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Erroll Garner: “Ready, Take One” (Columbia/Legacy 36331)/ Shirley Horn: “Live at the Four Queens” (Resonance 2015)
The names Erroll Garner and Shirley Horn do not usually appear side-by-side in jazz histories. Yet in a vintage interview, Horn said that Garner was her first jazz influence. Both Garner and Horn created unique styles that were difficult for others to copy, specifically Garner’s idiosyncratic approach to rhythm and Horn’s intimate way with ballads.…
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Frank Sinatra on the Radio
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth, Sony Music and the Smithsonian Institute have released a total of 5 CDs featuring radio performances spanning the first two decades of the legendary vocalist’s career. In this month’s Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe reviews both the Sony 4-CD set and the Smithsonian single disc package, noting…
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Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto: “Getz/Gilberto” (50th Anniversary) (Verve 20749)
As the quintessential summit meeting between American and Brazilian artists, Getz/Gilberto was both an artistic and commercial success. For the 50th anniversary of its release, Verve has issued an new CD edition. Thomas Cunniffe writes that the original stereo album sounds better than ever, but finds the supplemental section lacking in imagination.
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Gil Evans: “Into The Hot” (orig. LP: Impulse 9; CD: Impulse 39104)
Following his 1961 big band masterpiece, Out of the Cool, Gil Evans defied expectations with his next album, Into the Hot. Evans acted only as producer, allowing John Carisi and Cecil Taylor to showcase their music. Amy Duncan reviews this classic album which contrasts Carisi’s progressive big band charts with Taylor’s avant-garde ensemble.
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Herbie Hancock: “Mwandishi” (Warner Bros. 9362 47541)
Herbie Hancock called his 1970 LP, Mwandishi his “favorite record of all the records I have ever made, and the loosest I’ve ever done.” Marissa Dodge examines this pivotal album which expanded the ideas explored in Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew.
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Classic James P. Johnson Sessions (Mosaic 262)
During the 1920s, James P. Johnson’s career developed in four distinct areas: stride pianist, vocal accompanist, songwriter and sideman. A new set from Mosaic features Johnson’s recordings in all these areas during his peak years of 1921-1943. Because the recordings are presented in chronological order, the music of those distinct areas get mixed together. In…
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Miles Davis: “Kind of Blue” & “Jazz Track” (Columbia CS 8163/CL 1268)
Jazz history textbooks will all tell you that Miles Davis’ 1959 masterpiece Kind of Blue was important because of its extensive use of modal improvisation. Thomas Cunniffe agrees wholeheartedly with that statement, but wonders if the modes were simply a means to an end. He traces the history of the album through its immediate predecessor,…
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Charlie Haden: “Liberation Music Orchestra” (Impulse LP AS-9183)
Jazz and politics might seem strange bedfellows, but no one merged the two better than Charlie Haden. With brilliant arrangements by Carla Bley, Haden’s 1969 LP, Liberation Music Orchestra captured the turbulence of its era, and led to three more albums by this landmark ensemble. Thomas Cunniffe examines the original Impulse album in this Retro…
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An Avalanche of Classic Jazz (Resonance)
Resonance Records, a non-profit record label run by George Klabin and Zev Feldman, usually produces a handful of historic jazz releases each year, but this year–in the span of six weeks–they have issued five remarkable albums. In this expanded Retro Review, Thomas Cunniffe reviews the CDs by Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Stan Getz, João Gilberto, Larry…
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Revisiting “Shuffle Along”
When Shuffle Along premiered on Broadway in May 1921, it ended a 12-year drought of black shows on the so-called Great White Way. With a new version of the show about to premiere on Broadway, Thomas Cunniffe examines a 1976 LP and a new CD which reconstruct the show’s proto-jazz score, written by Noble Sissle…