Alister Spence Trio With ED Kuepper – Asteroid Ekosystem

This first matchup on records between pianist Oscar Peterson and vibraphonist Milt Jackson was so logical that it is surprising it did not occur five years earlier…

This album is quite unusual. Recorded shortly after Nat King Cole's death, pianist Oscar Peterson takes vocals on all but one of the dozen selections, sounding almost exactly like Cole. Peterson, who rarely ever sang, is very effective on the well-rounded program, whether being backed by a big band (arranged by Manny Albam) on half of the selections or re-creating both the spirit of the Nat King Cole Trio and his own group of the late '50s during a reunion with guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown.

As is so often the case with music this adventurous, reactions are likely to be extreme: most probably will either love it or hate it. Both CDs from this set were recorded live at Rochester, NY's appropriately titled Bop Shop, a venue that has excelled at hosting the best artists on the radical fringes of jazz. Each CD features the sinewy trumpet of Paul Smoker with a different acoustic string bassist, Ed Schuller on the first and Dominic Duval on the second…

This is the Magic Mile is a three-CD compilation album by Australian rock guitarist Ed Kuepper, released in 2005. The album is a 49-track retrospective of his output from 1991 to 2000. While Smile … Pacific (2000) and Character Assassination (1994) are heavily represented—with 15 tracks drawn from the two albums—the collection also includes a 1994 single ("If I Had a Ticket"), several cuts from limited-release mail-order albums and two tracks from his side project The Aints. The album includes a song, "Camooweal", that had originally been recorded for the Slim Dusty tribute album Not So Dusty (1998), which had also featured Midnight Oil, Mental as Anything and Cold Chisel's Don Walker. Other covers included AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and Eric Burdon's "When I Was Young".

Pianist Satoko Fujii introduces a new trio with two younger and very active musicians on the Japanese jazz scene–bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura–recording in 2020 at Pit Inn in Tokyo for their 3rd live date together, performing five lyrical Fujii original compositions, including "Aspirations" from her album with Leo Smith & Ikue Mori.