The Bebop Shop : New Releases
Jessica de Boer belongs to the newest generation of Dutch jazz singers. She stands out because of her disarming and narrative style. During her studies at Utrecht Conservatory - from which she graduated in 2019 with honors - she fell in love with the rich harmonies and freedom of jazz. Soon she started writing her own compositions; light, colorful jazz with flexible melody-lines and a hint of world music. Inspired by nature, people, sounds and faith, she is not afraid to tell her story. In a disarming way, her lyrics express important theme's, recognizable for everyone.
Jessica's musical career has led her to perform at a variety of places, including North Sea Jazz Festival and Middelheim Jazz (with Matthew Herbert Brexit Bigband Choir), and Tivoli de Helling. (Proper Music) Price: £14.99
"My dream has finally come true, to make a record in NY with jazz legend, maestro Kenny Barron. I have always loved jazz and New York is its home. It all started by chance, thanks to the friendship that links me to Joe Farnsworth, the king of swing, caused by a situation that we never wanted or imagined we would have to face during the lockdown. After an exchange of music and emails, the much desired project came true and was realized in the most important jazz recording studio in the world, the Rudy Van Gelder Studio.
The common denominator for the songs is love and the sensations experienced during that forced isolation, being alone in the house, uncertainties, the desire to overcome everything through love. I am particularly attached to the only Italian song that I contributed, written by an extraordinary musician and friend, Mario Rosini, a song whose meaning is very close to my father.
The pieces we have chosen resonate beautifully thanks to the piano touch of Kenny Barron, the deep sound of Peter Washington, the poignant notes of Vince Herring and the pressing rhythm of Joe Farnsworth. I have added in my own emotions that I have tried to convey with my voice. I am amazed and happy at the results!" - Patty Lomuscio (Proper Music) Price: £14.99
The quartet had never played together, before they gathered at the scene of the historic jazz club Montmartre in Copenhagen and played the music of the moment at three sold out evenings in August 2021. After these concerts, where musical sparks flew in abundance, the four musicians went directly in the studio for a 6 hours spontaneous recording session. The result is a once in a lifetime jazz voyage. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
John Scofield’s first guitar-solo-recording ever gives a résumé of all the influences and idioms he has cultivated over his career in performances on guitar, accompanied by his own rhythmic pulse and chordal backing using a loop machine. Besides jazz, John is known to have always also had a soft spot for the rock and roll and country music he grew up with, revealed here in unencumbered renditions of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” and Hank Williams’ “You Win Again”. Between elegant and personal readings of standards, like “It Could Happen To You”, the traditional “Danny Boy” and Keith Jarret’s “Coral”, Scofield presents his own timeless compositions – some new, others known. For the guitarist, it’s all about “the way you get the sound out of the string and what you do with it after you attack it.” (ECM Records) Price: £14.99
September 2020, Stevens was hunkering down in his wife's family's hometown of Pittsburgh, while navigating his way through the crisis. He had with him a vintage Martin 00-17, a small-body mahogany guitar. Practicing daily on the Martin, he began generating a series of short song "starts" - ideas and sketches he thought might lead somewhere. Then one rainy Pittsburgh day, Stevens' bike slid out from under him and he broke his right elbow. Rather than getting derailed musically, he became immersed in a creative process that led straight to 'Pittsburgh': a document of those short song "starts" from the notebook, now hatched as completed compositions. "Playing this music became a big part of my rehab," Stevens recalls.
As the album took shape, it became clear to Stevens that he was headed in the direction of a wholly unaccompanied recital, with no overdubs or sound layering of any kind. Just him and this special Martin, two Neumann U89 mics and enough peace of mind across two separate sessions to make 'Pittsburgh' the triumph that it is. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
"This concert is all about expression, the deepest emotion of our inner voice. To reach that space where we summon heart and spirit, the soloists must bear their souls - that was the challenge and the achievement of much of the best of the free jazz of the 1960s and beyond. And that's what we're after here." - Tommy Smith (Proper Music) Price: £19.99
This stereo Tone Poet Vinyl Edition was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), and packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket. (Blue Note Records) view larger image Price: £36.99
This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. (Blue Note Records) Price: £23.99
This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is mono, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. (Blue Note Records) Price: £23.99
Resonance co-president Zev Feldman, who co-produced the Scott’s material for release with David Weiss, says, “This is a lost chapter in Mingus’s history, originally intended to be an official album release by Mingus that never materialized. Now, we’re thrilled to be able to bring this recording to light for the whole world to hear in all its musical and sonic glory. It’s especially exciting to be celebrating Mingus with this release in his centennial year.”
