Author name: Thomas Cunniffe

In 1979, Sarah Vaughan was a newlywed. Her husband was trumpeter Waymon Reed, a competent but hardly original soloist. Vaughan insisted on featuring Reed on her recordings, including her 2-LP Duke Ellington Songbook. Concord has now reissued the set on CD with a previously unissued session conducted by Benny Carter. In his review of the CD, Thomas Cunniffe speculates that Reed may have been the catalyst for some of Vaughan’s greatest late-career performances.

When Sarah Vaughan first heard Clifford Brown in 1951, she wanted to make a record with him, even though he was unknown and had not recorded. Three years later, with Brown established as a rising trumpet star, the collaboration became a reality. In this Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe discusses that album, rightly acknowledged as a jazz classic.

Satchmo at Symphony Hall has long been considered one of Louis Armstrong’s greatest concert recordings. In commemoration of the 65th anniversary of this recording, Universal Music has released the concert complete for the first time. Thomas Cunniffe reviews the new version in this Retro Review.

One of jazz’s greatest storytellers, Shirley Horn created a masterpiece for the ages with her 1992 CD, Here’s To Life. The album was her first collaboration with Johnny Mandel, and it features three of Mandel’s best songs. However, as Thomas Cunniffe writes, it is the title song–written especially for Horn–that ties this album together..

The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz has undergone several transformations since its initial release in 1973. Thomas Cunniffe evaluates the various editions of the set as one of this month’s Retro Reviews.

When Sonny Rollins signed with Impulse Records in 1965, his first recording project was a live outdoor concert at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. During the concert, Rollins wandered all around the performing space as he improvised, and the off-mike recording was shelved for 13 years, when it was issued as There Will Never Be Another You. While the album reflects an important milestone in Rollins’ live recordings, it is frequently misunderstood. Thomas Cunniffe examines the recording and the music in this Retro Review.