Exploring vintage jazz vinyl with a focus on label and pressing details, discographical information and critical musings on the music found within the grooves.
Woody Shaw and his bandmates fly through an exhilarating live set recorded soon after he joined Columbia Records, a period that would mark the appearance of some of the trumpeters finest work.
Read MoreTrio 64 was Bill Evans' first trio outing for Verve after his time at Riverside, and marked the only time he would appear on record with the great bassist Gary Peacock.
Read MoreEuropean Encounter is a crash course in what the violin can bring to jazz when it sits in the right hands. Add in the musicianship of a jazz giant like John Lewis and you've got all the makings for a truly underrated gem of an album.
Read MoreThe innovative and adventurous Modern Jazz Quartet team up with the like-minded Jimmy Guiffre to create an original album that remains under-appreciated even today.
Read MoreLittle Niles features a couple of jazz legends in Randy Weston and Johnny Griffin, along with the outsized and under-appreciated talents of trombonist and arranger Melba Liston. It's an excellent hard bop record that has flown under the radar despite the pedigree of it's players.
Read MoreStarting with Black Byrd in 1973, Donald Byrd and the Mizell Brothers practically created a new sub-genre of jazz funk music, and 1974's Stepping Into Tomorrow may very well be the best of the albums that resulted from their amazingly consistent time working together.
Read MoreThe concept behind Layers is simple enough: McCann wanted to make an album of the sounds he was hearing in his head using only electronic keyboards, synthesizers and overdubbing. He recorded over rhythm tracks laid down by a group of percussionists who had previously accompanied him, and the resulting jazz record is quite unlike anything that had come before it.
Read MoreHampton Hawes spent 1972 through 1974 recording for Prestige Records where he explored the possibilities that electronic keyboards could provide in a jazz setting. David Axelrod serves as the arranger on the album, adding his unique set of funky skills as an arranger and producer to the proceedings.
Read MoreBorn To Be Blue! was Bobby Timmons' final album released during his fruitful tenure with Riverside and it sums up his funky and bluesy approach to the piano, a sound that was so important to the development of the hard bop sound. He was joined by some top-shelf talent with either Sam Jones or Ron Carter in the bassist's chair and the MJQ's Connie Kay performing his magic on the drums.
Read MoreBy 1976 Dexter Gordon had all but become a forgotten figure in the mainstream jazz world. His style of jazz had fallen out of fashion, pushed to the fringe as the more commercial leanings of fusion and smooth jazz became the flavors of the day. His successful return to the United States - after years in a self-imposed exile -was wonderfully documented on the double-LP Homecoming an album made even better with the presence of Woody Shaw blowing his tail off on the trumpet.
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