A statement in the Resonance collection from Jazz Workshop, Inc. says, “In Sue Mingus’s memoir, Tonight at Noon, she recalls receiving the extraordinary tapes [the band] had recorded; the reels remained in the Mingus vault, untouched until now. It is our honor, forty-nine years later, to present, with Resonance Records, this historic performance.” (Resonance Records) Price: £27.99
This concert recording is available officially for the very first time. Remastered from the original tape reels and in cooperation with the Bill Evans Estate, this 2CD set includes an extensive 52-page booklet with rare photos from the actual concert by Tito Villalba. (PIAS/Integral) Price: £23.99
This concert recording is available officially for the very first time. Remastered from the original concert tape reels and in cooperation with the Bill Evans Estate, this deluxe 2CD set includes an extensive 44-page booklet booklet with rare photos from the actual concert by Tito Villalba. (PIAS/Integral) Price: £23.99
The CD edition includes three bonus tracks from the sessions, including the trio’s renditions of the Cole Porter classic “All of You” and the Vincent Youmans standard “Without a Song.” The jovial “Freddie Freeloader,” meanwhile, finds Evans revisiting his early years as a member of Miles Davis’ band. Interestingly, the selection not only features a rare performance by Evans on the electric piano, but also marks the only track on Davis’ Kind of Blue that the pianist did not appear on. (Universal Music) Price: £13.99
Bill Evans co-wrote 'Kind Of Blue' with Miles Davis and is regarded by many as the most influential jazz pianist of his generation. The trio he formed in 1959 with the brilliant, ill-fated young bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motion is surely as fine as any in jazz history.
This three-disc box set edition comprises almost everything this Evans trio recorded; The two miraculous studio albums, 'Portrait In Jazz' and 'Explorations'; the intimate live sets recorded in New York in the summer of 1961, 'Sunday Night At The Village Vanguard' and 'Waltz For Debby'. These masterpieces are complimented by the Birdland sessions - an earlier musical document of the trio in an authentic club setting - with disc three completed by the their first recordings together, with the jazz clarinettist Tony Scott; for the album 'Sung Heroes', his homages to Billie Holiday and the trumpeter "Hot Lips" Page. (Cherry Red Records) Price: £19.99
2 LP deluxe 180g edition.
Price: £39.99
This album is a first in a number of other respects, as well: although she performed regularly at the Bowl, this is the first full-length concert by Ella from this iconic venue to be released. Furthermore, it documents the only time Ella worked in concert with Paul Weston, the gifted arranger-conductor of her Irving Berlin Songbook album. (Universal Music)
Price: £13.99
Blakey had recorded with Monk on various occasions, but this was the first time Monk sat in with the Jazz Messengers. The result is a true meeting of the minds, a beautiful union of Monk's melodies with Blakey's unshakable sense of swing, and Thelonious Monk's only appearance on Atlantic. This 65thanniversary deluxe edition includes an extra disc of previously unreleased outtakes, celebrating the most sensational jazz collaboration of the 1950s.
A Deluxe Edition fully Remastered with a whole extra Disc of Outtakes all but one previously unreleased, with liner notes by Grammy-winner writer Ashley Kahn, photos and Atlantic memorabilia. (Warner Music) Price: £19.99
The mono version of this album, believed lost, was recently found, and is included in this deluxe package, as well as the stereo version, both mastered from the original tapes. The packaging includes liner notes by award-winning writer Ben Ratliff, as well as photos and Atlantic Records ephemera. (Warner Music) Price: £19.99
McCoy Tyner died in March 2020, the recording from 1986 (he was 58 years old at the time) show him at the height of the unmistakable jazz expression that defined him. His piano and the enormous radiance of the Hubbard trumpet (born in the same year as Tyner in 1938, but died in 2008) are the outstanding protagonists. But the recording also features bassist Avery Sharpe, born in 1954 and with excellent acoustic and electrical credentials, as well as Louis Hayes, still today the most indestructible of all modern drummers at well over 80 years of age. Together they refine the nine titles of this two-hour concert on this truly remarkable evening of music! (Proper Music) Price: £25.99
By the 1980s, the Gil Evans Orchestra's repertoire had developed into a distinctive blend of Jimi Hendrix melodies, the band members' own compositions and occasional references to Gil's older recordings. This concert in Hamburg contained four songs by Hendrix, with only one ("Up From The Skies") being part of an original studio album. The regular performances in Europe meant that the audience of the band was getting younger and was also well acquainted with rock music.
A year and a half after this performance, Gil Evans passed away. He will rightly be remembered forever for the brilliant albums he recorded with Miles Davis and under his own name. In reality, however, he lived three quite contrasting musical lives. As was the case with his Monday evening concerts in New York's Sweet Basil, this Hamburg performance is a reminder of the lively late phase of Gil Evans. Here a great all-star ensemble played an outstanding concert of eight pieces in over two hours. (Proper Music) Price: £25.99
Featuring Cherry, Shelly Manne, and either Percy Heath or Red Mitchell on bass, the emphatic, pianoless follow up Tomorrow Is the Question! made it clear that Coleman’s concepts were both insistently innovative and tethered to bedrock African American idioms. Consisting entirely of Coleman originals, the album introduced several more tunes that became an essential part of the jazz canon, including “Tears Inside,” “Rejoicing” and “Turnaround.” (Universal Music) Price: £22.99
The compilation was conceived like a sonic stream, a journey of discovery carefully sequenced from hundreds of soundtracks from the golden age of Italian jazz contained in the CAM Sugar archive.
33 tracks that go beyond music, telling the story of Italian cinema, society and of its unmistakable style and charm. A genre that even when nodding to Californian be-bop, to crime jazz or bossa nova still sounds surprisingly original and Mediterranean, elegant, and seductive, either with joyous peaks (the scat of I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni or of I 4+4 di Nora Orlandi) or with enigmatic and nearly dramatic nuances (La strega in amore by Luis Bacalov, Il batticuore by Marcello Gigante).
The compilation also offers a precious insight into the Italian jazz scene of the times, with its string of formidable soloists like Gianni Basso (sax) and Oscar Valdambrini (trumpet), two Piedmontese men on duty for the RAI television orchestra conducted by Armando Trovajoli; like Nunzio Rotondo (trumpet) a legendary and elusive figure who had a special bond with Piero Piccioni; or like Enrico Rava (trumpet), Franco D'Andrea (piano) and Gegé Munari (drums) who often recorded with Piero Umiliani. Not to forget international stars like Chet Baker and Gato Barbieri, who were often fortuitously dragged into the recording sessions also thanks to Umiliani's never-ending curiosity. (Universal Music) Price: £13.99
Deluxe digipak 4CD set, remastered audio by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, transferred directly from the original ORTF stereo tape reels, including over 2 hours of previously unreleased music. Released in partnership with the Albert Ayler Estate & Ina France.
