The Bebop Shop : New Releases
The 3-CD package is beautifully designed and includes an exhaustive booklet replete with rare and never-before-published photos by Chuck Stewart, Jean-Pierre Leloir, Val Wilmer, Hans Harzheim, Lennart Steen, Roger Marshutz and many others, plus reproductions of the original album covers for Conversations and Iron Man.
Includes five essays that cover different aspects of Eric Dolphy and this music by jazz author/scholar Robin D.G. Kelley, Douglas label manager Michael Lemesre, Japanese Dolphy scholar Masakazu Sato, and co-producers Zev Feldman and James Newton, plus words by John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Ornette Coleman and Charles Mingus. (Proper Music) Price: £27.99
This set features Cannonball Adderley on alto saxophone, Nat Adderley on coronet, Joe Zawinul on piano, Victor Gaskin on bass and Roy McCurdy on drums.
The extensive booklet includes rare photos by Tom Copi, Ray Avery, Lee Tanner and others; essays by music journalist Bill Kopp and original recording engineer/Seattle radio DJ Jim Wilke; interviews with drummer Roy McCurdy, Cannonball's widow Olga Adderley Chandler and saxophonist Vincent Herring; plus much more! Meticulous high-res transferred sound restoration from the original tapes.(Wienerworld) Price: £12.99
With Locke calling this recording "the total expression of who I am as a musician and human being," subjects of love, loss, history and social awareness are laid out in six new works from Joe's pen and two blues-imbued covers by Bob Dylan and Blind Willie Johnson. (Proper Music) Price: £14.99
Miroslav Vitous /Jan Garbarek: Atmos (CD: ECM Touchstones)
Christy appeared as guest vocalist on a number of Kenton's albums including Artistry in Rhythm (1946), Encores (1947), Innovations in Modern Music (1950) and Stan Kenton Presents (1950). Known for her silky-smooth vocals, this 49-track 2CD set comprises a significant proportion of the studio and 'live' recordings she made with Kenton's orchestra through until 1950, by which time she had embarked on a successful solo career, and also includes some of the duet recordings she did with Kenton accompanying her on piano in 1955. It includes their 1945 No.2 hit with Tampico along with the Top 10 hits It's Been A Long Long Time and Shoo Fly Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy and five other Billboard chart entries. It's a substantial overview of her work with Stan Kenton, and a great showcase for her distinctive talent. (Acrobat Music) Price: £12.99
'In Concert - Carnegie Hall' is a 1976 CTI album featuring Hubert Laws and shows George Benson at his best as a jazz guitarist, only a year or two away from a complete change in his musical direction. Digitally remastered and slipcased with extensive new notes. (Proper Music) Price: £14.99
High quality 180g pressing. Price: £21.99
Also included here are four exceptional out-takes from the Onecept session - all of which had been completed & considered for inclusion at that time. This new release, together with 'Onecept' and 'Live in New York, 2010' (rel. 2017) present the complete (and fully illuminated) work which this group created. (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: £17.99
Strømme’s beautiful compositions are inspired by the Norwegian landscape and the band’s respect for the modern jazz tradition is mixed with references and influences from other musical styles. A must-have album for fans of Tord Gustavsen Trio, Jan Garbarek, Esbjörn Svensson Trio and Lars Danielsson. (Proper Music) Price: £12.99
John Coltrane 1963: New Directions collects all of John Coltrane’s 1963 Impulse recordings in the order in which they were recorded. Music comes from the original albums “Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album”, “John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman”, “Dear Old Stockholm” (released after Coltrane’s death), “Newport ‘63” and “Live at Birdland”. (Universal Music) Price: £23.99
At 47, the saxophonist was no longer chasing the music’s cutting edge; instead he had forged a style very much his own, one which tipped its hat to many of the good and the great who'd graced his own Soho club, but which now boasted even greater authority, maturity and individuality than ever before. And, despite his off-stage tribulations, he was happy with his band, a rare instance of a Scott-led line-up lasting more than a few years.
