The Bebop Shop : Changes: Post-Bop Modernists : Village Rhythm: Joe Lovano & Post-Bop America
Continuing this legacy of excellence with this Savant recording, Hayes pays tribute to some of his jazz colleagues past and present with a set-list featuring works by Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Farrell, vibraphonist Steve Nelson and bassist Dezron Douglas along with one of his own original compositions. With David Hazeltine at the piano rounding out the all-star rhythm section and the acclaimed saxophonist Abraham Burton leading the charge out in front, the band alternately caress and careen through their material with tasteful arrangements and memorable solos. Also on hand is the multi-instrumentalist and composer Camille Thurman displaying her vocal prowess on two tracks. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
The Harlem, New York born Willis first entered the hallowed halls of Rudy Van Gelder's legendary Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio as a twenty-two year old graduate of the Manhattan School of Music on January 29, 1965 to record with Jackie McLean for Blue Note Records. Willis's expansive resume includes entries with the likes of Cannonball Adderley, Nat Adderley, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Stan Getz, Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band, Clifford Jordan, Carmen McRae, David "Fathead" Newman, Woody Shaw, and many more. He appeared on hundreds of albums as a sideman and dozens more as a leader of his own impressive bands.
The music played here with long-time friends Victor Lewis and Joe Ford, and his relatively new colleague Jeremy Pelt shows Larry Willis displaying the intense creativity and impeccable taste which made him one of the most respected keyboard artists in jazz. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
The Iron Man: Live at Smoke was recorded on the final night of a remarkable three-week residency, an annual holiday tradition at the renowned New York City club. Most of that 2017/18 run was dedicated to the music of John Coltrane and featured a host of invited guests to the bandstand. For this magical final performance, however, Mabern and his gifted, longstanding quartet - tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist John Webber, and drummer Joe Farnsworth - went it alone, vigorously swinging through well-loved tunes from throughout Mabern’s storied career. (Proper Music) Price: £19.99
Pelt's group is that rarest of all things in jazz, a working band, and the communication that comes from extensive time spent playing together is evident. All the players are among the foremost 30-something neo-bop players in jazz today giving the group an all-star-type reputation with a well-rehearsed sound that comes only with familiarity and countless gigs.
Pelt's own playing has earned accolades for his staggering virtuosity, which has elicited comparisons to trumpet icons like Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard, as well as for his studious, cerebral approach to the music. On this particular night in Paris, Pelt focused all his attention on creating the perfect phrase to fit each musical moment, sculpting long lines that let the music breathe and while building spontaneous ideas into finely-crafted miniatures.(Proper Music) Price: £13.99
All but one tune on the setlist are slow numbers but this is not your father's ballad record. Each member of the trio is able to pour some old wine into new bottles, aware of and perhaps shaped by the past but operating very much in the moment. Together with Cables' lush voicings and solid tone and Washinton's always-inspired bass lines and solos, Pelt's new recording sets a high bar for all trio recordings that follow in the remainder of 2020. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
The setting for the recording was quite exceptional and is worth mentioning. On the first day of their recording session in mid-April of 1989 the six jazz musicians performed the pieces highly focused and without disturbance at the Clinton Studios in New York. However, on the second day they invited friends and acquaintances and played some of the same pieces as the day before, but now under more difficult conditions, live on stage in front of an audience. The result is a double album of historical significance for the world of jazz. A must-have for your collection! (Proper Music) Price: £17.99
A live concert in Saint-Etienne-de-Lisse, near Bordeaux, France, this collection of jazz standards he has played innumerable times over his long and illustrious career finds the 75-year-old pianist plumbing new depths of emotion and heights of expression in a highly exploratory program. (Proper Music) Price: £14.99
Synovial Joints is the most ambitious project in Coleman s 30-year career as a bandleader. The music is written for 21 musicians, encompassing his core Five Elements group, augmented by musicians from jazz, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian and contemporary classical circles. The music was based on ideas that reflect the processes, functions and rhythms of the human body - to model individual elements of the musical composition on the physiological movements within the nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular, lymphatic, endocrine, and exocrine systems. The overall musical structure of the composition is held together based on the musculoskeletal system, hence the title. (Harmonia Mundi) Price: £13.99
are collectively known as The Cookers and their first recording is a potent collection of expansive post bop originals. Amongst the tracks is a dynamic rendition of Freddie Hubbards “The Core”, two relaxed offerings from Cecil McBee and Billy Harper’s signature piece “Priestess” which the saxophonist performed numerous times with The Gil Evans Orchestra. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
With his 20th album for Blue Note, Lovano delivers a milestone recording with Symphonica, a bold and beautiful orchestral project recorded largely in concert with the WDR Radio Big Band and Orchestra from Cologne, Germany. With music arranged and conducted by the big band musical director, Michael Abene, Symphonica marks the first time in Lovano’s career that he has recorded an entire album with a full symphony. All of the music consists of Lovano compositions save for one piece (Charles Mingus’s “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love,” where Lovano sustains his tenor saxophone lines to hover over the haunting melody). In that sense, Symphonica stands as a full-sound, best-of collection that traces the breadth and plumbs the depth of Lovano’s career. (Blue Note Records) Price: £13.99
As on their live debut recording, Sound Prints features pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Joey Baron. The super group heads off into swinging, heartfelt and sophisticated new territory inspired by saxophonist giant Wayne Shorter. Two of Shorter's pieces receive special treatment. A truly fantastic and original group playing new originals and music by Shorter. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
Our Daily Bread was recorded at Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo in May 2022 and produced by Manfred Eicher. (ECM Records) Price: £14.99
Locke comments in the liner notes about the musicians featured on the album : "as tightly composed as much of this music is, it would not have risen off the page without the creative contributions of the musicians here." Just over an hour in length, the album has taken a lifetime to make, as it encompasses all of Locke's joys and sorrows, and utilises all of his slings and arrows. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
This album recorded October 2019 finds this stately Professor Emeritus cutting loose at the famed Keystone Korner in Baltimore with his handpicked two-horn quintet plus guest vocalist Sunny Cowell. (Proper Music) Price: £16.99
If its core concept - a piano trio led by a drummer - was unorthodox, the group was nonetheless influential, and the recordings provide an excellent environment for appreciating the distinctive writing and playing of the late John Taylor. The British pianist was the Erskine Trio's primary composer, with the drummer-leader and bassist Danielsson also contributing pieces and the repertoire topped up with tunes by Vince Mendoza and Kenny Wheeler as well as Cole Porter, Peter Warlock, William Walton and others.
