Freddie Redd & Howard McGhee Quintet: (Music From) The Connection – (1960 – Iris Music Group)

Freddie Redd composed the music for Jack Gelber’s The Connection, a gritty play about musician junkies. Gelber had originally thought that the play would feature real musicians — who would also double as actors in minor roles — improvising on blues and jazz standards in the tradition of Charlie Parker, but Redd convinced him to use an original score. The two weaved Redd’s original compositions into the score, making it an integral part of the play, but the music holds up superbly on its own. Using the direction “in the tradition of Charlie Parker” as a starting point, the pianist wrote seven pieces of straight-ahead bop, wide open for improvisations, and then assembled a sterling quartet featuring himself, alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, bassist Michael Mattos, and drummer Larry Ritchie. The end result was a set of dynamic straight-ahead bop. While both Redd and McLean show signs of their influences — the pianist blends Monk and Powell, while the saxophonist has built off of Bird’s twisting lines — they have developed their own voices, which gives the driving, bluesy bop on Music From the Connection an edge. McLean’s full, robust tone often dominates, but he never overshadows Redd’s complex, intricate playing, and both musicians, as well as Mattos and Ritchie, effortlessly keep up with the changes from hard-hitting, up-tempo bop numbers to lyrical, reflective ballads. Musically, Music From the Connection might not offer anything unexpected, but whenever straight-ahead bop is done this well, it should be celebrated.
(iTunes)

Tracklist:
   1. Who Killed Cock Robin?
   2. Wigglin
   3. Music Forever
   4. Time To Smile
   5. Theme For Sister Salvation
   6. Jim Dunns Dilemma
   7. O.D. (Overdose)
     
Personnel:
Freddie Redd (Piano);
Jackie McLean (Alt Sax);
Michael Mattos (Bass);
Larry Ritchie (Drums)

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on February 15, 1960 – Label: Iris Music Group 
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Roy Hargrove Quintet With The Tenors of Our Time – (1994 – Label: Verve)

Verve has certainly pushed the boat out for Hargrove, newly captured from Novus. For his first release they have provided him with no less than five guest stars—all tenor players. They are Joe Henderson, Johnny Griffin, Stanley Turrentine, Branford Marsalis and Joshua Redman. What Hargrove’s incumbent tenor player, Ron Blake, thought of this is not known, but he plays remarkably well himself. The change certainly seems to have done Hargrove good. He sounds more relaxed and expansive here than on previous albums, with the slightly manic enthusiasm toned down a bit, although this was always more evident in person than on record. He is 23 now, roughly the same age as Lee Morgan when he was with The Messengers, no longer a prodigy with something to prove. It is now 38 years since Clifford Brown died and his influence among trumpeters has proved as durable as Charlie Christian’s among guitarists. Who could have imagined then the brilliant players yet unborn who would follow his brief, inspiring example?

Tracklist:
1. Soppin’ The Biscuit   
2. When We Were One   
3. Valse Hot   
4. Once Forgotten   
5. Shade Of Jade   
6. Greens At The Chicken Shack   
7. Never Let Me Go   
8. Serenity   
9. Across The Pond   
10. Wild Is Love   
11. Mental Phrasing   
12. April’s Fool

Personnel
Roy Hargrove (Tp, fh)
Ron Blake (Sop & Ten Sax)
Cyrus Chestnut (Piano)
Rodney Whitaker (Bass)
Gregory Hutchinson (Drums)

Additional personnel: (Ten Sax)
Stanley Turrentine,
Johnny Griffin,
Joshua Redman,
Joe Henderson,
Branford Marsalis    

Recorded at Clinton Recording Studios, New York, New York on January 16 & 17, 1994 and at Teatro Mancinelli, Orvieto, Italy on December 28, 1993. Includes liner notes by Bob Blumenthal. – Label: Verve

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The James Moody and Hank Jones Quartet – Our Delight – (2006 – IPO Recordings)

 The title Our Delight should have been subtitled with (to borrow a line from Ornette Coleman) “This Is Our Music,” not so much in the sense of revolution as revelation. But then Pianist Hank Jones and saxophonist James Moody have been revealing their precious gifts of music since the 1940s.
Both artists have been witness (and contributors) to the history of jazz. Jones played music in the hotbed of Detroit as did his brothers Thad and Elvin, then there were the many years accompanying Ella Fitzgerald. His ‘solo’ career of the last thirty years has elevated him into the living legend category. Likewise James Moody, who might best be known as a songwriter and sideman to Dizzy Gillespie. His encyclopedic jazz brain has probably stored more music than most artists will ever learn.
Although they did play together on Great Day (Argo, 1963), the intersection of these two rarely happened. Their common denominator here is the music of Dizzy Gillespie, which they reinvestigate with the joyfulness of a welcome home party.
With capable drummer Adam Nussbaum and Todd Coolman, perhaps Dizzy’s favorite bassist aboard, the ride certainly is a smooth one. The music of mostly familiar tunes allows you to delight in the assuredness and bliss of the session.
Moody’s saxophone playing is like his fellow Baha’i mentor Dizzy Gillespie, always perfect. After Hank Jones’ brief introduction on the blues “Birk’s Works,” the saxophonist states the theme with tremendous ease. Then he is on to a complicated improvisation that follows with such fluency, you might be fooled into believing this is simple music. It is anything but simple, and likewise Hank Jones who has made a career out of an economy of notes, his brand of jazz sounding simple.
The Tadd Dameron track “Good Bait” spills its infectious theme into a tasteful and quiet solo by Nussbaum. Jones takes a hesitative solo here, as he seemingly has done so in his whole career. His preference is to support his fellow players, not hog the spotlight. When he is not playing in a trio or perhaps solo, sometimes listeners can overlook his contributions. On the duo “Body And Soul” this is not possible. Sure, this track has been recorded thousands of times, but it may be the highlight of this recording. Moody’s saxophone is both a nod to Coleman Hawkins and, well, James Moody. Jones’ contribution, although brief, maintains the spirit and character of the moment.
The disc ends with Italian vocalist Roberta Gambarini’s take on “Moody’s Groove.” The vocalist, a favorite of Jones, who has accompanied her in concert and record of late, sings with a clarity much treasured in jazz. Her scatting fits comfortably with our two heroes’ approach.
All About jazz (Mark Corroto)

Tracklist:
1. Our Delight
2. Birk’s Works
3. Con Alma
4. Lady Bird
5. Eternal Struggle
6. Body and Soul
7. Good Bait
8. Darben the Red Foxx
9. Soul Trane
10. Woody ‘N You
11. Old Folks
12. Moody’s Groove

Personnel:
James Moody (Tenor Sax, flute)
Hank Jones (piano)
Todd Coolman (bass)
Adam Nussbaum (drums)

Recorded at Sear Sound Studios, New York City, 28. & 29. 6. 2006 – Label: IPO

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George Adams Don Pullen Quartet: Earth Beams – (1980 – Timeless Records)

 Three out the four members of the George Adams/Don Pullen Quartet died in middle age: drummer Dannie Richmond in 1988 at age 52, saxophonist Adams in 1992 at 51, and pianist Pullen in 1995 at 53. As a result, the band had a regrettably short life. It was nevertheless one of the greatest jazz groups of the ’70s and ’80s. To a degree greater than perhaps any other band of its time, the group was able to cohere the various strands of jazz’s development in creating a seamlessly modern music a state of the jazz art in all its multifaceted glory.
Adams, Pullen and Richmond comprise one of the music’s most potent partnerships and this — their fourth quartet LP — is perhaps their most compelling yet. Its honourable tradition began with a pair of albums for Horo, taped during a Mingus tour of Italy in 1975, and, in More Flowers, shows a direct link with the late bassist’s then Jazz Workshop, this title being a passionate reshaping of Flowers For A Lady.
But it celebrates the bassist’s ideals in less obvious ways, too — through its championship of individual creativity and its inspired, but disciplined abandon. To this extent, Adams, Pullen and Richmond represent a more rewarding development of some aspects of Mingus’s work than the comparatively pale ‘Mingus Dynasty’. They produce music of sharp, often violent contrasts in texture, tempo, mood and attack. Seething figures melt into plumply lyrical interludes, only to snap into lines that swerve and dart among the strong rhythms set up by Brown and Richmond.
Some of the richest moments occur during Adams’ duets — with Pullen on the pulsating Magnetic Love Field, and with Richmond in some percussive polyphony at the end of Earth Beams itself: these are powerful and vivid meshings of rhythm and melody. In contrast, there is the good-humoured soul of Sophisticated Alice — another lady who’s changed with the times having initially appeared in more commercial guise as Pullen’s Big Alice on the pianist’s ‘Tomorrow’s Promises’, again with Adams. Dionysus is an appropriately Bacchanalian romp, opening deceptively as an elongated waltz before developing a complex rhythmic undertow.
However hectic the atmosphere or fervent the emotions, the sense of abandon is skilfully channeled, forging music of lasting value. This is strongly recommended, along with a second LP from these sessions, ‘Life Line’. Those with finely-balanced budgets should aim for ‘Earth Beams’ first.