Supported by organist Mike Carr and drummer Bobby Gein, he tore the roof off the White Hart, whose 'Jazz at The Icebox' presentations were a magnet for West Country jazz fans. Issued here for the first time, this recording captures Scott doing what he did best: playing no holds-barred jazz, minus the pressures that came from being a frontman for his own club, or acting as 'support act' to his many American guests.• As such, it reveals a Ronnie Scott rarely heard on record, an instrumentalist in full-flow, sounding relaxed yet forthright, and making a mockery of the notion that art must mirror life. Scott may have been sailing stormy waters elsewhere but On A Clear Day finds him at the eye of a creative hurricane. “Ronnie is one of our finest jazz musicians and saxophonists – period”, wrote one Melody Maker reviewer that same year, a declaration fully born out on this album. (DIscovery Records) Price: £11.99
Complete film DVD + bonus documentary + extras. Newly-remastered 60th anniversary box set of the soundtrack on CD plus 2x 10-inch LP's mastered half-speed on audiophile vinyl and a 40-page lavishly illustrated hardback book. The special edition comes housed in a lavish, blue-foil blocked fully-illustrated 40-page hardback book complete with new, definitive sleeve notes by Mojo's Fred Dellar, including artist and track-by-track details. (Proper Music) view larger image Price: £48.99
The Very Thought Of You features a stellar quartet ideal for a session that calls for a light touch combined with the soul-stirring depth of feeling that Turre brings to everything that he plays. Turre is joined by pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Willie Jones III, supplemented on four of the pieces by a string octet conducted by veteran arranger Marty Sheller. An outstanding pair of guests, legendary tenor saxophonist George Coleman and guitar great Russell Malone, both lend their breathtaking mastery to the music as well. (Proper Music) Price: £17.99
Houston Person's tenor tone is smooth, warm and easy-going, and the duo format brings out his romantic side. Ron Carter, meanwhile, is in complete charge of the music's harmony and rhythm, well aware of the manifold accompaniment possibilities each tune presents, and able to move seamlessly between an astounding number of those possibilities. So if you want to hear two masters at work, playing off and for each other, this is the place to be. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
The jazz piano trio, a specialism with its own lineage and admirers, is currently alive and well thanks to the artists such as those here on 'Kaleidoscope'. A keyboard master such as Cyrus Chestnut can imbue this tried-and-true format - whose practitioners range from Jelly Roll Morton to Robert Glasper - with a relevance for today's listeners and expand its parameters without losing sight of its historic past.
Through it all Cyrus Chestnut emerges as a multi-faceted artist who, using the venerable jazz piano trio format, can refract the past through his own imagination and create something new which is always fresh and exciting. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
Trumpeter Alex Ridout is already making heads turn, winning the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award in 2016 when just 17 years old. 18 year old alto player Sean Payne was a finalist in the first of those awards when he was 14. Both musicians were heard by Clark at the Purcell School of Music some years ago and are currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music. On piano is Elliott Sansom, who recently graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire where Clark regularly teaches and he was also a finalist in the BBC jazz awards. Bassist James Owston is still studying at Birmingham where he is tutored by Arnie Somogyi and Mark Hodgson.
Recorded in April of 2018, this recording, which is Clark's 15th under his own name, has two original tunes by the horn players and three tunes which allow the musicians to stretch out. In their first year, under Clark's guidance, the quintet have performed at a number of major venues including Ronnie Scott's Club and the Pizza Express, along with festivals such as Swanage and the South Coast Jazz Festival. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
“This is the chill-out as a state of grace, and it can go as deep as you like. Sublime,” wrote the Independent on Sunday of the Gustavsen’s trio’s Being There, released in 2007. Over the last decade Tord has explored other ensemble forms and formats, but on The Other Side - recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in January 2018 – he opens a new chapter in his piano trio story, with faithful drummer Jarle Vespestad, and excellent new bassist Sigurd Hole. Hole’s approach to his instrument, drawing on folk influences as well as modern jazz, is ideally suited to Gustavsen’s slowly-developing, deeply melodic pieces. (ECM Records) Price: £14.99
The suite is a textured, measured and deeply layered work for trumpet and vocal that also features SNJO improvisers stepping out from the orchestra to take the spotlight. It quickly develops from an understated introduction into an expansive essay in complex jazz, and it epitomizes Wheeler's mastery of harmonic contrast, rhythmic changes and melodic clarity.
