everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Hardly as angst-ridden as Chet Baker’s legend would suggest, 1958′s It Could Happen to You is Baker still riding high, a star winsomely crooning some favorite standards over subtle accompaniment by small groups whose members include pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Sam Jones, and the unstoppable Philly Joe Jones on drums. Baker’s boyish moods are perfect for the likes of “How Long Has This Been Going On?,” “You’re Driving Me Crazy,” and (believe it) “Everything Happens to Me.” –Rickey Wright
Personnel: Chet Baker (trumpet, vocals); Kenny Drew (piano); George morrow, Sam Jones (bass); Philly Joe Jones, Danny Richmond (drums).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Originally released in May 1958, Black Pearls was a major step forward in the career of tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. Though Coltrane was already known as a fine soloist, mainly due to his association with Thelonious Monk’s quartet, Black Pearls proved that the saxophonist could also be a creative innovator. This dense, harmonically complex trio of compositions begins with the title track, a minor-mode but sprightly affair from the team of Romberg-Hammerstein. “Black Pearls” benefits from “the Coltrane changes”, chords that modulate every two beats instead of every one or two bars. His flurry of 16th notes is complemented by his use of substitutions, the practice of replacing common chords with complex chords consisting of higher intervals. In taking this practice to the extreme, the soloist fashioned a playing style referred to as “sheets of sound”. The same songwriting team returns in “Lover Come Back to Me”, which features an especially prescient Donald Byrd, who wields his trumpet with both fury and discipline. The final track is Robert Weinstock’s “Sweet Sapphire Blues”, a themeless, A-major excursion dominated by pianist Red Garland. Using the full range of the piano, Garland demonstrates his grasp of a number of performance styles within the 18-minute opus. Coltrane joins in with solo runs containing a multitude of melodies and rhythms, while drummer Art Taylor does more than simply keep time. The casual poise of Black Pearls is one of the album’s many pleasures, as is Coltrane’s democracy in allowing each member of his quintet to shine. An underrated, solid studio gem.
Personnel: John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Donald Byrd (trumpet); Red Garland (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Art Taylor (drums).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
This Max Roach Riverside date is notable for featuring the great young trumpeter Booker Little and for utilizing Ray Draper’s tuba as a melody instrument; tenor saxophonist George Coleman and bassist Art Davis complete the excellent quintet. Highlights include “It’s You or No One,” “You Stepped out of a Dream” and Roach’s unaccompanied drum piece “Conversation.” This is fine music from a group that was trying to stretch themselves beyond hard bop.
Personnel: Max Roach (drums); Max Roach; Oscar Pettiford, Art Davis (upright bass); George Coleman (saxophone, tenor saxophone); Booker Little (trumpet); Ray Draper (tuba).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
When alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley culled together this quartet, he grabbed three champions from seemingly disparate schools to complement his flinty solos: Miles Davis, the king of cool; Art Blakey, the thundering force of hard bop; Hank Jones, a veteran of swing; and Sam Jones, a versatile bassist adaptable to nearly any setting. The results are one of Blue Note’s most beloved albums. The open-ended beauty of “Autumn Leaves,” which features Davis beautifully stating the melody on muted trumpet, sounds like it could easily be an outtake from Kind of Blue (which it isn’t). The midtempo title track provides the centerpiece of this classic as Adderley echoes Miles’s swaggering melody before both unravel wonderful solos. A must-have Blue Note album. –John Murph
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
Recorded in 1958, this legendary date with the still-undersung Sonny Clark in the leader’s chair also featured a young Jackie McLean on alto (playing with a smoother tone than he had before or ever did again), trumpeter Art Farmer, and the legendary rhythm section of bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, both from the Miles Davis band. The set begins with one of the preeminent “swinging medium blues” pieces in jazz history: the title track with its leveraged fours and eights shoved smoothly up against the walking bass of Chambers and the backbeat shuffle of Jones. Clark’s solo, with its grouped fifths and sevenths, is a wonder of both understatement and groove, while Chambers’ arco solo turns the blues in on itself. While there isn’t a weak note on this record, there are some other tracks that stand out, most notably Miles’ “Sippin’ at Bells,” with its loping Latin rhythm. When McLean takes his solo against a handful of Clark’s shaded minor chords, he sounds as if he may blow it — he comes out a little quick — but he recovers nicely and reaches for a handful of Broadway show tunes to counter the minor mood of the piece. He shifts to both Ben Webster and Lester Young before moving through Bird, and finally to McLean himself, riding the margin of the changes to slip just outside enough to add some depth in the middle register. The LP closes with Henderson and Vallée’s “Deep Night,” the only number in the batch not rooted in the blues. It’s a classic hard bop jamming tune and features wonderful solos by Farmer, who plays weird flatted notes all over the horn against the changes, and McLean, who thinks he’s playing a kind of snake charmer blues in swing tune. This set deserves its reputation for its soul appeal alone.
Personnel: Sonny Clark (piano); Jackie McLean (alto saxophone); Art Farmer (trumpet); Paul Chambers (acoustic bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums).
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
On In A Minor Groove, Ashby she swings with an other-wordly quality that’s simply amazing, quite exotic, and very much in the camp of players like Yusef Lateef or Les Jazz Modes, who were trying similar experiments in jazz. This session features Dorothy in a quartet with the flute of Frank Wess, the bass of Herman Wright, and the drums of Roy Haynes, whose warm lyrical touches provide the perfect melodicism for the group.
everybodydigs# is a series of posts about Jazz, Funk, Soul & R’n’b albums released from the 20s to the 90s, you can read a brief description/review and listen to a small preview (when it’s possible). everybodydigs# is like when someone tells you “hey you should listen to this album!” and nothing less, enjoy!
One of jazz history’s greatest pianists, Bud Powell suffered from mental illness and heavy medication that often interfered with his playing. When he recorded this session in 1957, at age 33, his most incandescent inventions were already behind him, but what remained was a pianist of extraordinary depth, capable of the deepest blues and a rhythmic incisiveness like Thelonious Monk’s. And he was still a composer of first-rate bop lines, like “John’s Abbey” and “Time Waits,” the latter a reference to his once blazing “Tempus Fugue-it.” The rhythm section of bassist Sam Jones and drummer Philly Joe Jones is absolutely masterful at the slow and medium tempos that Powell had come to favor, with Jones often prodding the pianist into exuberance. This is the finest of Powell’s later recordings, revealing a bop pianist who paled only in comparison with his former self.
Personnel: Bud Powell (piano); Sam Jones (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums).
Rappamelo’s favorite track:
Contact
Rappamelo is just a blog where you can find some good music, feel free to send your music or contact me at:
