All posts in Jazz

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!

Dexter Gordon’s second recording for the Blue Note label is a solidly swinging affair, yet constantly full of surprises. It’s not unexpected that Gordon’s tenor at this time — 1961 — is one of the most enjoyable in mainstream jazz, but his transition from the cool California scene to the hotter music environs of New York City had energized his sound and attitude. A first-time pairing with bassist Paul Chambers has something to do with this, but it also inspires pianist Kenny Drew to a great extent, while drummer Philly Joe Jones is his reliable, energetic self, and always works well with Gordon. Where Gordon’s fluent melodic sense is perfectly demonstrated during the simple-as-pie groove waltz “Soul Sister,” the steady, steamy bopper “I Want More,” and the familiar Charlie Chaplin evergreen “Smile,” his sense of expanding the specific line upon soloing is truly remarkable. He constantly keeps the song form in mind, riffing on and on without violating the basic note structures, constantly reharmonizing, shuffling the chords like a card dealer and updating the song form. “The End of a Love Affair” takes this concept into an area where his deep, subtle voice is translated directly into the low-slung voicings of his horn. The remarkable “Modal Mood” combines hard bop with Drew’s three-chord piano repetitions and Gordon’s soulful, simplified sax, while the equally impressive “Clear the Dex” steamrolls the competition as the band — cued by Jones — skillfully pushes or pull tension and release elements, then busts loose into joyous swinging in a true signature tune that is immediately recognizable as only the long, tall tenor man. The sad ballad “Ernie’s Tune” is based on a yin/yang theme via Freddie Redd’s stage play The Connection and the crazy character that ran wild or tame. The excellent band, solid musicianship, and memorable music on every track make this one of the more essential recordings of Gordon’s career, enhanced by the improved audio quality. (allmusic)

Personnel: Dexter Gordon (tenor saxophone); Kenny Drew (piano); Paul Chambers (bass instrument); Philly Joe Jones (drums).

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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 Wayne Shorter recorded this date in 1964, he was asserting his own voice as both a saxophonist and a composer after his years with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He’s joined here by pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones, essential parts of the then dominant John Coltrane Quartet, but Juju serves to emphasize what was distinctive in Shorter’s approach as well as the similarities. Though he shared something of Coltrane’s twisting line and hard sound, Shorter was far more interested in crafting conventional compositions, and there’s a range of everyday emotions to be felt in this music that went untouched in Coltrane’s more intense work. Shorter’s a master of tension and release, using contrasting elements in a piece, mixing major and minor, consonance and dissonance, and different rhythms to evoke complex moods of doubt and playfulness or constraint and joyous swing. Those structures are a happy fit with Tyner and Jones as well, who can bring their characteristic welling intensity to “Juju,” a relaxed bounce to “Yes or No,” or a subtle oriental emphasis to “House of Jade.” –Stuart Broomer

Personnel: Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); McCoy Tyner (piano); Reginald Workman (bass); Elvin Jones (drums).

Rappamelo’s favorite track:

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!

Oliver Nelson had recorded several sessions for Prestige when the fledgling Impulse! label gave him the opportunity to make this septet date in 1961. The result was a rare marriage between an arranger-composer’s conception and the ideal collection of musicians to execute it. The material is all based somehow on the blues, but Nelson’s structural and harmonic extensions make it highly varied, suggesting ballads, hoedowns, and swing. The band is one of those groupings that seem only to have been possible around 1960, a roster so strong that the leader’s name was actually listed fourth on the cover. Nelson shares the solo space with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, alto saxophonist and flutist Eric Dolphy, and pianist Bill Evans, while bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Roy Haynes contribute support and baritone saxophonist George Barrow adds depth. In stark contrast to Dolphy’s brilliant, convulsive explosions, Nelson’s tenor solos are intriguingly minimalist, emphasizing a tight vibrato and unusual note choices. It’s not quite Kind of Blue (nothing is), but Blues and the Abstract Truth is an essential recording, one that helped define the shape of jazz in the ’60s. –Stuart Broomer

Personnel: Oliver Nelson (tenor/alto saxophone); Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone, flute); Geroge Barrow (baritone saxophone); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Paul Chambers (bass); Bill Evans (piano); Roy Haynes (drums).

Rappamelo’s favorite track:

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

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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!

Pianist and composer Herbie Hancock has had a long and varied career, during which he’s enjoyed both creative and commercial success, though seldom at the same time. For many listeners, his creative peak came early, on two stunning Blue Note recordings, Maiden Voyage and the less celebrated Empyrean Isles. Recorded in 1964, Empyrean Isles is the earlier of the two and also the most radical. Hancock’s quartet features Freddie Hubbard substituting a cornet for his usual trumpet, and getting a more burnished, slightly warmer sound. Without the jazz-typical saxophone present, Hancock’s is almost a naked band, and the single horn blurs the lines between the pianist’s mood-rich compositions and improvisation. The group uses the increased sense of space for intense collective creation, with Hancock and drummer Tony Williams pressing far beyond their instruments’ usual roles and engaging Hubbard in edgy, complex dialogue, while bassist Ron Carter anchors the performances. Hubbard rises to the occasion with brilliance, responding to the stimulus with a fluency of thought and execution–a daring that built on his avant-garde experience with musicians like John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Eric Dolphy. From the breezy “Oliloqui Valley” to the funky “Cantaloupe Island” and on to the dissonance of the extended “Egg,” this is one of the most significant documents of the Blue Note style that emerged in the mid-’60s. It’s music that tests the balance of control and risk, and Hubbard’s is also one of the great performances by a trumpeter in modern jazz. –Stuart Broomer

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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).

Rappamelo’s favorite track:

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 is a strong recording from the Modern Jazz Quartet, with inventive versions of John Lewis’ “Vendome,” Ray Brown’s “Pyramid,” Jim Hall’s “Romaine,” and Lewis’ famous “Django,” along with cooking jams on “How High the Moon” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing.” The MJQ had become a jazz institution by this time, but they never lost their creative edge, and their performances (even on the remakes) are quite stimulating, enthusiastic, and fresh.

The Modern Jazz Quartet: John Lewis (piano); Milt Jackson (vibes); Percy Heath (bass); Connie Kay (drums).

Rappamelo’s favorite track:

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!

Multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers is usually identified with jazz’s avant-garde wing, but many of his albums are highly accessible thanks to his use of hard swing and his well-defined themes. Recorded in 1967,Dimensions And Extensions is one of Rivers’s finest albums ever. It features a group of simpatico musicians including trombonist Julian Priester (later to play with Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi band), alto saxophonist James Spaulding, and hard bop (later crossover) expert trumpeter Donald Byrd. While much of this set is cerebral and sometimes challenging, Rivers engages the listener with his fervent soloing on soprano and tenor saxes and flute, as well as with his rhythmic urgency.

Personnel: Sam Rivers (flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); James Spaulding (flute, alto saxophone); Donald Byrd (trumpet); Julian Priester (trombone); Cecil McBee (bass instrument); Steve Ellington (drum).

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