Includes a massive 100-page booklet with previously-unpublished photos from the actual concerts; essays by jazz historian/radio host Ben Young, co-producers Zev Feldman and Jeffrey Lederer, and Pascal Rozat from Ina; plus words by Sonny Rollins, Archie Shepp, David Murray, Carlos Santana, Joe Lovano & Carla Bley, (Proper Music) Price: £64.99
Deluxe booklet with essays by producer and "jazz detective" Zev Feldman, journalist-author Ashley Kahn (author of Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece), French journalist photographer Franck Bergerot, and Pascal Rozat of Ina France; and interviews with Riccardo Del Fra and Dominique Lemerle, the bassists on the '83 and '84 concert dates, respectively, and pianist Richie Beirach, also a former Baker sideman. (Proper Music) Price: £29.99
This 4CD package contains the original contents of the albums Clifford Brown & Max Roach (EmArcy MG26036), Brown & Roach Inc. (EmArcy MG36008), Study in Brown (EmArcy MG36037), More Study in Brown (EmArcy Japan 195J-1), Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street (EmArcy MG36070) and Sonny Rollins Plus Four (Prestige PRLP7038). All these albums count among the most treasured gems in jazz history. The 24-page booklet includes the original liner notes, original Down Beat reviews, and the complete Clifford Brown Blindfold Test, conducted by Leonard Feather in Down Beat shortly before the trumpeter's tragic death. (Proper Music) Price: £28.99
The recording output, however, during 1962 and 1964 was scarce and this album recorded in Copenhagen (1962) and Oslo (1963) is an adept document of the fresh start by the towering master of the tenor saxophone. (Proper Music) Price: £14.99
When in January, 1970 Count Basie entered the studio with his 17-piece big band to record 'High Voltage', he ushered in the last full decade as bandleader of his Orchestra. The Orchestra had left its imprint on the sixties by recording with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. There would be more great albums with star vocalists in the seventies, but the band's purely instrumental works, which had begun in 1965, would also continue. Back then Basie had engaged acclaimed Cuban composer/arranger Chico O'Farrill to arrange the music for such concept albums as "Basie Meets Bond" and "Basie's Beatle Bag", transforming them into crossover gems.
On 'High Voltage' O'Farrill demonstrates his affinity to Basie's big band sound, this time with a repertoire of standards. For this album, Basie specifically chose pieces the band had never recorded in their more than 30-year existence. This is saying something, since the band covers such an impressive span of jazz history, from the beginning of the swing era to the bop-influenced bands of the 50's on through to the present album.
The Count's new drummer Harold Jones propels Fred Fisher's "Chicago" with a tremendous drive. The Rogers and Hart classic "Have You Met Miss Jones" features beguilingly dense deep-register horn lines and an almost languorous piano, and Eric Dixon's tasty flute solo spices up "The Lady Is A Tramp". With its smoky sophistication, Eddie Lockjaw Davis' Tenor dominates "Bewitched", whereas guest trumpeter Joe Newman's muted tongue-in-cheek solo highlights "Day In Day Out". Of course, Basie himself also steps forward: for instance, on the Fats Waller-like intro to "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You", and with the playful grace notes on "If I Were A Bell"." Reminiscent of the Las Vegas shows the band performed with Frank Sinatra, "Get Me To The Church On Time" is also a masterful dialogue between the horn sections. (Proper Music) Price: £12.99
"Elvin is the beat of life itselfWhen I hear Elvin's music I hear the future." So said guitarist Carlos Santana in 2004 when he heard that drummer Elvin Jones had died. The rock star's comments signal Jones' importance. Born in Pontiac, Michigan in 1927, Jones' playing lifted the drum set out of the rhythm section and into the frontline. He could control the pulse of a band while at the same time pepper the music with melodic accents, creating solos that were both strong and sensitive.