 Tracklist:

1.Earth Beams (G.Adams)
2.Magnetic Love Field (G.Adams)
3.Dionysus (D.Richmond)
4.Saturday Night In The Cosmos (D.Pullen/F.Dean)
5.More Flowers (G.Adams)
6.Sophisticated Alice (D.Pullen)

Personnel:
George Adams – (Ten Sax)
Don Pullen,  (Piano)
Cameron Brown (Bass)
Dannie Richmond  (Drums)

Original Release Date: August 3, 1980 – Label: Timeless Records
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Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1962) (2007 Verve Originals)

 For Ellington, it was one of many collaborations with fellow jazz-greats in the early 1960s, including Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Max Roach and Charles Mingus. More unusually, it placed him in a jazz quartet setting (in this case, sax, piano, bass and drums), rather than his usual one in a big band. The quartet was filled out by the bassist and drummer from either of their bands. The tracks they recorded featured Ellington standards (“In a Sentimental Mood”), new Ellington compositions and a new Coltrane composition (“Big Nick”).
For Coltrane, it was an opportunity to work with one of jazz’s all-time greats. It was one of several albums he recorded in the early 1960s in a more conservative and accessible style, alongside John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman and Ballads. Despite their differences in background, style and age (Ellington was 63 and Coltrane 36 when the tracks were recorded), the two interact seamlessly and subtly, neither one outshining the other.
Coltrane felt very honoured to work with Ellington: “I was really honoured to have the opportunity of working with Duke. It was a wonderful experience. He has set standards I haven’t caught up with yet. I would have liked to have worked over all those numbers again, but then I guess the performances wouldn’t have had the same spontaneity. And they mightn’t have been any better!”
(Excerpt from the CD booklet.)

Tracklist:
1. In a Sentimental Mood
2. Take the Coltrane
3. Big Nick
4. Stevie
5. My Little Brown Book
6. Angelica
7. The Feeling of Jazz

Personnel:
Duke Ellington (piano);
John Coltrane (tenor & soprano saxophones);
Jimmy Garrison, Aaron Bell (bass);
Elvin Jones,
Sam Woodyard (drums).

Recorded on September 26, 1962 and released in February 1963 on Impulse! Records

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Dewey Redman: In London (1996 – Palmetto Records)

Accompanied by pianist Rita Marcotulli, bassist Cameron Brown and drummer Matt Wilson, veteran tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman puts on a well-rounded program. On “I Should Care,” “The Very Thought of You” (a tribute to Dexter Gordon) and the bossa nova “Portrait In Black & White,” he shows that, although his roots are in avant-garde jazz, Redman is quite capable of caressing a melody. In contrast, his renditions of “I-Pimp,” “Tu-inns” and “Eleven” emphasize freer improvising and plenty of fire. In both contexts, Dewey Redman emerges as an underrated giant.
All Music Guide (Scott Yanow)

Tracklist:
01 – I Should Care
02 – The Very Thought of You
03 – I-Pimp
04 – Portrait in Black and White
05 – Tu-Inns
06 – Kleerwine 
07 – Stablemates 
08 – Eleven

Personnel:
Dewey Redman (Ten Sax)
Rita Marcotulli (Piano)
Cameron Brown (Bass)
Matt Wilson (Drums)

Recorded Live by The BBC at Ronnie Scott’s, London, in October 1996 – Label: Palmetto Records

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Donny McCaslin: The Way Through (2004 – Arabesque Jazz)

