1 3 Ron Carter

Ron Carter - Piccolo (1977) {Milestone MCD-55004-2 rel 1999}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 403 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 176 Mb
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© 1977, 1999 Milestone / Fantasy | MCD-55004-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post-Bop / Third Stream

This double album is mostly recommended to lovers of bass solos. With Ron Carter functioning as the main soloist on piccolo bass, only the solos of pianist Kenny Barron offer a bit of contrast. Bassist Buster Williams and drummer Ben Riley, who complete the quartet, are mostly featured in support. These performances, which are well-played, are almost all quite long, so listeners who prefer more variety in their music are advised to look elsewhere.

Herbie Hancock Trio with Ron Carter + Tony Williams - Herbie Hancock Trio '81 (1981) {Sony Music Japan SRCS 9172 rel 1996}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 261 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 108 Mb
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© 1981, 1996 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SRCS 9172 | Master Sound
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano Trio

Herbie Hancock's second album released under this title, 1982's The Herbie Hancock Trio features the pianist backed by his fellow former Miles Davis alum, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. As with the trio's 1977 debut, the 1982 outing finds the group reuniting for a set of standards and originals. This is swinging, sophisticated jazz done in a straight-ahead style. Recorded at CBS/Sony Shinanomachi Studio, Tokyo, Japan on July 27, 1981 by Sony PCM-1600 Digital Recording System.

Sometimes written off as an also-ran to her more famous husband, Alice Coltrane's work of the late '60s and early '70s shows that she was a strong composer and performer in her own right, with a unique ability to impregnate her music with spirituality and gentleness without losing its edges or depth. Ptah, The El Daoud is a truly great album, and listeners who surrender themselves to it emerge on the other side of its 46 minutes transformed. From the purifying catharsis of the first moments of the title track to the last moments of "Mantra," with its disjointed piano dance and passionate ribbons of tenor cast out into the universe, the album resonates with beauty, clarity, and emotion. Coltrane's piano solo on "Turiya and Ramakrishna" is a lush, melancholy, soothing blues, punctuated only by hushed bells and the sandy whisper of Ben Riley's drums and later exchanged for an equally emotive solo by bassist Ron Carter.

George Young served in the Army until the early '70s before embarking on a full-time career as a musician. This second effort as a leader features Young on tenor sax, with pianist Warren Bernhardt, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Al Foster, and harmonica player Toots Thielemans as a guest on one track. Young is somewhat overshadowed by his rhythm section during some of this 1986 session but gets his inner fires burning in a furious take of "Groovin' High," though his languid interpretation of "My Foolish Heart" could have been a bit more inspired, as Thielemans steals the show. Among the four originals written by the leader, the brisk "Yum Yum" (based on the chord changes to the standard "You Stepped Out of a Dream") and the easygoing waltz "October" stand out.

Herbie Hancock's V.S.O.P. project with his former bandmates from the Miles Davis Quintet – Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams – and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was a band that almost single-handedly tried to re-establish acoustic jazz in the United States. And though they made three recordings, all of which were favorably reviewed and heralded by true jazz fans, none of them sold very well, and the band could find few gigs in the United States. The 1978 tour of major cities was thought to be a triumph at the time, but the unit could find few gigs afterward, and so its various members all went back to their other projects. In 1979, they got the opportunity to tour Japan and jumped at the chance. Sony, Hancock's Japanese label, recorded the two evenings, and the first, which took place during a furious rainstorm, was broadcast live on national television! Live Under the Sky marks the first time that this album has been available in the United States in any form.

Miles Davis' concert of February 12, 1964, was divided into two LPs, with all of the ballads put on My Funny Valentine. These five lengthy tracks (specifically, "All of You," "Stella by Starlight," "All Blues," "I Thought About You," and the title cut) put the emphasis on the lyricism of Davis, along with some strong statements from tenor saxophonist George Coleman and freer moments from the young rhythm section of pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams. This hour-long LP complements the up-tempo romps of Four & More.