Retro Reviews

By 1960, John Coltrane had played with Miles Davis for nearly five years. With the release of Giant Steps, he was auditioning musicians for his own quartet. However, Davis needed Coltrane for an tour of Europe, and Coltrane reluctantly accepted. The brilliant concert recordings from that tour have been bootlegged for years, but a new Acrobat 4-CD set collects them in one place. In this Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe recommends the set for its improved sound quality and its detailed liner notes by Simon Spillett.

When Miles Davis first took the stage at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1955, Duke Ellington joked that Davis and his fellow musicians inhabited the world of Buck Rogers. Actually, the music Davis played that day was fairly accessible, and it wasn’t until 14 years later that his music began to alienate his long-time fans. While the new Legacy 4-CD set Miles Davis at Newport dutifully presents the music in chronological order, Thomas Cunniffe’s review offers a different perspective as he starts with the most recent (and less known) sets and works backward from there.

The reissues have been piling up in the JHO offices, so this month, Thomas Cunniffe has selected seven new collections (a total of 26 discs!) for discussion in the Retro Review. Included are the Mosaic Savory Collection, and collections featuring Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Erroll Garner.

In 1975, Stan Getz was asked to produce several jazz albums for Columbia. One of his first projects was The Peacocks, an album displaying the instrumental and vocal talents of Jimmy Rowles. In this Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe calls the album the best showcase Rowles ever had.

In what would be his penultimate public appearance, Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars played a 30-minute concert at the National Press Club on January 29, 1971. The performance, and a tribute concert from the following year have been reissued by Smithsonian-Folkways. Thomas Cunniffe reports that the music may not be profound, but the Creole recipes included as liner notes will allow you to create a culinary tribute to Armstrong.

One of Mary Lou Williams’ proudest claims was that she played through all the major jazz eras. In the final years of her life, she codified the styles so thoroughly that any piece she played could have elements of stride, swing, boogie, bop and free. Thomas Cunniffe reviews her stunning solo performance at the 1978 Montreux Jazz Festival in this Retro Review.

Over fifty years ago, Max Roach stunned the jazz world with his political Freedom Now Suite. Thomas Cunniffe re-examines the recording as part of an ongoing series of historical jazz record reviews.

Columbia/Legacy launches its latest series of Miles Davis recordings with a 3-CD/1-DVD set chronicling a fortnight tour of Europe in 1967. The quintet featuring Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams was in peak form, creating vastly different performances from night to night. Thomas Cunniffe reviews the set, and reveals what you won’t find on the collection.

On his 1990 CD, Txai Milton Nascimento explores the music and culture of the people protecting the Amazon rain forest. The recording features sound clips of the indigenous people as well as an impressive line-up of Americans and Brazilians. Janine Santana examines the album in this Retro Review.

The Modern Jazz Quartet’s stage manners were always immaculate. Dressed in tuxedos or fine crafted suits, they projected an air of dignity usually reserved for string quartets. However, on one night in Tokyo, they let themselves loose, and in the process created some of the most memorable performances of their repertoire. The concert was recorded by TBS Radio in Japan, and issued on the Japanese Atlantic imprint, but it was never issued in the US. In this Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe examines this unique entry in the MJQ discography.

One of the reasons for the Modern Jazz Quartet’s longevity was the wide appeal of their music. Cool jazz adopted them as their own for the fugues and Third Stream works, while boppers could appreciate their strong roots in the blues. Mosaic’s 7-CD collection of the MJQ’s studio albums from 1956-1964 offers generous helpings of the group’s wide repertoire. In his review, Thomas Cunniffe notes that a companion volume of the MJQ live would complete the picture.

The Modern Jazz Quartet was never as stuffy as their critics claimed. Their music changed and evolved subtly through concerts and recordings. Lost Tapes, a new CD of recordings from Germany offers the opportunities for fresh comparisons, and in this Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe traces the changes in MJQ arrangements through this and previously released albums.