Of his trio mates Erskine says, "We drew out our most explorative and interesting playing from each other. Without trying to be, we were a truly unique group. I've heard nothing like it before or since." (Proper Music) Price: £40.99
The brief, intense introduction, “Ride”, seems to be almost a warning to the listener, a call to concentrate on what will happen during the 60 minutes of the album. The velvety “Hands”, composed by Alessi alone, is the prelude to one of the two “cover” pieces on the CD, the wonderful “San Francisco Holiday” by a Thelonious Monk, who can never be mentioned and reinterpreted enough. We have to wait until almost the end of “Only Many” to hear the other virtual guest, Paul Motian, with “Blue Midnight”. (Cam Jazz) Price: £13.99
Listen to how the opening track, 'Let's Go Knitting,' combines Kris Davis's fidgety, nervous piano with Alessi's aloof trumpet commentary, riding an information-rich undertow of dense snare work, with Stephen Davis throwing out swift blurs and trills and punctuating rim-shots. Or how, in 'Broken Light,' a plangent trumpet calls out across a throbbing piano pulse while the drums imply a groove that never quite fully manifests. Or how, in 'Red Velvet Bun/I Want You Back,' a hint of swing in the cymbals combines with a prim and strident horn and ominous, low piano rumblings to build an unlikely and counter-intuitive toe-tapper.
As Stephen Davis suggests, these are pieces that continually toy with the border where improvisation and composition meet, creating compositions that zing with freshness and spontaneity, and improvisations that follow unbreakable rules of logic. Only in the sprightly groove of 'Cemetary Sleep' do we hear a hint of playful regimentation, with trumpet and piano locked into a tight unison hook over spiky drums. You can almost hear the trio smiling. (Proper Music) Price: £12.99
Discovery is also a key element of the music created by Rosnes and her bandmates. Saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Bill Stewart excavate the riches and mysteries from the pianist’s gorgeous, densely layered compositions. “All of us have personal and musical relationships that have been growing for decades,” Rosnes says. “As a band, we’ve developed a focused sound with a wide and nuanced palette of colors and rhythms. We play off of each other.” (Harmonia Mundi) Price: £14.99
Here Candid Records is proud to present the album as it was originally released, with original album title, original track running order and original album artwork. The recording has been remastered by legendary mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
Over the years, these two have used ballads in their performances and recordings, but this is the first all-ballad album they've done. And it's quite unusual in its approach. The program offers some originals (new and old), but includes far-ranging material from Bach, Weill, Jobim, Strayhorn, Shorter and Coltrane. Beirach and Liebman take fewer liberties with the material that one might expect and the music is better off for that restraint. This is a gorgeous, mesmerising chamber music recital. And like all great music, it bears fruit with every repeated listening. (Proper Music) Price: £14.99
In spring of 2007, saxophonist Dave Liebman was contacted by the BBC asking to arrange a recording date commemorating the 40th anniversary of John Coltrane's passing. Due to prior commitments, he could not get the whole Saxophone Summit group together, but with Summit-mates Joe Lovano, Billy Hart and Phil Markowitz, supported by bassist Ron McClure they were able to do a recording session.
Coltrane compositions recorded cover the various periods of Trane's life with the early period represented by the altered blues "Locomotion," mid period ethnic-influenced "Olé" and "Equinox." The later years represented by the rarely heard "Reverend King" and "Compassion" from the epic Meditations album. With Joe Lovano featured on flute, tenor, aulachrome (a new saxophone innovation) and alto flute, along with Dave Liebman on soprano and flutes, the music explores Coltrane's legacy with a modern coloristic approach. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
This album is part of the ECM TOUCHSTONES series: Great music and full-dimensional sound at download price, in cardboard covers with original artwork. (ECM Records) Price: £11.99
