Tag Archives: Jazz

The Jackie Davis Quartet: Easy Does It

Leave a reply

A lightly swinging Hammond organ album from 1963

Jackie Davis was among the first players to spearhead the organ-jazz genre in the mid-50s. As a pianist who’s accompanied Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan, his touch at the keyboard was especially noticeable on the highly responsive electro-mechanical Hammond organ. His repertoire favored jazz, blues and pop standards, ranging from Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight” to Arlen and Mercer’s “Blues in the Night” and the twelve-bar “Night Train.” After five years on Capitol, Davis moved to Warner Brothers, where his first release was this 1963 production. As the album title implies, Davis’ small combo takes it easy on the tempos, though the Hammond provides plenty of fire and Earl Palmer’s drumming adds compelling accents. Barney Kessel on guitar and Joe Comfort on bass provide rhythm as Davis’ keys dance across the light swing of the title tune, and his keys deftly wind their way around the Latin beat of “Midnight Sun.” It’s not until the album’s closing take on “Saint Louis Blues” that the band turns up the tempo, with Comfort running up and down the strings and Palmer’s snare drum and ride cymbal getting a workout. This is a fine, low-key organ jazz album from an early master of the form. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Frank Sinatra: Best of Vegas

Leave a reply

Single disc excerpt from the Sinatra: Vegas box set

Frank Sinatra and Las Vegas had a uniquely symbiotic relationship. Las Vegas helped resurrect Sinatra’s career and turned him from a big band singer into a polished entertainer, and Sinatra turned Las Vegas into ground zero for sophisticated adult entertainment. The brilliant vocal phrasings that became his trademark on his Capitol recordings of the 1950s and the ring-a-ding-ding attitude that took him into the 1960s were given their road tests on the stages of Las Vegas. The development of live sets in which every song fit into a compelling arc, also influenced his albums, which became more holistic, and in a few cases, thematic. The stage banter, and the ease with which it was dispensed, became the backbone of his film and television personality.

Sinatra played Vegas off and on for forty-four years, starting out at the Desert Inn in 1951 and bowing goodbye at the MGM Grand in 1994. In between he reigned over the Copa room at the Sands through much of the ‘50s and early ‘60s, and afterwards continued to sell out shows at Caesar’s, Bally’s, the Golden Nugget and Riviera. A number of Sinatra’s Vegas performances have been issued before, including the superb Sinatra at the Sands, the Sinatra/Martin/Davis Rat Pack: Live at the Sands, and the multidisc box set Sinatra: Vegas. This single CD is excerpted from the latter, selecting tracks from 1961 and 1966 shows at the Sands, a 1982 date at Caesar’s and a 1987 date at the Golden Nugget.

The Sands recordings are some of Sinatra’s very best. The earlier date finds him capitalizing on the success he’d found throughout the 1950s, and the later date finds him backed by the ferocious swing of Count Basie’s band. The confidence with which Sinatra sings is completely mesmerizing, whether he’s contemplating the ballad “Moonlight in Vermont,” inserting hipster lingo into “The Lady is a Tramp” or blowing away the room with “Luck Be a Lady.” These appear to be alternate performances from the takes on the 1966 live album, giving fans an opportunity to hear how Sinatra kept his act fresh every night. The set includes some of Sinatra’s stage patter and story telling, including a lengthy monologue that shows how complete an entertainer he’d become.

By the 1980s Sinatra’s voice had begun to show signs of age. But while his tone was perfect and his notes weren’t always tightly held, his artistry was intact and his ability to entertain still on full display. The jazz combo on “I Can’t Get Started” provides an intimate backing that perfectly matches the introspective tone Sinatra struck in his sixties, and the set stretches from early standards (“All of Nothing at All” in a then-new arrangement by Nelson Riddle) to latest successes (“Theme from New York, New York”). The sound quality throughout this disc is terrific, and though you don’t get the thrill of a single night’s full performance, the songs are well sequenced. Charles Pignone’s liner notes from the box set are excerpted for the 20-page booklet. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Jerry Reed: Explores Guitar Country

