Art Times From April 2016

Think of Canadian rock bands and Rush probably spring to mind, as would Steppenwolf and Triumph. All fantastic bands. That's not to take anything away from April Wine, who in terms of output (if not success), must rank alongside the aforementioned. Classic hard rock that is really worth checking out….

Bill Evans - Some Other Time: The Lost Session From the Black Forest (2016) {2CD Resonance Records HCD-2019 rec 1968}
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© 1968, 2016 Resonance Records / MPS | HCD-2019
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / PIano Trio

Some Other Time: The Lost Session From the Black Forest is a newly unearthed studio session from the iconic pianist Bill Evans featuring bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Recorded on June 20, 1968, nearly 10 years after the legendary Kind of Blue sessions with Miles Davis and a mere five days after the trio's incredible Grammy award-winning performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, this is truly a landmark discovery for jazz listeners worldwide. Available in deluxe 2-CD and limited edition 2-LP sets, and containing over 90 minutes of music, this is the only studio album in existence of the Bill Evans trio with Gomez and DeJohnette. Some Other Time was recorded by the legendary MPS Records founder and producer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer along with writer/producer Joachim-Ernst Berendt at the MPS studios in the Black Forest (Villingen, Germany).

Yehudi - The Art of Menuhin (2016} {3CD Set Warner Classics 0825646782574}
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© 2016 Parlophone / Warner Classics | 0825646782574
Classical / Violin

“Now I know there is a God in heaven!”, exclaimed Albert Einstein when he heard the young Yehudi Menuhin play the violin. Not only was Menuhin an extraordinary musician, he lived through – and helped to shape – a momentous period in history. The Warner Classics catalog contains 70 years’ worth of his recordings and this 3-CD collection, Yehudi: The Art of Menuhin, provides a fascinating perspective on his achievements: Menuhin was a man of ideals who changed the world through music.

This lesser-known set, released by several Japanese labels including a 1991 CD issue by Denon, features flugelhornist Art Farmer with pianist Masahiko Satoh (doubling on electric piano), bassist Ron Carter, drummer Jack DeJohnette and a 14-piece string section arranged and conducted by Satoh. Despite its initial release in Japan, the music was actually recorded in New York City. Farmer is in excellent form on the seven modern jazz originals, most of which are given fresh treatments. The arrangements are fine, and Farmer is up to the task of carrying the main load on such songs as "Nica's Dream," "Blue In Green," "Maiden Voyage" and "Naima".

Two years in the making, Close To The Noise Floor is a 4CD, 60-track set exploring the origins of electronica in the UK. Featuring tracks from key figures on the cassette label underground alongside early releases by future stars of the movement, this is part primitive rave, part synthesiser porn and part history lesson.

This delightful LP features Art Farmer with a large orchestra not long after he switched from trumpet to flügelhorn. Oliver Nelson's arrangements provide great backdrops for the leader, as do the mix of dependable studio musicians and outstanding jazzmen assembled for the three sessions, including Tommy Flanagan, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, and Jim Hall, to name a few. The choice of material is inspiring: a snappy "Raincheck," and Farmer's moody "Rue Prevail," and a relatively (then) new work by John Coltrane, "Naima," which turns into a richly textured tour de force in the hands of Farmer & co.

This Art Farmer studio session from 1971 has a slight contemporary flavor to it, due to the addition of conga player James "Mtume" Forman and percussionist Warren Smith, Jr. to a core group of collaborators including Jimmy Heath, Cedar Walton, Sam Jones, and Billy Higgins. Unfortunately, the additional percussionists are too prominent in the mix, greatly distracting from the driving arrangements of Farmer's "Homecoming" and Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa" as well as a peppy bossa nova, "Cascavelo." Far better are the quintet tracks, including the laid-back and mellow interpretation of Leonard Bernstein's ballad "Some Other Time," featuring the leader's matchless flügelhorn and Heath's soprano sax, and an upbeat chart of "Here's That Rainy Day." Another annoying problem is the seemingly out of tune piano, though Walton makes the best of a bad instrument. Not an essential album in the vast Farmer discography, but worth acquiring if found at a reasonable price, though it will be difficult.

During a career that spanned close to a half century, Art Farmer was well-known for his consistency as a soloist and a bandleader. This series of studio sessions from 1960, with pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Tommy Williams, and drummer Albert Heathe, find the trumpeter in great form, with the usually impeccable accompaniment one expects from Flanagan. Many of the rich ballads featured, including "So Beats My Heart for You," "Goodbye Old Girl," and "Younger Than Springtime," have fallen out of favor in the early 21st century, but Farmer's impeccable performances of these chestnuts sound timeless. A slightly jaunty take of Benny Golson's "Out of the Past" and a spirited rendition of "The Best Thing for You Is Me" also merit attention.

Modern Art is the prelude recording for Art Farmer prior to his partnership with Benny Golson in the Jazztet, and also foreshadows the classy, tasteful inventiveness that group brought to the modern jazz world two years after this 1958 session. Pianist Bill Evans is in here, just before his pivotal work with Miles Davis on the classic album Kind of Blue, and was the table setter for McCoy Tyner's membership in the Jazztet. Brother Addison Farmer on bass and the great drummer Dave Bailey round out this sterling quintet that specializes in playing music with a subtle approach, which is neither tame nor conservatively lazy. Included on this date is the great Junior Mance tune "Jubilation," perfectly understated in a light gospel, soul-jazz, tuneful melody with both horns wonderfully matched up in balanced unison, side by side.