known jazz artists who, either due to luck (or lack thereof) or choice never earned the recognition they so rightfully deserved.

One such artist is Georges Arvanitas, a French pianist born in 1931 in Marseilles from Greek immigrant parents, a figure of cult status in his native country as well as among visiting US musicians as a highly respected session contributor; he earned the nickname "Georges Une Prise" ("One-take George") for his reliable efficiency and mastery as can be seen on video below filmed in Brussels in 1962 displaying him accompanying the Hawk, the great Coleman Hawkins, with great verve.



He accompanied and recorder with the likes of Don Byas, Mezz Mezzrow, Dexter Gordon, Chet Baker, Slide Hampton and many others; LPs with his name command astronomical prices in France among collectors. Rumor has it that on Psychiemotus, a 1964 Impulse! Yusef Lateef date on which Arvanitas performed piano duties, Lateef was so smitten by his playing that the album's last piece is an unaccompanied piano rendition of Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehaving.

He was the recipient of the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres award in 1985 for lifetime services; Arvanitas was at home with every jazz piano idiom as I had the chance to witness during the various times I've seen him live and as these offerings from the 90s amply demonstrate, enjoy.


A great all-Gershwin set.


Ditto, but this time it's the Duke who gets the Arvanitas treatment and we get the chance to hear Take The 'A' train, Duke's signature piece, in 5/4 time - a must-listen.

Tuck Andress - Reckless Precision (1990)

Continuing our presentation of great fingerstyle guitar virtuosi, let's enjoy Tuck Andress tackling an eclectic bag of covers on an album recorded with "no overdubbing, punching in or fixing of mistakes." - it's just the man and his Gibson L-5.

Tracklisting:

1. Man In The Mirror 3:51
2. Over The Rainbow / If I Only Had A Brain 4:41
3. Louie Louie 3:44
4. Body And Soul 4:56
5. Sweet P 4:09
6. Stella By Starlight 4:29
7. Manonash 3:55
8. Manha De Carnaval 5:35
9. Grooves Of Joy 11:05
10. Begin The Beguine 3:19

Lenny Breau - Last Sessions

Breau's last offering before his untimely death, an introspective set of unaccompanied guitar sketches in the form of etudes, a testament to the man's genius on the instrument.

Tracklisting:
1. Ebony Queen/Pam's Pad #2
2. Meanwhile Back in L.A.
3. Paris
4. Ba de da Da
5. Feelings
6. I Love You
7. Untitled Standard
8. But Beautiful #2
8. Beautiful Love

The Velvet Touch Of Lennie Breau - Live! (1969)

A great performance recorded live at historic jazz venue Shelly's Manne Hole in LA for RCA records. In it we can hear the complexity of Lenny Breau's guitar approach in material so diverse as jazz and pop standards (No Greater Love, A Taste of Honey), jazz waltzes (Bluesette), Indian ragas (Indian Reflections for Ravi), Spanish flamenco (Spanjazz), straight-ahead bluegrass (The Claw), funky jazz (Mercy, Mercy) and then some. He is ably accompanied by Reg Kelln on drums and Ron Halldorson on electric bass.

Listeners are kindly requested to excuse the clicks and pops as this was ripped from the original vinyl, but then again that being 1969 the above might seem essential in order to convey that all-important period feel, enjoy.

Lenny Breau - Five O’clock Bells & Mo’ Bro

Lenny Breau (August 5, 1941–August 12, 1984). A guitarist's guitarist, Bill Evans of the guitar, a phenomenal guitarist at ease with all contemporary and classical guitar styles. All the above hold true of course, but one has to listen to the man in order to feel the emotion he coaxes out of these six strings as these two LPs on one CD display.