Leave a reply

Early Jerry Reed album explores country, soul, jazz, blues and folk

Long before Jerry Reed became a music star, breaking through with 1970’s “Amos Moses” and 1971’s “When You’re hot, You’re Hot,” and before he became a television and film actor,  he was an in-demand A-list Nashville guitar player and struggling solo star. No less than Chet Atkins felt that Reed was a major talent as a picker, encouraging him to add instrumentals and solos to his albums, and bestowing upon him the title “Certified Guitar Player.” This 1969 collection shows off the tension between Reed’s incredible talent as a guitarist and his self-image as a singer. Together with Atkins as producer, Reed creates modern-pop arrangements of standards and traditional folk, country and bluegrass tunes, adding original twists (such as jazz-inflected blues-funk on Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky”) and leaving plenty of room for his finger picking. This is a thoughtful and at times deeply contemplative album, surprisingly experimental and forward-thinking for a Nashville artist who’d yet to fully establish himself with country music fans. Those who know Reed’s later hits will enjoy this earlier work, and those who aren’t fond of Nashville’s ‘70s sounds (and perhaps favor Willie Nelson’s Stardust era interpretations of standards) will be impressed at the soul, jazz, blues, and folk flavors woven into the country base. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

The Ramsey Lewis Trio: Never on Sunday

Leave a reply

The Ramsey Lewis trio swings standards and pop hits

When this 1961 album was recorded, the classic lineup of the Ramsey Lewis Trio (featuring bassist Eldee Young and drummer Red Holt, who later formed Young-Holt Unlimited) was still developing the highly accessible jazz style they’d created in the late ‘50s. More importantly, the trio was still a few years shy of their 1965 breakthrough with “The In Crowd.” Here they combine pop hits, such as the title track, with tin-pan alley standards (the Gershwins’ “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’”), folk tunes (“Water Boy”) and the Academy Award winning (and Bob Hope theme song) “Thanks for the Memory.” The playing is soulful, with Lewis fingering his usual bluesy twists, Young playing wonderfully musical solos on bass, and Holt complementing the beat with terrific accents. It’s a brief album, but the trio’s style is buoyant and refreshing. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

J.R. Shore: Talkin’ on a Bus

Leave a reply

Canadian singer/songwriter shows that Americana is of the Americas

Canadian singer/songwriter J.R. Shore brought home a whole lot of the South from his two year sojourn to Nashville. Ironically though, his new music is more redolent of New Orleans and the Tex-Mex border than it is of Music City. The banjo that opens the album gives way to a hearty second-line rhythm, dixieland trombone, and a vocal that suggests Dr. John. Shore’s songs combine images of America (he seems particularly fond of baseball) with Texas twang, the funky swagger of the Meters, and the soul of Randy Newman and Van Morrison. He writes in poetic vernacular and literary allusion, and sings with both the sweetness and rough edges of Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen and Levon Helm. Much like the latter’s Band, Shore simmers his Americana influences into a stew whose flavors tell of the ingredients (country, folk, blues, soul and trad jazz) but whose whole is harmonious. This is a finely made album whose far-Northern origins are barely evident in the warmth of its South-of-the-Mason-Dixon-Line sounds. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

MP3 | Two Strike Foul
J.R. Shore’s Home Page

Dave Brubeck: The Definitive Dave Brubeck on Fantasy, Concord Jazz and Telarc

Leave a reply

Highlights from Brubeck’s pre- and post-Columbia years

By collecting early ‘50s sides waxed for Fantasy and post-70s sides laid down for Concord and Telarc, this two-disc set tells the story of pianist Dave Brubeck before and after his more famous time at Columbia. The selections taste his earliest work with an octet, trio work with Cal Tjader and Ron Crotty, and his initial liaisons with saxophonist Paul Desmond. It skips the seminal quartet formed with Desmond, Joe Morello and Eugene Wright, and rejoins Brubeck in the early 80s in a group with his son Chris on electric bass and bass trombone. Though the original versions of Brubeck hits “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo Ala Turk,” aren’t here, the distinctive elements – Brubeck’s blocky chords (magnificently played with competing hands on “Look for the Silver Lining” and chasing one another up and down the keyboard on “This Can’t Be Love”), Desmond’s brilliant tone, and the exploration of percussive arrangements and unusual time signatures – are all heard early on.

