The Big Ball, Warner Brothers’ 1970 Loss Leader Series release, turned up on a recent vinyl run and got us deep into the Warner groove.
Continue reading Warner Bros. Loss Leader Series: The Big Ball (1970)Category Archives: Records
Dinah Washington: Two Gems from the Mercury Years
Dinah Jams and After Hours With Miss D are Dinah Washington’s jazziest albums as the singer cuts loose with a solid cast of jazz all-stars.
Continue reading Dinah Washington: Two Gems from the Mercury YearsOutlaws and Highwomen
by Marshall Bowden
Brandi Carlile and her friends in the country supergroup The Highwomen are looking to turn the tide of the music business’ attitude towards women artists, and she’s bringing the legendary Tanya Tucker along for the ride.
Continue reading Outlaws and HighwomenJohn Coltrane: Interplay
Coltrane is heard here along with stellar sax players that include Frank Wess, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Paul Quinchette, Hank Mobley (all tenor players) as well as baritone sax greats Cecil Payne and Pepper Adams.
Continue reading John Coltrane: InterplayJohn Coltrane: Traneing In
Traneing In is a 1957 album released with John Coltrane as the leader, accompanied by the Red Garland Trio, comprised of pianist Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Taylor. This is the same year that Trane was working with Thelonious Monk, a major event in the development of his playing at that time. Here he is relaxed and blowing swinging blues with a rhythm section that certainly knows how to swing.
Continue reading John Coltrane: Traneing InJohn Coltrane: A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme has always been John Coltrane’s most popular album, occupying a special place in listener’s hearts almost since the day it was released. Thus it should come as no surprise that this legendary album achieved Gold status according to the Recording Industry Association of America. This is the first Coltrane recording to receive this honor, and it speaks well of the lasting influence of Coltrane and his music on a whole new generation of listeners.
Continue reading John Coltrane: A Love SupremeChet Baker: Chet
It’s clear from the new set of liner notes to Chet that Orrin Keepnews does not have fond memories of the time he spent working with Chet Baker on his four Riverside Records releases.
Continue reading Chet Baker: ChetWendy Carlos, Beethoven, and Kubrick
How Wendy Carlos created the groundbreaking soundtrack for A Clockwork Orange
Continue reading Wendy Carlos, Beethoven, and KubrickBill Evans/Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Writing about a recording such as Everybody Digs Bill Evans can seem like an exercise in futility. Even at this early point in his recording and performing career, Evans seems to have everything in place—technique, sensitive lyricism, a way of interpreting standard material that borders on impressionism; overall, a musical conception that changed the way jazz piano was thought of, listened to, and played.
Continue reading Bill Evans/Everybody Digs Bill EvansBill Evans/Sunday at the Village Vanguard
The Bill Evans trio had been playing together for nearly two years by the time these dates for Sunday at the Village Vanguard were recorded, but the group was under-recorded because Evans, ever the perfectionist, was reluctant to commit “final” performances of these compositions to vinyl. Fortunately, a date on June 25, 1961, is documented pretty much in its entirety on this album and the follow-up disc Waltz for Debby.
Continue reading Bill Evans/Sunday at the Village Vanguard