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Fats Navarro: The Collection 1943-50 (CD: Acrobat)Fats Navarro: The Collection 1943-50 (CD: Acrobat)
Despite his tragically brief career, cut short as it was by tuberculosis, exacerbated by heroin addiction, at the age of 26, bebop trumpeter Fats Navarro built an extraordinarily high profile and reputation during the few short years he was recording and performing, and through his involvement in some landmark recordings was a substantial influence on his peers and those who came after. Having cut his teeth playing with the orchestras of Andy Kirk and Billy Eckstine, the latter a renowned staging post for future bebop stars, he came to real prominence after settling in New York in 1946, working with some of the most important established and emerging talents of the day. His style was distinctively different from the other pioneering bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and he was a marvellously fluent and original improviser. This 39-track 2-CD collection, which includes some extended ‘live’ performances towards the end, begins with examples of his early recordings with the orchestras mentioned, and includes sessions and performances with a host of luminaries, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, Illinois Jacquet, Tadd Dameron, Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, Sonny Rollins and Benny Goodman. The final ‘live’ recordings were made just a week before his death in 1950. It’s a hugely entertaining snapshot of his all-too-brief, but stellar career. (Acrobat Music) 


Price:  £12.99 


Fats Navarro: The Fabulous, Vol.1 (Vinyl LP: Blue Note)
The prodigiously talented trumpeter Theodore “Fats” Navarro was a bebop innovator whose career was cut tragically short when he died in 1950 at the age of 26. Navarro played with Charlie Parker and forged a distinctive style on his horn that would influence many greats that followed him including Clifford Brown. The year after his death Blue Note compiled the 10” LP Fats Navarro Memorial Album as a tribute to the late trumpeter with selections from various dates Fats had featured on between 1947-49 with the Tadd Dameron Sextet, the Bud Powell Quintet, and the McGhee-Navarro Boptet which Fats co-led with trumpeter Howard McGhee. In 1957, the label expanded the release into two 12” LPs titled The Fabulous Fats Navarro as part of the 1500 series including additional tracks from the sessions as well as alternate takes of several pieces in order to showcase the sheer creativity and originality of Navarro’s improvisations. Altogether the collection is a bebop masterclass that featured various distinguished casts of bebop luminaries.

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:  £25.99 

Fats Navarro: The Fabulous, Vol.1 (Vinyl LP: Blue Note)


Red Rodney: Quintets (CD: Fantasy)Red Rodney: Quintets (CD: Fantasy)
 


Price:  £12.99 


Sir Charles Thompson: Takin' Off (CD: Delmark)
 


Price:  £10.99 

Sir Charles Thompson: Takin' Off (CD: Delmark)


Sir Charles Thompson: When Swing Meets Bop (CD: Ocium)Sir Charles Thompson: When Swing Meets Bop (CD: Ocium)
 


Price:  £11.99 


Sir Charles Thompson: Robbins Nest Live At The Jazz Showcase (CD: Delmark)
Sir Charles Thompson's August engagement at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago was an unexpected gift. The 82-year-old pianist, a mainstay on New York's dynamic 52nd Street scene in the '40s and '50s, hadn't appeared in Chicago since 1941 as a member of Lionel Hampton's first band. Lloyd Sachs wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times "he showed off a nimble, neatly regimented, highly personal way of phrasing that honored the great `ticklers' of the ivories while remaining relevant to today." Thompson's trio is joined by Eric Schneider on tenor sax and Art Hoyle on trumpet for a few tracks on this live CD. Includes a wonderful rendition of Thompson's graceful composition "Robbins' Nest", still one of the most played tunes of that era. (Delmark Records) 


Price:  £13.99 

Sir Charles Thompson: Robbins Nest Live At The Jazz Showcase (CD: Delmark)


Sir Charles Thompson: I Got Rhythm, Live At The Jazz Showcase (CD: Delmark)Sir Charles Thompson: I Got Rhythm, Live At The Jazz Showcase (CD: Delmark)
 