 Since the early ’90s tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin has been a member of a loose collective of talented and creative young artists on the cutting edge that includes alto saxophonist Dave Binney, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen. They previously documented their genre-busting chemistry on CD under the name Lan Xang. Along with pushing the envelope in that more experimental context, McCaslin has also been a potent and reliable sideman in far more inside situations for such bandleaders as vocalist Luciana Souza and the Maria Schneider Orchestra. On The Way Through, his third CD as a leader, McCaslin blends his inside and outside sensibilities into one sumptuous and satisfying package.
McCaslin makes judicious use of alto flute, bass clarinet, marimba and steel pan alongside his signature tenor-alto blend with Binney, and the arrangements are quite adventurous. The music runs the gamut from forcefully swinging free-bop romps (“Break Tune”) to pan-global exoticism (“San Lorenzo”) to gentle lyricism (“The Way Through”) to the kind of spacious kind of freewheeling improv pieces that Lan Xang favored in performance and on its recordings (“What Remains”). Drummer Adam Cruz, clarinetist Douglas Yates, flutist Anders Bostrom and Souza further assist McCaslin in this excellent outing.
From the opening original, “Skyward,” McCaslin demonstrates an impressive command of his horn, leaping from honking lows to squealing highs with relative ease while maintaining a swinging pulse. His startling, unaccompanied extrapolation on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Woody ‘n’ You” further demonstrates his eagerness to push the envelope with daring Brecker-esque intervallic leaps on his tenor while still acknowledging the tradition. Likewise, his sparse tenor-bass-drums trio rendition of Sammy Cahn’s “I Should Care” is simultaneously unorthodox and reverential.
Souza adds a haunting quality with her ethereal unison lines alongside McCaslin’s tenor on the churning Afro-Cuban undercurrent of “San Lorenzo” before chiming in with a robust overdubbed choir. The full ensemble turns in a relaxed, faithful reading of Wayne Shorter’s “Fee Fi Fo Fum,” which features dissonant harmonies for alto flute and bass clarinet. And McCaslin lets his experimental tendencies run wild on two provocative cat-and-mouse improv duets with Binney (“Free California” and “Flutter”) and on “Break Tune,” where he blows freely over some techno loops.
In touching all of these bases, McCaslin has put together his most fully realized project to date. The Way Through represents a complete picture of this talented, up-and-coming saxophonist-arranger-composer, with promises of even grander schemes to come.
JazzTimes:  (Bill Milkowski)

Tracklist:

1. Skyward 

2. San Lorenzo 

3. Shadowlands 

4. I Should Care 

5. The Way Through 

6. Break Tune 

7. Free California 

8. Fee Fo Fi Fum 

9. What Remains
10. Woody and You
11. Flutter

Personnel:
Donny McCaslin Ten & Sop Sax
Scott Colley Bass
Adam Cruz drums & perc
Luciana Souza: voice
David Binney Alt sax, sampler
Andres Bostrom: flute, Alt sax

Original Release Date: September 2, 2003 – Label: Arabesque Recordings

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Archie Shepp – Black Ballads (2000 – Timeless Holland)

Tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp, who was one of the enfant terribles of the free jazz generation in the 1960s, once said, seemingly uncharacteristically, “You can hear every minute of every hour of every day of every year a player puts into practicing his horn when he plays a ballad.” He was being prophetic, of course, as this date from 1992 suggests. Teamed with pianist Horace Parlan — with whom he recorded the magnificent duet of spirituals Goin’ Home — bassist Wayne Dockery, and drummer Steve McCraven, Shepp leads the quartet through an astonishing series of ballads that are as revelatory for their understatement as they are for their musical aplomb. Shepp takes the Ben Webster approach on these 11 sides and comes off as a singer of songs (he is not singing) rather than as a saxophone player. His readings of “Angel Eyes,” “All Too Soon,” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” and his souled-out cover of “Georgia on My Mind,” are stunning for the restraint and nuance they contain. Parlan’s comping slips toward fills of uncommon texture and dimensionality in the bridges of these tunes, and on Shepp’s own “I Know About the Life,” he reinvents the tune itself. The high point of this glorious record is Shepp’s own “Déjà Vu,” as it comes out of an uncommonly long “Lush Life,” where the lyric of both compositions becomes a kind of recitation on the blues in stretched time. Issued on the Timeless label, this is a must-have for all Shepp fans, but more importantly, it is for all followers of the development in harmonic thinking about the ballad form in Jazz. 
Thom Jurek, Rovi

Tracklist:
01.Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
02.I Know About The Life
03.Georgia On My Mind
04.Embraceable You
05.Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
06.How Deep Is The Ocean
07.Lush Life
08.Déjà Vu
09.Angel Eyes
10.All To Soon (5
11.Ain’t Misbehavin’
January 01, 2000

Personnel:
Archie Shepp:   Ten and Alto Sax
Horace Parlan:  Piano
Wayne Dockery:  Bass
Steve McRaven:  Drums. 