The later sessions find Brubeck rejoined by clarinetist (and original octet member) Bill Smith, and later by alto sax player Bobby Miltello. It’s hard to call this set “definitive,” given that many of the full source albums are in print, but it’s a good introduction for those who know Brubeck’s iconic Columbia releases and have never delved into his earlier catalog. His response to Tjader’s vibes is particularly interesting, as they’re both playing percussive melody instruments – something absent from the more famous quartet. This set also provides an opportunity to hear the directions Brubeck took as an elder statesman with a literal next generation of players. A selection of live tracks show how Brubeck, Desmond and the other players lit up in front of an audience (this is even more evident on  the 50th anniversary reissue of Time Out). The twenty-page booklet includes discographical data, photos, cover and label reproductions, and extensive liner notes by Brubeck’s longtime manager/producer/conductor (and this set’s curator), Russell Gloyd. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Dave Brubeck’s Home Page

Dave Brubeck: The Definitive Dave Brubeck on Fantasy, Concord Jazz and Telarc

Leave a reply

Highlights from Brubeck’s pre- and post-Columbia years

By collecting early ‘50s sides waxed for Fantasy and post-70s sides laid down for Concord and Telarc, this two-disc set tells the story of Brubeck before and after his time at Columbia. The selections taste his earliest work with an octet, trio work with Cal Tjader and Ron Crotty, and his initial liaisons with saxophonist Paul Desmond. It skips the seminal quartet formed with Joe Morello and Eugene Wright, and rejoins Brubeck in the early 80s in a group that included his son Chris on electric bass and bass trombone. Though the original versions of Brubeck hits “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo Ala Turk,” aren’t here, the distinctive elements – Brubeck’s blocky chords (magnificently played with competing hands on “Look for the Silver Lining” and chasing one another up and down the keyboard on “This Can’t Be Love”), Desmond’s brilliant tone, and the exploration of percussive arrangements and unusual time signatures – are all heard both early on.

The later sessions find Brubeck rejoined by clarinetist (and original octet member) Bill Smith, and later by alto sax player Bobby Miltello. It’s hard to call this set “definitive,” given that many of the full source albums are in print, but it’s a good introduction for those who know Brubeck’s iconic Columbia releases and have never delved into his earlier catalog. His response to Tjader’s vibes is particularly interesting, as they’re both playing percussive melody instruments – something absent from the more famous quartet. This set also provides an opportunity to hear the directions Brubeck took as an elder statesman with a literal next generation of players. A selection of live tracks show how Brubeck, Desmond and the other players lit up in front of an audience (this is even more evident on  the 50th anniversary reissue of Time Out). The twenty-page booklet includes discographical data, photos, cover and label reproductions, and extensive liner notes by Brubeck’s longtime manager/producer/conductor (and this set’s curator), Russell Gloyd. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Dave Brubeck’s Home Page

Chet Baker: Sings – It Could Happen to You

Leave a reply

West Coast vocal cool meets East Coast instrumental swing

Concord Records initiated a new pass through their Original Jazz Classics catalog in March of 2010, and they now add five more titles to the program. Each reissue features a new 24-bit remaster by Joe Tarantino, extensive liner notes, and bonus tracks. By the time of this initial 1958 session for Riverside, Baker had been complementing his trumpet playing with vocal turns for several years. This release expands upon the vocal talent shown in earlier Pacific Jazz sessions: the tone of his voice is still startlingly pure, but the intimacy of West Coast cool has become even more pronounced in his style. Baker’s vocal lines often mimic what he might play on the trumpet, but the mechanics of trumpet valves don’t impact his singing, giving the transitions a smoothness that separates his singing from his horn playing. The material selected for these sessions is drawn primarily from the great American songbook, but his then current quartet of Kenny Drew (piano), Philly Joe Jones/Dannie Richmond (drums), and George Morrow/Sam Jones (bass) are driven more by the rhythms than the melodies, particularly on the tracks featuring Jones. Baker seems more comfortable with the songs than those on this earlier vocal sets, swinging freely (though still quite coolly – compare his take on “You Make Me Feel So Young” with Sinatra’s 1956 version) and indulging his voice more naturally than before. The element of surprise that came with earlier vocal outings was dispelled by this point, but the quiet strength of his singing is still completely mesmerizing. Baker plays his horn only occasionally, scat singing a few solos and giving pianist Drew several of the instrumental leads. Drew is also exceptional as an accompaniest – adding flavor without ever overwhelming Baker’s vocals. Concord’s 2010 reissue of this set adds four bonus tracks, “While My Lady Sleeps,” and “You Make Me Feel So Young,” both of which were on the original Original Jazz Classics CD reissue, and alternates of the album tracks “The More I See You” and “Everything Happens to Me.” The fold-out booklet includes full-panel reproductions of the original covers (front and back), Orrin Keepnews’ original album notes, and new liners by Doug Ramsey. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Wes Montgomery: Boss Guitar

