Tag: Verve
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Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba, 1962 on Verve
Early work in the bossa nova trend in the US, recorded at Pierce Hall, All Souls Unitarian Church in DC and released two years before Getz/Gilberto. Includes “Desafinado” (which was also on Getz/Gilberto) and “Samba de Uma Nota” composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. My copy—via a private sale—is the 2023 Acoustic Sounds Series reissue on…
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Bill Evans Trio, Bill Evans at Town Hall Volume One, 1967 on Verve
Recorded at Town Hall on February 21st, 1966. The trio here includes Chuck Isreals and Arnold Wise – this being the only commercial recording with Wise on drums. The second side includes the 13 minute “Solo -In Memory of His Father, Harry L. Evans” who had died in 1966. My copy—via private sale—is the 2022…
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Sarah Vaughan, Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin, 1958 on Mercury
Fantastic collection of Sarah Vaughan doing Gershwin standards from the twenties and thirties, supported by Hal Mooney & His Orchestra. My copy—via a private sale—is a 2xLP gatefold reissue in mono by Verve/UMe, which reproduces the old Mercury labels.
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Bill Evans, At The Montreux Jazz Festival, 1968 on Verve
Second 1968 Bill Evans performance I’ve posted this week, this one has the trio (again with Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette) at Casino de Montreux in Switzerland, and was recorded by the technical department of Radio Suisse Romande. My copy (via a private sale) is the 2020 Analogue Productions reissue on two 45rpm 200g records,…
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Bill Evans, Return Engagement, 1974 on Verve
Title sometimes listed as Verve Return Engagement – part of a series of basically compilations of Jazz greats published in the 1970s by Verve. (I have the Oscar Peterson one as well). Nice way to get a bunch of Bill Evans tracks from across 8 albums in a new package. My copy—via Down in the…
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Billie Holiday, Songs for Distingué Lovers, 1958 on Verve
Great set of recordings, with liner notes by Norman Granz. No real detail on the sessions on the record itself, but apparently recorded during sessions in January 1957 in Hollywood – the same sessions that yielded All or Nothing at All and Body and Soul. Wonderful versions of “Stars Fell on Alabama” and “One For…
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Ella Fitzgerald, Ella at the Shrine, 2018 on Verve
Previously unreleased live appearance by Ella at the Shrine auditorium in LA January 21st, 1956 – making it two weeks earlier than Ella at Zardi’s: Verve Records, celebrating Ella Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday in 2017, released at the end of that year Ella At Zardi’s – a vibrant, previously unreleased album recorded during a two-week stint…
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Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Ella & Louis: Complete Studio Small Group Recordings, 2015 on Waxtime
Waxtime is sometimes a controversial label. Based on some differences between US and EU copyright law, they’re releasing classic jazz recordings without explicit access o the source material. This means they might be working from a CD, or even a needle-drop on a good vinyl copy- but the source material is more or less unofficial.…
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Dexter Gordon, Daddy Plays the Horn, 1956 on Bethlehem Records
Wonderful mid-50s bop jazz record I’d have bought just for the cover illustration by Howard Stabin. Gordon is joined here by Kenny Drew on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, and Lawreance Marable on drums. Liner notes by Joseph Muranyi. This was recorded just after Gordon got out of prison at Chino and before being incarcerated…
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Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, Ella at Duke’s Place, 1966 on Verve
The album is divided between “The Pretty, The Lovely, The Tender, The Hold-Me-Close Side” and “The Finger-Snapping, Head-Shaking, Toe-Tapping, Go-For-Yourself Side.” Recorded by Val Valentin and produced by Norman Granz (those are his black & white photos), this is Verve at its mid-60s best. In addition to Ellington and Fitzgerald, personnel included Louis Bellson on…
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Ella Fitzgerald, The Harold Arlen Songbook, (originally) 1961 on Verve
I miss this trend from the 50s and 60s where great singers like Ella (as well as folks like Oscar Peterson) did “song books” of great composers. My copy of this one, with Ella doing the songs of Harold Arlen, is an 80s reissue of what originally came out in 1961, with 2 additional tracks…
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Oscar Peterson, Return Engagement, 1974 on Verve
Double LP compilation from the mid-seventies, collecting tracks from: The Trio: Live From Chicago, Very Tall, West Side Story, Affinity, Night Train, We Get Requests, Something Warm, Night Train Vol. 2 and The Oscar Peterson Collection. There was a whole series of “Return Engagement” releases, including Wes Montgomery, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, Cal Tjader, and…
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Nico, Chelsea Girl, 1967 on Verve
This album originally came out in ’67 as Nico’s solo debut, in the same year as the release of The Velvet Underground and Nico on which she sang three songs. I absolutely love these versions of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” and Bob Dylan’s “I’ll Keep It With Mine” My copy is a 2017 reissue by…
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John Coltrane, Sun Ship, 1971 on Impulse!
Recorded in August of 1965 at RCA Victor studios in NYC, and released (posthumously) in 1971. Jimmy Garrison (bass), Elvin Jones (drums), and McCoy Tyner (piano) with Coltrane. All song s written by Coltrane. Produced (“Prepared for release”) by Alice Coltrane and Ed Michel. Engineered by Bob Simpson (not Rudy Gelder like the other quartet…
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Gerry Mulligan Quartet, self-titled, 1962 on Verve
The Mulligan Quartet with Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Crow, and Gus Johnson – mostly recorded at Tom Nola’s studio in New York in May 1962, with one live track from The Village Vanguard, February 1962. Love how full of character liner notes on old jazz records are – on this one Willis Conover describes Mulligan: [Mulligan]…
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Ella Fitzgerald, Ella at the Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook, 2022 on Verve
Recorded in August 1958, but not released until 2022, this concert followed the release of the Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook LP. The concert was conducted and arranged by Paul Weston, who had played the same role in the LP. There’s an animated video for Puttin’ on the Ritz, one of the songs…
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Astrud Gilberto, The Astrud Gilberto Album with Antonio Carlos Jobim, 1965 on Verve
A few weeks back I posted Getz Au Go Go from 1964 – this was released about a year later, and recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood in January of 1965, mastered by Rudy Van Gelder and produced by Creed Taylor. The liner notes (by Jack Maher) start off: “Astrud Gilberto is no longer just…
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The New Stan Getz Quartet Featuring Astrud Gilberto, Getz Au Go Go, 1964 on Verve
Sadly, Gilberto died this summer (June 5, 2023) – I tend to buy any albums I run across from the Getz / Gilberto collaborations or that feature her. Recorded at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village and Carnegie Hall in 1964 – how great it would have been to have seen these shows!…