Price:  £13.99 


Joe Albany: An Evening With (CD: Steeplechase)
Joe Albany (1924-1988) was one of the handful of bebop pianists who re-emerged to the world stage in the 70s. On this album he is captured performing a solo concert at Copenhagen's famed Montmartre club on May 1, 1973. It serves as the testimonial of an extraordinary artist. (Proper Note) 


Price:  £16.99 

Joe Albany: An Evening With (CD: Steeplechase)


Joe Albany: An Evening With, Vol.2 (CD: Steeplechase)Joe Albany: An Evening With, Vol.2 (CD: Steeplechase)
 


Price:  £16.99 


Ike Quebec: Heavy Soul (Vinyl LP: Blue Note)
There may not be a more apropos album title in all of recorded music than tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec’s 1961 classic Heavy Soul. The session marked a comeback for a crucial player in Blue Note history. Quebec had recorded a series of 78s for Alfred Lion in the 1940s and also served as a talent scout who encouraged Lion to record important figures of the emerging bebop scene including Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. After a difficult period through the 1950s, Lion began to reintroduce Quebec’s music to jazz fans in 1959 with a series of 45 jukebox singles that were well received and inspired Lion to put the saxophonist back into the studio for a full album session. So, in November 1961 Quebec brought a 4-piece band into Van Gelder Studio that included Freddie Roach on organ, Milt Hinton on bass, and Al Harewood on drums. The resulting 8-song set is a soul jazz masterclass with Quebec’s robust tenor conjuring a variety of moods from the rhythmic drive of swinging originals like “Acquitted” and “Que’s Dilemma” to slow-tempo stunners including “Just One More Chance,” “Brother Can You Spare a Dime,” and “I Want A Little Girl.” A remarkable reading of “The Man I Love” leads into the sultry title piece, which practically drips with soul, but it’s the album closer which delivers a showstopper. With Roach and Harewood laying out Quebec and Hinton converse in a duo setting on a spellbinding performance of “Nature Boy” that reverberates in the listener’s soul long after the last note has faded.

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:  £25.99 

Ike Quebec: Heavy Soul (Vinyl LP: Blue Note)


Ike Quebec: Blue And Sentimental (CD: Blue Note RVG)Ike Quebec: Blue And Sentimental (CD: Blue Note RVG)
Ike Quebec’s timeless, big-toned tenor was a frequent visitor to Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in the early sixties. But this album from December 1961 with spare, soulful backing from Grant Green, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones is his masterpiece. The leaner setting works perfectly, evoking an aura of relaxation and monumentality, with the deepest blue of accents. Two additional tunes from the session are added to the CD. (Blue Note Records) 


Price:  £8.99 


Ike Quebec: Bossa Nova Soul Samba (CD: Blue Note RVG)
This program of sultry, minor key music with a Brazilian tinge seems to have inspired Ike Quebec, who was suffering from advanced cancer that would claim his life three months later. But here is big-toned, impassioned tenor is in tact. Quebec’s take on the bossa nova craze that exploded that year (1962) is more muscular than Stan Getz’s and doesn’t rely on the familiar Jobim and Gilberto songs of the day. He and Kenny Burrell solo of the sly, subtle rhythms of Wendell Marshall, Willie Bobo and Garvin Masseaux. Three alternate takes have been added to the original album. (Blue Note Records) 


Price:  £8.99 

Ike Quebec: Bossa Nova Soul Samba (CD: Blue Note RVG)


Tony Fruscella & Brew Moore Quintet: The 1954 Unissued Atlantic Session (CD: Fresh Sound)Tony Fruscella & Brew Moore Quintet: The 1954 Unissued Atlantic Session (CD: Fresh Sound)
These recordings are among the rarest treasures in jazz, unseen and unheard since Atlantic produced them in 1954, and their release can be considered an event for all the jazz community. This was a relaxed and easy quintet session, essentially valuable for the musicians involved, trumpeter Tony Fruscella (1927-1969), and tenor Brew Moore (1924-1973), most particularly for the former, who died at 42.

