|
|
||||||||
|
|
|---|
|
Home - Mission - Feedback - Performances - Prez Sez - Feature Articles - Artists - Links - Newsletter |
Click on titles below for complete review.
Charlie Parker
A Studio Chronicle 1940-1948
JSP Records
Ornette Coleman
The Shape of Jazz to Come
Atlantic Records
Thelonious Monk
Brilliant Corners
Original Jazz Classics
Bill Evans
The Complete Village Vanguard
Recordings, 1961
Riverside Records
Wes Montgomery
Smokin' at the Half Note
Verve Records
CHARLIE PARKER
JSP Records
There are many impressive anthologies of
Parker’s ground-breaking early music, but this is probably
the one to go with if you can find it. It compiles 125
re-mastered Dial and Savoy recordings from 1940 to 1948 on
five discs and generally sells for about $30. It includes
Jay McShann sides "Swingmatism" and "Hootie Blues," plus
many of the tunes on which Parker established his
credentials.
ORNETTE COLEMAN
Atlantic
Records The
first half-dozen or so of Coleman’s break-through recordings
(1958-1961) still dazzle with their originality. We will go
with 1959’s "The Shape of Jazz to Come" for its major-label
introduction of some very un-mainstream music. Among the
best tracks are "Lonely Woman," "Congeniality" and "Peace."
Of course, the sidemen in Coleman’s classic quartet are all
in good form—trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden and
drummer Billy Higgins. The Holy Grail of avant-garde jazz.
THELONIOUS MONK
Original Jazz Classics
Like Coleman, the music of Thelonious Monk
stands outside the mainstream for its unconventional sound
and audacity of style and technique. No one else could have
written "’Round Midnight," "Well You Needn’t" or any of
dozens of Monk compositions that bear his unmistakable
stamp. The seminal 1957 release "Brilliant Corners"
introduced "Bemsha Swing," "Pannonica," "Ba-Lue Bolivar
Ba-Lues-Are," and the title track.
BILL EVANS
The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961
Riverside Records
Evans amassed an impressive catalog of
recorded music before his death in 1980 at age 51. Some of
his best work was documented live with a trio that also
featured bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian.
During five sets on June 25, 1961, they created this classic
of modern jazz. Released in piecemeal fashion over the
years, the entire three-disc package was finally re-mastered
and reissued in 2005. It contains superb interpretations of
Evans’ "Waltz for Debby" and LaFaro’s "Gloria’s Step" and
"Jade Visions."
WES MONTGOMERY
Verve Records
Like Evans, much of Montgomery’s finest
recordings were captured in live performances, including
1962’s "Full House" and this one from 1965. "Smokin’" is
especially noteworthy because it comes later in the
guitarist’s career, when his studio recordings had taken on
a well-polished and well-marketed commercial patina that
often discouraged or obscured his dazzling fret board
technique behind an orchestral pop luster. This set is a
mid-‘60s exception to that rule, an example of Montgomery’s
playing at its most inspired.
Home - Mission - Feedback - Performances
- Prez
Sez - Feature Articles - Artists - Links - Newsletter
Essential
Recordings
October 2010
