100 Masterpiece

Paul Smith Quartet - Softly, Baby (1957) {2011 Japan Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series 24bit}
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© 1957, 2011 Capitol / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50212 | Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Piano

A great Capitol moment from pianist Paul Smith – an artist who really cut some of his best material ever for the label ! The Smith sound is at the height of its powers here in the late 50s — kind of a blend of jazz and more easy-going pianistic modes — often stretched out with lots of flourishes by Smith on the keys, but never the too-flowery styles used by some of his contemporaries ! Instead, Paul keeps things nice and lean — always enough to be plenty swinging in all the right moments — with quartet help from Barney Kessel on guitar, Joe Mondragon on bass, and Stan Levey on drums.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Golden Boy (1963) {2010 Japan Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series TOCJ-50063}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 221 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 75 Mb
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© 1963, 2010 Colpix Records / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50063 | Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series
Jazz / Hard Bop / Bop / Drums

Originally released in 1964, Golden Boy features drummer Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers performing songs from the Lee Adams and Charles Strouse Broadway musical for which the album is titled. Based off the play, written by Clifford Odets and William Gibson, Golden Boy was a socially conscious musical about a Harlem prize-fighter trying to escape his working class roots. A somewhat obscure Blakey release, Golden Boy nonetheless features plenty of improvisatory, hard bop firepower.

Charlie Mariano & Jerry Dodgion - Beauties Of 1918 (1957) {2011 Japan Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series TOCJ-50186}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 310 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 113 Mb
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© 1957, 2011 World Pacific / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50186 | Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series
Jazz / Bop / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Saxophone

Pianist Russ Freeman, who produced this record, related it this way : “The last time we were (with Shelly Manne’s quintet) in San Francisco, we went to blow at some motel on the outskirts of town one afternoon. There were some other musicians there; we took turns playing. Jerry (Dodgion) was there. The afternoon wound up with Charlie and Jerry playing the blues with a rhythm section for about twenty minutes. It was one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had, and I wasn’t even playing!

Sonny Stitt - Stitt Goes Latin (1963) {2011 Roost Japan Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series TOCJ-50190}
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© 1963, 2011 Roost / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50190 | Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series
Jazz / Bop / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

Sonny Stitt goes Latin – and the results are tremendous! The set's still got all the soulful feel of the best Stitt sessions for Roost, but it brings in some nice Latin rhythms too – inflecting things with that blend of soul jazz and congas you might find over at Prestige or Blue Note, yet also taking things further, too – given the Roost/Roulette connection to the New York Latin scene! Sonny plays both alto and tenor, and gets jazzy accompaniment from Thad Jones on trumpet – but the rhythm section is the real charmer here – and features a young Chick Corea on piano, Larry Gales on bass, and the trio of Willie Bobo, Patato Valdes, and Chihuaua Martinez on percussion! Most tunes are originals – a great change from the usual Latinized standards you might find on a set like this – and Stitt's got this nicely exotic tone in his reeds which is a further highlight of the record – almost a Yusef Lateef inflection at points.

Cannonball Adderley - Accent On Africa (1968) {2011 Japan 24-bit Remaster} [Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series]
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© 1968, 2011 Capitol / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50202 | Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

Though labeled as a Cannonball Adderley Quintet session, this is actually a workout with a percussion section loaded with African drums, a big band, and in spots, voices – all unidentified. Nevertheless, this is one of the best and most overlooked of the Cannonball Adderley Capitols, a rumbling session that bursts with the joy of working in an unfamiliar yet vital rhythmic context. Cannonball turns in one of his swinging-est solos through a Varitone electronic attachment on Caiphus Semenya's "Gumba Gumba" and "Marabi" is a real hip-jiggler; you can't sit still through it. Other highlights include Cannon preaching blue smoke in his own Afro-Cuban-blues-flavored "Hamba Nami," a dignified trip through Wes Montgomery's "Up and At It," and Nat Adderley's commanding work on cornet at all times.

Roy Ayers - West Coast Vibes (1963) {2011 Japan 24-bit Remaster} [Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series]
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© 1963, 2011 United Artists Jazz / Liberty / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50121
Jazz / Straight-ahead Jazz / Soul Jazz / Vibes

A holy grail of jazz – Roy Ayers' first album as a leader, and a near-lost session that's simply sublime! The record was cut at the same time that Roy was working in LA with pianist Jack Wilson – and it's got an approach that's a bit similar to some of the Wilson/Ayers sessions for Atlantic, Blue Note, and Vault – but with a marked difference here in the presence of Curtis Amy, who plays some incredible tenor and soprano sax on the session – arcing out over the modal lines set up by the vibes and piano, and shading in the record with a much deeper sense of soul! Amy plays on about half the album's tracks – all of which are standout modal tunes that preface the MPS/Saba sound by a number of years, and which we'd easily rank as some of the greatest jazz recorded anywhere in the 60s.

E.C. Scott has a voice that is perfect for the 1960s soul/R&B-type songs that she performs. She has plenty of power, is in tune, is quite expressive, and shows an impressive amount of versatility. On the modestly titled Masterpiece, which is a bluish R&B set, the singer wrote or co-wrote all but one of the dozen songs. Scott stars throughout the program (including sometimes overdubbing her voice as a "choir"), is assisted by a fine cast of musicians, and on "Too Good to Keep to Myself" shows that she can excel as a pure blues singer too. Superior party music.

Jerome Richardson - Going To The Movies (1962) {2011 Japan 24-bit Remaster} [Jazz Masterpiece Best & More 999 Series]
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 193 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 72 Mb
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© 1962, 2011 United Artists Jazz / Liberty / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50129
Jazz / Cool / Hard Bop / Saxophone

Movie themes, along with songs from Broadway, have long been fodder for jazz musicians. This United Artists LP features Jerome Richardson leading his working quintet during a live engagement, though the venue is unidentified. The extended workout of Duke Jordan's "No Problem" (from the film Les Liaisons Dangereuses) showcases Richardson's robust baritone sax and Les Spann on flute, with the leader adding a tag at the end on piccolo. Richardson switches to tenor sax and Spann to guitar for a rather brisk arrangement of "Moon River." "Tonight" (from West Side Story) is a bit unusual in that it features both musicians on flute.

“Masterpiece” was originally released in 1985 and was their first for a new label (Warner Brothers) and featuring the original three man line up of Ronald, O’Kelly & Rudolph Isley, after the two younger siblings & Brother-In-Law had formed Isley, Jasper, Isley. The album was a new direction for The Isley Brothers, with only one track written by the band ‘May I’, and more cover versions feature including Phil Collins’ ‘If Leaving Me Is Easy’ and Charlie Rich’s ‘The Most Beautiful Girl’.