Leave a reply

The boss of the jazz guitar in a stellar ’63 trio setting

Concord Records initiated a new pass through their Original Jazz Classics catalog in March of 2010, and they now add five more titles to the program. Each reissue features a new 24-bit remaster by Joe Tarantino, extensive liner notes, and bonus tracks. This 1963 set finds jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery at the peak of his creative powers, backed by the talented Mel Rhyne on Hammond B-3 and the sharp-as-a-tack swing of Jimmy Cobb on drums. Montgomery’s tone is both smooth and penetrating, and he’s as mesmerizing playing upbeat romps as he is laying back into ballads. The fluid paths taken by his solo improvisations feel fresh and spontaneous, and his chords are complex yet remain musical. The album is filled with the grooves of Rhyne’s organ playing, but the slow numbers, including Henry Mancini’s “Days of Wine and Roses” and a serene take on Eddie Heywood’s “Canadian Sunset” are winningly thoughtful. Montgomery thrived in the trio format, and the mix of up-tempo, ballad, original and cover material, along with straight and Latin-inflected rhythms, give this album terrific range and balance. It’s been fifteen years since the last domestic reissue of this title, so it’s great to have modern digital practices applied to this classic. The bonus tracks are alternate takes of the album tracks “Besame Mucho,” “The Trick Bag” and “Fried Pies,” and the fold-out booklet includes full-panel reproductions of the original covers (front and back), Joe Goldberg’s original album notes, and new liners by Neil Tesser that include fresh interview material with Rhyne and Cobb. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Vince Guaraldi Trio: Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus

Leave a reply

Legendary jazz pianist’s artistic and commercial breakthrough

Concord Records initiated a new pass through their Original Jazz Classics catalog in March of 2010, and they now add five more titles to the program. Each reissue features a new 24-bit remaster by Joe Tarantino, extensive liner notes, and bonus tracks. Five additions grace this reissue of Vince Guaraldi’s 1962 artistic and commercial breakthrough. The San Francisco pianist has been making a name for himself since the mid-50s, backing Woody Herman, Nina Simone, and Stan Getz, and sitting in with the Cal Tjader Quartet, but his solo albums hadn’t turned their critical praise into commercial notoriety until the original piece “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” led this album up the charts. Guaraldi would find yet another level of acclaim with his compositions for the Peanuts television specials, but it was this album that established him as a popular jazz luminary.

The album opens with covers of the four main themes from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa’s score for the film Black Orpheus. Despite the then-contemporary resurgence of bossa nova in American jazz, Guaraldi and his accompanists only feint towards the samba rhythms of the originals. Instead, the pianist takes the lead with his highly melodic version of bebop, both energetic, yet cosmopolitan cool. Nowhere is this balance more evident in Guaraldi’s Grammy-winning original “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” The song opens with the delicacy of a light summer fog before swinging into a bluesy middle that’s supported by Budwig’s walking bass line and Bailey’s ride cymbal and snare accents. The song communicates more about the special feeling of pre-hippie San Francisco in the early ‘60s than just about any other piece of music.

Guaraldi plays lush chords and sustained low notes to set the melancholy mood of Mancini and Mercer’s “Moon River,” and his mid-song solo again captures a unique ability to make modern jazz both melodic and compelling to pop listeners. The album finds its Latin feet with the stop-start original “Alma-Ville,” but even here Guaraldi only teases, as the combo switches to straight jazz by mid-song, and returns to the bossa nova style only to close things out. The reissues five bonus tracks include the single edit of “Samba de Orfeu,” and four previously unreleased alternate takes, including one of “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” The fold-out booklet includes full-panel reproductions of the original covers (front and back), Ralph Gleason’s original album notes, and new liners by Derrick Bang. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]