For his MPS recording in February 1978, he brought along his Elvin Jones Jazz Machine a quintet with the somewhat unusual line-up of two saxophones, guitar, bass, and drums. The band continued to be one of the most popular in jazz on into and through the 1990's. (Proper Music) Price: £12.99
In such a transparent setting, Hall unfurled his finest qualities. Humair perceptively summed it up: Hall played with "more clarity, more purity, more sensitivity" than any other guitarist of the period. It resulted in an album of intensely introspective music. (Proper Music) Price: £12.99
Starting in 1954, as the flame of bebop slowly faded, modernists began to get caught up in the West Coast jazz craze. Suddenly the scene was activated and several engaging groups of different line-ups began to appear. They managed to deliver competent performances punctuated with notable solos to critical acclaim and good reception from fans. This new interest resulted in the first Dutch recordings of modern jazz in 1955, that saw the light in 1956 on the Columbia 10-inch album “Jazz from Holland”, an indisputable example of the level reached by Dutch musicians who favored the cool, more relaxed West Coast sound, relying more on composition and arrangements than bebop free style improvisation. This initial recording effort by Bovema's Gerry Oord inspired producer Michiel de Ruyter to record the best Dutch small groups and bands for a three-volume series of LPs titled “Jazz Behind the Dikes,” as well as several EP singles released between 1955 and 1957 by Philips. The Dutch magazine “Rhythme” boasted that thanks to their “top performances,” the featured combos received international praise from “jazz connoisseurs on all four continents of the world.” This 2-CD set contains all of these historic recordings for your listening pleasure. (Fresh Sound Records) Price: £35.99
It was a short respite, and he was back in the scene four years later to great acclaim from a good deal of reviewers and fellow-musicians, mainly for his recordings as a sideman and for his performance with the Al Grey-Billy Mitchell Sextet in 1962, when he subbed for Donald Byrd. That summer, Vanguard became the label to finally recorded Burn's first album as a leader. At 38, Burns had turned into one of the more mature trumpeters in modern jazz. He played with fluency and authoritativeness in either open or muted context, and his solos were built with logic, strength and taste. There was another prominent musician present on this particular date: pianist Kenny Barron. Merely 18, Barron was already a consistent soloist who displayed depth and emotional maturity, and was able to project an air of honesty. Tenor saxophonist Herbert Morgan delivered some good solos, and Steve Davis and Edgar Bateman pair well together. This album itself is an impressive effort, especially when it comes to Burns and Barron.
On the remaining tracks (#8-13), we find Burns playing in two sessions as a sideman with his fellows from the Grey-Mitchell sextet, which include the hard swinging saxophonist Billy Mitchell, as well as the talented vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, another outstanding 21-old young man who had recently arrived in NYC from the West Coast. (Fresh Sound Records) Price: £17.99
This compilation traces the first twelve years of her career, beginning with her earliest sides as an uncredited ensemble vocalist in The Johnny Dankworth Seven, in 1951, through to her emergence as a major solo star at the turn of the 60s, when she registered an unlikely mainstream Pop hit, 'You'll Answer To Me'. Laine has been hugely prolific and this compilation is drawn from fourteen singles, five EPs and six LPs. The first comprehensive compilation of this body of her work, a number of these sides are notoriously hard to find elsewhere on CD. (Jasmine Records) Price: £12.99
This 2CD set selects recordings released on the Capitol, Columbia, MGM, Clef, Norgran, and Verve labels featuring DeFranco leading his bands and playing as a member of groups led by Count Basie, Lionel Hampton and Oscar Peterson. Among the top musicians of the day, with whom he plays alongside on the tracks featured here, are Art Tatum, Clark Terry, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Kenny Drew, Curly Russell, Art Blakey, Milt Hinton, Eugene Wright, Ray Brown, Herb Ellis, Louis Bellson, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison and Barney Kessel. It’s an entertaining collection which not only provides a showcase for DeFranco’s underestimated virtuosity as a clarinettist, but presents him playing on some notable recordings with some of the finest musicians of the post-war decade. (Trapeze Music) Price: £12.99
While serving in World War Two he met drummer Kenny Clarke who suggested he moved to New York once their service was over. On moving to The Big Apple, Clarke introduced him to Dizzy Gillespie and Lewis successfully auditioned for the trumpeter’s band in 1945.
This 75-track set includes recordings made over the next six years or so with ensembles led by Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Milt Jackson, Illinois Jacquet, J.J. Johnson, Lester Young, and Zoot Sims. It features many landmark sessions that are, without exaggeration, among the most significant in the entire history of modern jazz.