Fruscella who never enjoyed the recognition he deserved, was a poet of the trumpet with a veiled, haunting sound and a touching, very personal approach. The other unsung hero of this date is Brew Moore, a warm, emotional swing player whose musical god was Lester Young.

An addition to this legendary session are two sides recorded in 1955 while the trumpeter was a member of Stan Getz’s quintet, full of all the lyrical fire for which the group was celebrated.

Personnel : Tony Fruscella (tp), Brew Moore (ts), Bill Triglia (p), Teddy Kotick (b), Bill Heine (d) - New York, March 22, 1954. Bonus Tracks : Tony Fruscella (tp), Stan Getz (ts), John Williams (p), Bill Anthony (b), Frank Isola (d) - New York, January 31, 1955 (Discovery Records) 


Price:  £17.99 


Allen Eager: In The Land Of OO-Bla-Dee (CD: Uptown- US Import)
 


Price:  £15.99 

Allen Eager: In The Land Of OO-Bla-Dee (CD: Uptown- US Import)


Serge Chaloff: Boss Baritone (CD: Proper, 4 CDs)Serge Chaloff: Boss Baritone (CD: Proper, 4 CDs)
79 track 4 CD boxed set dedicated to the greatest baritone sax player of all time. The set traces Chaloff's early career in 1946 through to his last session in 1957 which was just prior to is untimely death at the age of 33. (Proper Records) 


Price:  £16.99 


Serge Chaloff: Blue Serge (CD: Capitol)
One of the great baritone saxophone records of all time by the Boston-born player. Chaloff, who died at the age of just 34 in 1957, never blitzed his horn with notes but built on the tonal qualities of it and this record demonstrates his art perfectly. Superb.

A BEBOP SHOP MILESTONE- An essential recording for your jazz CD shelf 


Price:  £8.99 

Serge Chaloff: Blue Serge (CD: Capitol)


Gil Melle: The Blue Note Years 1952-1956 (CD: Fresh Sound, 2 CDs)Gil Melle: The Blue Note Years 1952-1956 (CD: Fresh Sound, 2 CDs)
Saxophonist Gil Mellé was the first white musician signed to Blue Note records. Collected here on a double CD are four albums he made for the label, playing tenor and baritone in a variety of small combo line-ups – among the sidemen Eddie Bert, Urbie Green, Tal Farlow, Don Butterfield, Lou Mecca and Oscar Pettiford. Mellé was serious about composition and wrote all the music for these sessions. He later largely abandoned jazz, becoming among other things a respected artist and sculptor, electronic music pioneer and film score composer.

As an extra this set also contains a previously unreleased broadcast of Mellé’s quartet from Cafe Bohemia, New York in 1957. (Discovery Records) 


Price:  £25.99 


Tadd Dameron with John Coltrane: Mating Call (CD: Prestige RVG)
This November 1956 date marked the first recording of the deeply moving ballad “Soultrane,” and the first exposition as well of the lovely line “On a Misty Night” (based on “September in the Rain”), a number Dameron would later explore himself in other contexts.

This is not a typical Tadd Dameron date in that his music is not played by a large ensemble or even a quintet. He is represented as a composer but not as an arranger. Yet his pungent themes come through strongly, carried by the searing, probing tenor saxophone of John Coltrane. (Fantasy, Inc.)

 


Price:  £9.99 

Tadd Dameron with John Coltrane: Mating Call (CD: Prestige RVG)


Tadd Dameron: Four Classic Albums (CD: AVID)Tadd Dameron: Four Classic Albums (CD: AVID)
AVID Jazz continues with its Four Classic album series with a re-mastered 2CD release by Tadd Dameron, complete with original artwork and liner notes. “Fats Navarro Featured With The Tadd Dameron Quintet”; ”Fontainebleau”; Tadd Dameron with John Coltrane-“Mating Call” and ”The Magic Touch”.

Starting out in the 1940’s swing era, writer, pianist, arranger and conductor Tadd Dameron went on to become one of the foremost arranger/composers of the bop era. Amongst the great names he has worked with are:- Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson, Fats Navarro, Benny Goodman and Dizzy Gillespie. (AVID Entertainment) 


Price:  £8.99 


Leo Parker: The Last Sessions (CD: Phono, 2 CDs)
Baritone sax player Leo Parker’s last two albums in their entirety. Both LPs were recorded for Blue Note in 1961 only months before Parker’s death. They were intended as a comeback as he hadn’t entered a recording studio nearly five years. Double CD is completed with three rare sessions presenting Parkin in quartet ,quintet and sextet formats backed by glorious jazzmen such as Charlie Rouse, Al Haig and Max Roach as well as his complete LP with Bill Jennings. (Discovery Records) 


Price:  £17.99 

Leo Parker: The Last Sessions (CD: Phono, 2 CDs)


Ernie Henry: Presenting (Vinyl LP: Jazz Workshop)Ernie Henry: Presenting (Vinyl LP: Jazz Workshop)
Altoist Ernie Henry's first of three sessions as a leader, all of which were made within 16 months of his premature death, served as a strong debut. Joined by trumpeter Kenny Dorham, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Art Taylor, Henry - who always had a distinctive tone - performs five bop originals, plus "Gone With the Wind" and "I Should Care." Throughout the date, Henry hints strongly at the great potential he had. (Discovery Records)

Audiophile grade 180g vinyl. 


Price:  £33.99 


Ernie Henry: Seven Standards And A Blues (Vinyl LP: Jazz Workshop)

Audiophile grade 180g vinyl. 


Price:  £33.99 

Ernie Henry: Seven Standards And A Blues (Vinyl LP: Jazz Workshop)


Tiny Grimes: Three Classic Albums Plus (CD: AVID, 2 CDs)Tiny Grimes: Three Classic Albums Plus (CD: AVID, 2 CDs)
AVID Jazz continues with its Three Classic album plus series with a re-mastered 2CD release by Tiny Grimes, complete with original artwork and liner notes. "Blues Groove" with Coleman Hawkins, Callin' The Blues", "Big Time Guitar" plus 5 of 6 tracks from "Tiny In Swingville" with Jerome Richardson. (AVID Entertainment)

 


Price:  £8.99 


Buddy DeFranco: The Bebop Years 1949-56 (CD: Acrobat, 2 CDs)
Buddy DeFranco was one of the few jazz clarinettists to come to prominence in the post-war era when the instrument saw a decline in popularity. One of the only clarinettists to successfully find a role in the changing musical environment, brought about by the emergence of bebop, DeFranco enjoyed a long and fruitful career. His grounding was in the swing orchestras of Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet and most notably Tommy Dorsey, but having left Dorsey in 1948, he led his own bands and performed with some of the leaders of the bebop era. In the 1960s and ‘70s he led the later incarnation of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, under the name, “The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, Directed By Buddy DeFranco”.

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 

Buddy DeFranco: The Bebop Years 1949-56 (CD: Acrobat, 2 CDs)


Buddy DeFranco Quintet: Cooking The Blues + Sweet & Lovely (CD: Poll Winners)Buddy DeFranco Quintet: Cooking The Blues + Sweet & Lovely (CD: Poll Winners)
The complete original albums Cooking the Blues and Sweet and Lovely presenting Buddy DeFranco as the leader of an all star quintet featuring Tal Farlow, Sonny Clark, Gene Wright and Bobby White. These companion albums were recorded in three sessions in August and September 1954 in Los Angeles, and both received five star reviews in Down Beat. Includes 16-page booklet. (Harmonia Mundi) 


Price:  £12.99 


Various Artists: The Giants Of Jazz (CD: Collectables, 2 CDs- US Import)
Recorded live at the Victoria Theatre in London. Featuring Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Al McKibbon, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt & Kai Winding. 


Price:  £13.99 

Various Artists: The Giants Of Jazz (CD: Collectables, 2 CDs- US Import)

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