Recording information: Studio 44, Monster, The Netherlands Jan 13th, 1993

Released on January 1, 2000 – Label: Timeless Holland

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Roy Haynes: Out of the Afternoon (1962 – Impulse! Records)

This splendid-sounding CD reissues a 1962 set from the Roy Haynes Quartet — which, at the time, consisted of Haynes, Henry Grimes on bass, Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Roland Kirk on saxes, manzello, stritch, and flutes. The album is a delightful mix of techniques in arrangement and performance, with all of the musicians delivering terrific work — Haynes’ drumming is absolutely wonderful here, lightly dancing around the other instruments, Flanagan’s piano playing is equally light and delicate, Grimes’ bass work is outstanding (during “Raoul” you have a chance to hear one of the few bowed bass solos on records of that era), and there’s not much that can be said about Kirk’s sax and flute work that hasn’t already been said a hundred times, apart from the fact that the flute solos on “Snap Crackle” help this cut emerge as particularly outstanding. 
Steven McDonald, All Music Guide.

Tracklist:
1. Moon Ray
2. Fly Me To The Moon
3. Raoul
4. Snap Crackle
5. If I Should Lose You
6. Long Wharf
7. Some Other Spring

Personnel:

Roy Haynes: Drums
Roland Kirk: Ten sax & flute
Tommy Flanagan: Piano
Henry Grimes: Bass

Released in 1962 – Label: Impulse! Records
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Jimmy Giuffre – Fly Away Little Bird (2003 – Sunny Side)

Recorded a year before this trio’s final record in ’93, Fly Away Little Bird delivers a more grounded, earthy performance than Conversations With a Goose. Here, Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, and Steve Swallow explore their blues roots, particularly Giuffre. And, in addition to their trademark spontaneous inventions, they lovingly render five standards and a surprisingly strong composition by Juanita Odjenar Giuffre, Mrs. Jimmy. This was their third album for Owl after a 27-year hiatus.
Giuffre’s credited with the title track, a wistful group piece with Jimmy on clarinet. The three musicians easily revolve in and out of their solos and supporting roles. “Fits” gives Swallow a solo run that carries a vaguely Spanish flavor with classical counterpoint. All three give a heartfelt reading to Vernon Duke’s “Can’t Get Started.” After Jimmy’s mournful turn, Swallow bends his notes bluesy, and Bley takes a theatrical interlude.
Bley goes solo on “Qualude,” working a walking bass line through some minor harmonies. The modal inventions that follow are pure Bley, some deceptively simple ideas the build into a complex off-kilter blues. Juanita Giuffre’s “Possibilities” starts with a rubbery throbbing Swallow and Giuffre making short statements on soprano. Bley plays the progression in a clipped style, before blowing it apart. Giuffre goes on one of his amazing solo excursions on “Tumbleweed,” a clarinet workout that includes extended techniques, vocals sounding like Italian operetta, and sweet bluesy musing.
Kern and Hammerstein’s “All the Things You Are” gets a stiff intro from Bley and Giuffre, then Swallow enters in hyper-swing mode, and everyone gets on his bus. Bley manages to tweak his chords enough to keep it from being a totally straight interpretation. “Starts” continues Swallow’s solo exploration, this time less jaunty, less Spanish, but no less contrapuntal. The Gordon Jenkins composition, “Goodbye,” originally showed up on the trio’s second album for Verve, Thesis in 1961. Giuffre’s clarinet sings the sad song, with Swallow and Bley finishing his and each other’s phrases. Swallow’s unique bass approach creates a call and response role with the clarinet.
The long group improv “Bats in the Belfry” begins with a few lines from Giuffre on soprano that echo back from Bley and Swallow, and the variations commence. After various changes, Giuffre switches to clarinet, and in one sequence Bley sounds as if he’s playing prepared piano.
All About Jazz (Rex Butters)

Tracklist:
1.- Fly Away Little Bird
2.- Fits
3.- I Can’t Get Started
4.- Qualude
5.- Possibilities
6.- Tumbleweed
7.- All The Things You Are
8.- Starts
9.- Goodbye
10.- Just Dropped By
11.- Lover Man
12.- Postlude
13.- Sweet And Lovely
14.- Bats In The Belfry

Personnel:
Jimmy Giuffre:  Sop Sax, clarinet, voice;
Paul Bley:  piano;
Steve Swallow:  electric bass

Recording information: Sound on Sound Studio, NY (April 25th ,1992). – Released on July 29th, 2003 – Label: Sunny Side

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