Exploring vintage jazz vinyl with a focus on label and pressing details, discographical information and critical musings on the music found within the grooves.
A beautiful 1963 album by the classic Coltrane Quartet that has garnered some controversy over the years, but in the end has proven to be an essential part of his long and varied discography.
Read MoreMilt Jackson teams up with Ray Brown once again in the late-1960s, this time in a big band setting led by Brown to create an underrated album of funky and soulful jazz that will appeal to both fans of modern jazz and rare groove collectors alike.
Read MoreRoy 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 MoreTwo jazz masters meet up for their yearly gig at Shelly's Manne-Hole where they explore the modern jazz styles that they helped to popularize.
Read MoreA true all-star affair, The Blues And The Abstract Truth finds Oliver Nelson leading a group of legendary jazz musicians on a record that just about sums up the essence of the hard bop sound that had been building momentum since the mid-1950s.
Read MoreMingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus was Charles Mingus' last major studio recording of the 1960s and it's a real treasure in the great jazz bassist's discography. The album features a large band of talented musicians in top form performing Mingus' notoriously complex compositions, many of which are reinterpretations of some of his earlier classic songs.
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 MoreWhile Hawes will always be best known for his influential run of fantastic trio and quartet records for Contemporary in the mid-to-late 1950's, he would eventually explore electric jazz in a run of four LPs for Prestige from 1972 to 1974. These records feature Hawes mostly on the electric piano exploring not only the spacey jazz-funk that was happening at the time (think Freddie Hubbard on CTI or Herbie Hancock's Headhunters phase), but also some happening bluesy soul-jazz as well.
Read MoreIf not for the title track that opens the album, 1984 would be remembered as an excellent example of post bop as it was emerging in the mid-1960's. But, oh man, that title track: an 8 minute foray into another realm altogether, with Lateef blowing a whole array of wind instruments - some of his own making - and muttering low utterances through the large end of a cow's horn that lends the track much of it's otherworldly feel.
Read MoreNewcomers and casual jazz fans will associate McCoy Tyner only with John Coltrane's classic 1960's quartet, but his discography is full of some phenomenal albums he made as a leader throughout the 1960's and 1970's. Live At Newport is no exception, it's a stimulating performance with Tyner and company firing on all cylinders at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1963. Three of the tracks are performed by a quintet (with Clark Terry and the now obscure Charlie Mariano on the brass) and two feature just the trio of Tyner, Bob Cranshaw and Mickey Roker.
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