Exploring vintage jazz vinyl with a focus on label and pressing details, discographical information and critical musings on the music found within the grooves.
Roy Haynes steps out of his usual role as a master sideman to lead an exciting and adventurous session that features the outsized talents of Roland Kirk. It's an under-appreciated gem of a record from jazz's golden age that also showcases the playing of Tommy Flanagan and Henry Grimes.
Read MoreWoody 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 MoreGenesis is a fantastic piece of spacey post bop jazz featuring a fiery piano-less quintet with a talented three horn frontline. The music is a gorgeous mix of the soulfulness of hard bop with the freer styles of the avant-garde, and Jones anchors the whole affair with the type of inventive playing on the skins that has made him a legend.
Read MoreBy the time Enlightenment was released in 1973, McCoy Tyner had already been all over the jazz scene in the 1960s, before making the move to Milestone records 1972. With Milestone he would release a string of outstanding records, the earliest of which (including Enlightenment) would play an important part in cementing his status as one of the giants of jazz piano.
Read MoreConference Of The Birds is rightly considered a masterpiece of avant-garde jazz, due in no short order to the giant talents of the musicians involved, and it remains an immensely pleasurable and listenable album to this day.
Read MoreFor many years I figured Pre-Bird was a compilation of early recordings by Mingus, made in the years before he hit the big time on his own. Man, was I ever wrong on that one. The wonderful music on the album was recorded in 1960 and is every bit as fantastic as one would expect from Mingus during this period of his illustrious career.
Read MoreDuring his time with Miles, Shorter recorded a series of albums for Blue Note that were all outstanding and some are even considered stone-cold classics (Speak No Evil, JuJu, Adam's Apple). Towards the end of this run of recordings came Schizophrenia in 1967, a fantastic record that shows off the "two" sides of Shorter - his straight ahead compositions, along with those that moved more into the free jazz and post bop realms.
Read MoreIn 1969 Sanders released Karma, a highly accesible album that brought him widespread praise and commercial success. This was in no small part helped along by the presence of vocalist Leon Thomas, who certainly helped the recording find an audience with the hippie culture of the late 1960's who were accustomed to lyrical content in their music. Summun Bukmun Umyun (Deaf Dumb Blind) was not nearly as accessible to non-jazz fans - even many jazz fans must have been puzzled by it - and as such it is not nearly as well known.
Read MoreA Little Night Music was recorded live in 1981 at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco, although it wouldn't see an official release until nearly two years later in 1983. The recording date is significant, as it follows a period of lackluster attempts at commercial recordings by Hubbard for Columbia, none of which can possibly be looked upon as highlights of his long and distinguised discography. Night Music marks a return to "genuine" jazz music for him, and the joy of reuniting with a couple of his former Blue Note cohorts in front of an appreciative audience is clear in his strong playing.
Read MoreOn albums such as Jazz In The Space Age, Russell was putting his musical theories to the test in a very real world setting, with an exciting orchestra of talented players who were certainly on board with what he was trying to do. Bill Evans is the featured performer - even getting co-billing of sorts on the front cover - and if you're only familiar with his classic trio performances his playing here is quite a revelation.
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