Author name: Thomas Cunniffe

Historic recordings by Bill Evans are legion, but not all of the recordings have optimum music or sound. George Klabin and Resonance Records’ new release Live at the Top of the Gate offers the Evans Trio at an important time in their development, and in spectacular sound. Thomas Cunniffe reviews the album.

Don Ellis was best known for his late 1960s band that experimented with odd time signatures and electronic instruments. Through his exploration of ethnomusicology and film music, his concepts deepened through the early 1970s. Michael Verity discusses Ellis’ late masterpiece, Soaring in this Retro Review.

The early 50s were not a great time for big bands, but Duke Ellington continued to tour and record with his orchestra, despite several roadblocks. Ellington Uptown, an album released in several versions shows Ellington triumphing over adversity in a profound way. Thomas Cunniffe discusses the original LPs and their compilation on Compact Disc in this Retro Review.

The Double Six of Paris was unique among vocal jazz groups for their clever vocalese lyrics (sung in French!) and their uncanny way of capturing the nuances of the original instrumental recordings. Amy Duncan discusses the group’s second LP Singin’, Swingin’ in this Retro Review.

In March 1963, John Coltrane made a temporary change in his quartet’s style for a recorded collaboration with ballad singer Johnny Hartman. In this Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe discusses the beauty and legacy of John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman.

Sonny Clark never made a better album than Cool Struttin’. This 1958 Blue Note date may have been conceived as just another blowing date, but the high quality of the music made it an instant classic. As Thomas Cunniffe notes in this Retro Review, the magic starts with the iconic album cover but peaks with the music created by Clark, Art Farmer, Jackie McLean, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.

No one could write for saxophone sections like Benny Carter, and his 1961 Impulse LP, Further Definitions is a genuine masterpiece. Thomas Cunniffe reviews the CD reissue, which also includes Carter’s superb 1966 follow-up, Additions to Further Definitions.

Jazz at Oberlin is one of the classic Dave Brubeck albums. It was his first recorded college concert, and it featured Paul Desmond at his most uninhibited. In this Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe tells of the first he heard this jazz masterpiece.

In 1954, Max Roach and Clifford Brown teamed up in LA to form one of jazz’s finest bop groups. The group only stayed in California for a few months, but it helped revitalize LA’s bop scene. In this Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe examines two early concerts by the Brown/Roach Quintet, originally issued on the GNP label, and now available in a superior reissue by Fresh Sounds.

Although it was made in a recording studio, Art Blakey’s Free For All sounds like a live album. Recorded in 1964, the album features remarkable music by one of the greatest of all Jazz Messenger units, with Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton and Reggie Workman. Thomas Cunniffe discusses the curious circumstances of the recording session and the events of the time that may have inspired the music.