Wheeler often composed by noting down ideas and fragments whenever and wherever they occurred to him; a method that he was seen to employ while recording and touring with Tommy Smith and his group. These fragments grew into interconnecting pieces, lovingly shaped into layers of light, colour, tone and texture. If there is any stitching in the unhurried arrangement then it is nevertheless quite invisible to the naked ear.
There is a subtle sense adventure in Wheeler's writing, and Laura Jurd is a gifted player who brings her own compass to this reading of Kenny Wheeler's sonic map. The piece also features voice parts, which featured prominently throughout Wheeler's long composing career. Irini Arabatzi fully embraces the sympathetic, almost reassuring intent in Wheeler's writing. It is soul searching without bitterness or melancholy, and there is, if anything, the suggestion of a certain kind of joi de vivre that is often inwardly, yet intensely felt by quiet people. (Proper Music) Price: £13.99
New York composer, trombonist & alto flugelhornist Scott Reeves' Jazz Orchestra has been hard at work since 2008, but it was only in 2016 with the release of the group's debut recording, "Portraits and Places," that a wider audience was offered a peek at Reeves' broad and sophisticated talents. With outstanding New York musicians, including saxophonists Steve Wilson and Tim Armacost, pianist Jim Ridl and vocalist Carolyn Leonhart, Scott's music offers an inspired approach to big band writing, combining a contemporary harmonic palette and non-traditional forms with infectious, swinging grooves and great soloing by world-class jazz artists. "Without a Trace" features arrangements of standards such as Kurt Weill's "Speak Low," and "All or Nothing At All," along with Wayne Shorter's "Juju", and then four Reeves originals, including "Something for Thad," a tribute to the great Thad Jones.
"...a keen ear for melody, harmony and counterpoint...his compositions are sophisticated yet accessible, his arrangements scrupulously burnished and invariably engaging." - ALL ABOUT JAZZ. (Proper Music) Price: £14.99
On this recording, the orchestra was on its last date of a European tour and it pulled out all the stops in a fiery big-band blowout. This is extroverted, aggressively confident big band music, meant to dazzle and delight. The driving rhythm section was given centre stage on Gillespie's "Tanga" whereby a lengthy section of solos by drummer Ignacio Berroa, master percussionist Airto Moreira and ace conga man Giovanni Hidalgo brought the house down once again. This CD/DVD digipack includes a booklet with detailed liner notes of the concert. (Wienerworld) Price: £13.99
Over a quarter of a century later, 'Symphony Hall, Birmingham 1991' offers up music still astonishingly fresh and contemporary, full of rich colours and textures, vibrant rhythms and inspired solos. This double album represents an essential addition to the catalogues of both Mike Gibbs and John Scofield.
1000 copies limited edition pressing. High quality digipack packaging, including an 8-page booklet with notes by Ian Mann and archive images. (Proper Music) Price: £15.99
The concert recording, over 90 minutes long, captures the Gary Burton Quartet performing classic original compositions by Gibbs, Burton and the Quartet's Steve Swallow at the mainstream music festival held in Belfast, November 1969 (1967's headliner was Jimi Hendrix)..Gibbs' band for the festival featured Chris Pyne, Kenny Wheeler, Trevor Barber, Alan Skidmore, Ray Warleigh, Tony Roberts and Chris Spedding..As a bonus Turtle Records is able to offer from Gibbs' own archive a 55 - minute recording of his Big Band earlier the same year at Lancaster University. Here, the band line-up comprised John Surman , Mike Osborne, Alan Skidmore, Henry Lowther, Roderick Toal, Chris Pyne, Dick Hart, Frank Ricotti, Mike Pyne, Phillip Lee, Jack Bruce and John Marshall..While the Lancaster recording circulated online in MP3 form in the 90s, this audio has been carefully mastered from non-compressed files and restored for the first time, under Mike Gibbs' supervision, to its original speed and at the original pitch..This package further boasts a major essay on Gibbs' early career, by John McLaughlin biographer Colin Harper, with fresh interview material from Gibbs enhanced with photos from Gibbs' own archive and contemporary cuttings. (Proper Music) Price: £19.99
Audiophile grade 180g vinyl. Price: £22.99
