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In 1993 Billy Taylor and Gerry Mulligan performed a series of concerts at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) in Pittsburgh, PA. After holding the recordings in their vaults for 14 years, on August 28th MCG Jazz records will release Billy Taylor and Gerry Mulligan, Live at MCG. During the concert weekend, MCG also taped the pilot program for what became ”Billy Taylor’s Jazz from the Kennedy Center.” That NPR program went on to become a very successful national radio series.

Изданный в оригинале на виниловой пластинке маленьким тиражем, этот диск является примером относительно позднего "зрелого" Вильяма Кларка, которого можно услышать на аллигаторовских дисках, ведь от первого Blowin' Like Hell его отделяет всего три года. Эта запись лежала на полках коллекционеров винилового антиквариата, пока фирма King Ace не сделала подарок любителям WC - выкупила права и переиздала его в 2000 году. В диск вошли дополнительно 4 замечательные неизданные композиции более поздего аллигаторовского периода. Перед публикацией диска King Ace обещала, что это только начало, но похоже, - пока дело встало.
Альбом по "настоящему" очень яркий и слушается на одном дыхании. Рекомендую всем любителям блюза! Приятного прослушивания! Хорошей музыки должно быть много!
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Dianne Reeves (recently featured as the coolly swinging jazz singer in George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck) is such a monumental performer that her powers sometimes overwhelm her material - as if only the most ecstatic, tragic or visionary lyrics can withstand a broadside of this multi Grammy-winner's technique.

Dianne Reeves has to date won 4 Grammy Awards for "Best Jazz Vocal Performance" for her albums * 2001 In the Moment * 2002 The Calling * 2003 A Little Moonlight * 2006 Good Night, and Good Luck (Soundtrack). She is the only singer to have won this Grammy for three consecutive recordings.

Originally released in 1971, this LP had Fela Kuti solidifying the format that would take him into international visibility in the years to come: extended tracks with grooves that mixed African and funk rhythms, punctuated by rudimentary lyrics. There are just four songs on the album, none shorter than seven minutes, and all but one going over the ten-minute mark. More than a dozen strong, his band, the Africa '70, cooks pretty well on tracks that fuse jazz, soul, and African music in a trancelike fashion that avoids becoming stale, despite the length of the arrangements. Ex-Cream/Blind Faith drummer Ginger Baker's name was given prominence in the billing, probably to attract rock- and pop-oriented listeners who might not ordinarily take a chance on music from the African continent. However, it's Fela and Africa '70, not Baker, who are the dominant presence on a record that sounded much like a mixture of James Brown, fusion, and Nigerian forms.
Review by Richie Unterberger, AMG

Недавно наткнулся на любопытный экземпляр Porgy & Bess, честно говоря такое слышу впервые.

It is a bold venture and takes considerable experience to make something new and appealing out of the twentieth century classic opera and that is why very few have attempted it. Most tracks are successful and two that appealed were The Buzzard Song and the very plaintive I Loves You, Porgy.

     The first album to hit the shelves after Giant Steps, Coltrane Jazz was largely recorded in late 1959, although one of the eight songs ("Village Blues") was done in late 1960. On everything save the aforementioned "Village Blues," Coltrane used the Miles Davis rhythm section of pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb. While not the groundbreaker that Giant Steps was, Coltrane Jazz was a good consolidation of his gains as he prepared to launch into his peak years of the 1960s. There are three standards aboard, but the group reaches their peak on Coltrane's original material, particularly "Harmonique" with its melodic leaps and upper-register saxophone strains and the winding, slightly Eastern-flavored principal riffs of "Like Sonny," dedicated to Sonny Rollins. The moody "Village Blues" features the lineup of McCoy Tyner on piano, Elvin Jones on drums, and Steve Davis on bass; with the substitution of Jimmy Garrison on bass, that personnel would play on Coltrane's most influential and beloved 1960s albums. The 2000 CD reissue on Atlantic/Rhino adds four bonus tracks: alternate takes of "Like Sonny" and "I'll Wait and Pray" that were first issued on Alternate Takes and alternate takes of "Like Sonny" and "Village Blues" that came out on the Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings box. -- AMG

Vocalist-pianist-lyricist Bob Dorough's first record as a leader is a pretty definitive set . Assisted by his longtime bassist Bill Takas, drummer Jerry Segal and sometimes trumpeter Warren Fitzgerald and vibraphonist Jack Hitchcock, Dorough performs near-classic renditions of such songs as "Old Devil Moon," "Yardbird Suite," "Baltimore Oriole," "Devil May Care" and "Johnny One Note." Recommended.
- Scott Yanow, AMG

McBride and Blade contributing consistently stimulating interplay, Bob James has recorded what is certainly the finest jazz album of his career...

There are four very common American fusion models, first Miles Davis, second Weather Report, third Mahavishnu Orchestra and four Return to Forever. Jazz Q Praha hits the third in the list very early with the picked chord riffs, but the fire isn’t quite there to sustain it. Later in the record the band swings to the first model, hitting Miles Davis just about in his Jack Johnson prime, imitating the raunchy and slighty funky stomp, but, not quite getting it either. If anything, it proves that being familiar with the four models are likely gonna kill you on a lot of fusion, because except for rare occasions, the clone isn’t up to par on the musicianship. Dissonant picked chords like a theme from The Inner Mounting Flame are great if your musicians are going to go out there and kill it, but it’s a big let down it they don’t. Jazz Q got a lot better in their later years, this is disappointing to say the least. - Outher Music Diary

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