Tag: jazz
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Abbey Lincoln, Abbey is Blue, 1960 on Riverside
I first discovered Abbey Lincoln via Vinyl Me Please’s reissue of It’s Magic from 1958, in the VMP Classics Series. This album was a followup to that, her fourth full-length album and the third on Riverside. Musicians here include Stanley Turrentine, his broth Tommy Turrentine (on trumpet), Max Roach (to whom Lincoln was later married),…
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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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Art Farmer, Portrait of Art Farmer, 1958 on Stereo Records
“Stereo Records” was a jazz label made by Contemporary Records in 1958 to push records made with the new-fangled stereo technology: Stereophonic two-channel disc recording utilizing Westrex 45-45 “StereoDisc” cutting system. To be reproduced only with stereophonic cartridge. Warning: use of conventional monaural cartridge without sufficient vertical compliance may well result in damage to this…
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Joe Henderson, Mode for Joe, 1966 on Blue Note
This was Henderson’s fifth studio album (as a band leader), joined by: Lee Morgan (trumpet), Chris Fuller (trombone), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Cedar Walton (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Joe Chambers (drums). Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder. Really wonderful Blue Note 60s jazz. My copy is a 2024 reissue in the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series…
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Milt Jackson, Ballads & Blues, 1956 on Atlantic
Jackson’s most well know as the vibraphonist in the Modern Jazz Quartet but he also collaborated and recorded with many other bop musicians. Here he is joined by Lucky Thomson (sax), John Lewis (piano), Skeeter Best (guitar), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums), Barney Kessel (guitar), Percy Heath (bass), Lawrence Marable (drums), and Barry Gailbraith…
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Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra, Hollywood Stampede, 1972 on Capitol
Seventies reissue – volume 5 in the Capitol Jazz Classics series – with songs taken from sessions in February and March of 1945. Players joining Hawkins on these tracks include Howard McGhee (trumpet), Sir Charles Thompson (piano), Allan Reuss (guitar), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Denzil Best (drums), Vic Dickenson (trombone), John Simmons (bass). Great classic jazz…
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Herbie Hancock, Empyrean Isles, 1964 on Blue Note
Early jazz Herbie Hancock – this was his fourth studio LP for Blue Note, backed by Freddie Hubbard on cornet, Ron Carter on bass, and Anthony Williams on drums. Recorded on June 17th, 1964 at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The most well known track here is “Cantaloupe Island” which became something…
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Django Reinhardt, Nuages, 2017 on Jazz Images
Nuages was first issued under that name in 2002, as a reissue of The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt, a 1953 10″ record on Norman Granz’s Clef label, plus 4 bonus tracks that had been issued as singles by Decca (also in 1953). This vinyl issue was produced in 2017 by Jazz Images, presumably a…
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Gerry Mulligan & Chet Baker, Timeless, 1968 on World Pacific Jazz
Originally released on Pacific Jazz in 1963, and then reissued as part of the Jazz Milestones Series by World Pacific Jazz in 1968, these are all recordings from 1952-1956. The first side includes Gerry Mulligan, whereas side 2 is Chet Baker with later incarnations of Baker’s bands. Recorded at Gold Star Studios, Radio Recorders, The…
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Thelonious Monk, The Complete Genius, 1976 on Blue Note
Though this compilation was released in 1976 – part of The Blue Note Re-Issue Series – it actually collects sides he recorded for Blue Note in 1947, 1948, 1951, and 1952. Note: This album contains the complete Monk on Blue Note with the exception of his appearance as a sideman on two of his compositions…
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Duke Ellington, The Intimate Ellington, 1977 on Pablo Records
Recorded in NYC between 1969 and 1971, with a variety of players. Includes “Moon Maiden” with just Ellington singing and accompanying himself on Celeste, and also some great renditions of “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” and “Sophisticated Lady” but also some less well known songs. Pablo Records was Norman Granz’s label created…
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Chet Baker, Chet Baker Sings, 1956 on World Pacific Records
Chet Baker is on of my all time favorite jazz trumpeters and singers. The tone in both his trumpet and his voice is just amazing – subtle, warm, smooth. This recorded was recorded in LA (the Forum Teater & Capitol Studios) by Allan Emig and Phil Turetsky. Sleeve notes by Gerald Heard, pictured on the…
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Butterfield Blues Band, Live, 1970 on Elektra
Paul Butterfield and band (sometimes labelled as The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, here just last name) live at the Troubador in Los Angeles, produced by Todd Rundgren, engineered by Rundgren and Ray Thompson. Great live blues album – Chicago Blues with a horn section and more jazz foundations mixed in. The lineup here does not…
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Dave Brubeck Quartet, Brubeck On Campus, 1972 on Columbia
This is actually a reissue of two earlier LPs: Jazz Goes To College (1954) and Jazz Goes To Junior College (1957). The former featured Bob Bates (bass), Joe Dodge (drums), Paul Desmond (sax), and Brubeck (piano); the latter Joe Morello on drums and Norman Bates on bass (Norman and Bob were brothers). Jazz Goes To…
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Stephane Grappelli, Uptown Dance, 1978 on Columbia
Only available on vinyl, cassette, and 8-track, Grappelli is joined here by two different bands – one with Jimmy Rowles, Ron Carter, Grady Tate, and Jay Berliner and the other with Richard Tee, Anthony Jackson, Steve Gadd, Hugh McCracken, and Rubens Bassini. For my ears, this album veers at times into easy listening / fusion,…
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Oliver Nelson with Eric Dolphy, Straight Ahead, 1961 on Prestige / New Jazz
Nelson on sax and clarient, with Dolphy also on sax, bass clarinet, and flute, supported by Richard Wyands on piano, George Duvivier on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. Recording supervised by Rudy Van Gelder. Nelson had earlier recorded Screamin’ The Blues with Dolphy and Richard Williams. It is safe to say that if you…
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Chet Baker, Deep in a Dream, 2017 on Jazztwin
Places where record collectors hang out online are full of threads about “grey market” European pressings of Jazz from the 50s and early 60s. Many of these take advantage of some “loopholes” in coverage of copyright and press vinyl sourced from CDs or existing records ripped to digital. When I picked this up, I worried…
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The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Further Out – Miro Reflections, 1961 on Columbia
While movie science fiction fans celebrate May 4th as Star Wars Day (“May the 4th be with you”), jazz heads know it as Dave Brubeck Day, 5/4 time being the signature of Time Out. Lesser known is that there were three more albums following: Time Further Out, Countown – Time In Outer Space, and Time…