As well as those aforementioned leaders, it includes performances with the likes of Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, Ray Brown, Sonny Rollins, Chano Pozo, Kai Winding, Sonny Stitt, Curly Russell, Lee Konitz, Jo Jones, Percy Heath and many more. (Trapeze Music) Price: £16.99
"This is a wonderful document from early in Taylor's career, when he was midway between modernist approaches to standard material and his own radical experiments that would come to full fruition a few years hence. A classic recording that belongs in anyone's collection." - Brian Olewnick, All Music Guide (Proper Music) Price: £12.99
Featured are such star sidemen as Archie Shepp, Clark Terry, Steve Lacy, Billy Higgins, and bassist Buell Neidlinger, who was the original leader on half of these sessions. A complete 1961 Taylor septet session produced by Creed Taylor, and the pianist's entire 1957 quartet performance at Newport are included as a bonus. Package includes a comprehensive 24-page booklet. (Proper Music) Price: £28.99
On 'Be Am', Wesseltoft has allowed his creative impulses to wander where they may - no preset rules to govern the composition and production, no obligations to (not) use electronics, not even a will to be totally alone. This is pure playing and composition, where the music speaks freely by whatever means it will. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
The set draws from purely improvised free music through to the compositions of Thelonious Monk and an exquisite ballad by Billy Strayhorn. Although it would be hard to equate the music with the leadership of anyone other than Dave Green, the music successfully flows freely and inspiringly between all the participants, achieving a musical conversation of the highest order. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
Gerard had always been a huge fan of Peter King, and the good rapport between Gerard and Tete was obvious, so the circumstances seemed perfect. Everyone gave their best, showing an explosive collective spirit, with passionate performances and meaningful jazz improvisation in this splendid free-blowing date in the bebop mold. (Fresh Sound Records) Price: £17.99
This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is mono, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original masters, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. (Blue Note Records) Price: £23.99
This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. (Blue Note Records) Price: £23.99
At 27 years old, tenor saxophonist and composer Joe Henderson was already in his full artistic stride by the time he made Inner Urge, his 4th Blue Note album which was recorded in November 1964. His first 3 albums—Page One, Our Thing, and In ‘N Out—were quintet dates where Henderson had his frequent collaborator trumpeter Kenny Dorham by his side, but on Inner Urge, Henderson opted instead for a quartet setting with his the lone horn out in front.
The extraordinary line-up included two members of the trailblazing John Coltrane Quartet—pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones—as well as Blue Note stalwart Bob Cranshaw on bass. Side 1 consists of 2 timeless Henderson compositions of differing temperaments that would go on to become standards: the intense title track “Inner Urge” and the jovial blues “Isotope,” which was an homage to Thelonious Monk. Side 2 opens with a 3rd Henderson original, the evocation “El Barrio” which opens with Henderson’s plaintive cry. A stunningly gorgeous ballad performance of Duke Pearson’s piece “You Know I Care” follows before the album concludes with a brisk, up-tempo dash through the Cole Porter standard “Night and Day.”
In May 1968 when he entered Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to record his album ¡Caramba!, trumpeter Lee Morgan was still two months shy of his 30th birthday, which makes the fact that this was his 23rd Blue Note recording all the more astounding. Having cut his first Blue Note date as a precocious 18-year-old hot shot, Morgan was by now a full-fledged master, his technical prowess on his horn matched equally by the expressiveness and emotional depth of his playing. He had also continued to grow as a composer who could conjure myriad different moods and styles with his writing, as this diverse 5-song set of his original compositions attests.
¡Caramba! opens with the irrepressible groove of the title track, a lengthy performance that finds the remarkable quintet stretching out on vamp with creative solo flights by Morgan, tenor saxophonist Bennie Maupin, and pianist Cedar Walton, each given buoyant support by bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Billy Higgins. The program keeps moving from there through the intricate post-bop lines of “Suicide City” and “Cunning Lee” to the joyful “Soulita” and finally to the easy mid-tempo swing of “Helen’s Ritual,” a dedication to Morgan’s wife Helen.
This 2CD set comprises studio and ‘live’ recordings from the albums Gillespiana, Jazz At The Philharmonic In Europe, An Electrifying Evening With The Dizzy Gillespie Quintet and Dizzy On The French Riviera, along with selected other ‘live” performances. It includes performances with a number of noted jazz musicians, including Clark Terry, J.J. Johnson, Stan Getz, Benny Carter, Cannonball Adderley, Leo Wright, Chuck Lampkin, Bob Cunningham, Candido Camero, Charlie Ventura, Mel Lewis and others. It’s a highly enlightening introduction to Schifrin’s early years on the US jazz scene, working with one of the pioneers and architects of bebop, on a range of repertoire that includes his own compositions, bebop classics and vibrant Latin jazz. (Trapeze Music) Price: £12.99
John Handy's performance at the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival was a sensation and arguably the high point of his career. Using a quintet that included violinist Michael White, guitarist Jerry Hahn, bassist Don Thompson, and drummer Terry Clarke (all of whom were unknown young musicians at the time), he played two lengthy songs: the 27-minute "If Only We Knew", and the near 20-minute long "Spanish Lady". The two extended tracks are followed by another lengthy performance, "Tears of Ole Miss", which was recorded two years later at the Village Vanguard and features such stars as Pat Martino and Bobby Hutcherson. (Proper Music) Price: £12.99
On live performances, however, it was a different story, Hayes galvanising his already formidable mastery of Hard Bop with a new found appetite for the work of John Coltrane as well as further sharpening his natural command of composition and arrangement. Fortunately, radio broadcasts documented these obsessions in full; BBC recordings from this year capturing both his informal quartet and his star-packed Commonwealth Big Band. This release includes three previously unreleased programmes in full, containing versions of classic Hayes’ themes ‘Change of Setting’ and ‘Don’t Fall Off The Bridge’ together with the first-ever UK performance of his big band showcase ‘100% Proof.’ Hayes’ then partner, US vocalist Joy Marshall, makes a cameo appearance here. An unmissable treat for all fans of vintage British modern jazz! Features an extensive booklet essay by Hayes’ biographer Simon Spillett. (Rhythm & Blues Records) Price: £16.99
Recorded on two dates, the first four standards include Tony Crombie on drums, who had a residency with his own band at the Flamingo around this period. The other tracks feature legendary Phil Seaman on drums and showcase Stan's own material, a wonderful insight to jazz in London in 1959 and a great indication of what was to follow in the ensuing years. Kenny Napper was the bassist of Stan's choice back then and he appears on all tracks.
So, after more than sixty years hidden in a pile of inconspicuous 1/4 inch tapes, ReSteamed Records are delighted to present for the first time 'The 1959 Sessions' of the maestro, Stan Tracey and his musicians, in a timely reminder of the outstanding quality of early British Be-bop. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
With John Wiitala, bass and Kenny Wollesen, drums. Price: £13.99
On 'Our Songs', Alex Riel brings together two musical playmates: The legendary bassist Bo Stief, who like Riel, belongs to the generation of Danish musicians who started their professional careers at Montmartre in the 60s, and Carsten Dahl, one of Europe's most innovative piano players. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
On 'Samba Do Mar', Goykovich shows a fresh and sparkling approach to Brazilian music. Ranging from one of Villa-Lobos' Baroque-influenced compositions and a pair of Antonio Carlos Jobim's legendary bossa nova tunes to some wonderful originals by Argentinian artist Sergio Mihanovich and trumpeter Dusko Goykovich himself, the program opens up new spaces for his and his band's ever-soulful imagination. This album displays a rare kind of Brazilness - natural and relaxed but at the same time sophisticated and original.
Goykovich's counterpart on this album is Hungarian guitar virtuoso Ferenc Snétberger who possesses one of the very few truly distinctive voices in the field of improvised classical guitar playing. Educated in jazz as well as classical music, Snétberger has integrated authentic Brazilian and Spanish techniques into his personal style. On this album he delivers great sounds and solos that radiate Brazilian moods touched by a free genius. Bassist Martin Gjakonovski is among Europe's best jazz bassists and previously recorded with such as Bob Berg and Michael Brecker. His dark and heavy tone brings a solid, earthy groove to this music. The youngster in the band, American drummer Jarrod Cagwin, is known for his extended studies in exotic drum languages. This time he mostly plays hand drums thus adding a taste of Afro-Brazilian heat. (Proper Music) Price: £11.99
Reissue of 1955 classic on 180g Vinyl. Price: £25.99
This Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. (Blue Note Records) Price: £23.99
