Charlie

Charlie Watts “Anthology” is an affectionate retrospective and a reflection of just how frequently Watts was able to exercise his jazz muscles between Rolling Stones commitments to create a bespoke discography of his own. Including 3 unreleased tracks. The names of Charlie's jazz heroes fell from his lips like a superfan turning the pages of a personal scrapbook. Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan, Chico Hamilton, Dave Green, Stan Tracey, Peter King, Courtney Pine, Gail Thompson, Brian Lemon, Gerard Presencer, the Red Rodney group and collaborator Jim Keltner. He knew every player, every session, every album, every outfit they wore on the cover, and he spoke about them with a deep and genuine reverence. He may have been a globally loved hero in the biggest band in the word, but he swatted away any compliment or comparison with his musical favourites. He counted himself their admirer, never their equal. The Anthology includes an extended essay by Paul Sexton which documents Charlie Watt’s jazz career and the essential albums covered in the collection.

The packaging is impeccable, this seven-CD box set has a definitive 48-page booklet, and the recording quality is as good as possible, so why the "poor" rating? Dean Benedetti, a fanatical Charlie Parker disciple, recorded Bird extensively during three periods in 1947-1948 but did his best to turn off his wire recorder whenever anyone but Parker was soloing. He became legendary, as did his long lost acetates, and Mosaic has done what it could to make the excerpts coherent but the results are still quite unlistenable. None of the performances on this large set are complete; guests such as Thelonious Monk and Carmen McRae are introduced, play, or sing two notes and then are cut off. And, although Parker seems to play well, these performances reveal no new secrets and add nothing to his legacy.

Avid Jazz presents four classic Charlie Byrd albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. “Jazz Recital”; “Blues For Night People”; “Byrd’s Word” and “The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd”.
You might say Charlie Byrd was on a mission on his first album as a solo artist “Jazz Recital”, recorded in Hackensack, New Jersey in February 1957. A passionate believer in the guitar as an affective lead instrument in jazz, five of the ten cuts here are solo guitar pieces. With a background in classical guitar technique and having studied in Italy with the guitar maestro Segovia, Byrd lays out his ambition in the original liner notes “I’d like to see the guitarists of today using more of the vast store of knowledge…

Avid Jazz here presents four classic Charlie Shavers albums plus including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. “Tribute To Andy Razaf featuring Maxine Sullivan”; “Horn O’ Plenty; The Most Intimate; Blue Stompin’ Plus Flow Gently Sweet Rhythm Excluding Commentary.
Our first album “Tribute to Andy Razaf” features singer Maxine Sullivan accompanied by amongst others, our featured artist Charlie Shavers on trumpet alongside Jerome Richardson, Dick Hayman and Milt Hinton. Andy Razaf was best known as Fats Waller’s collaborator and appropriately enough this set by Ms.Sullivan is both a tribute to Razaf and Fats! “Flow Gently Sweet Rhythm” again features Maxine Sullivan with Charlie Shavers leading the original John Kirby Band…

When producer Norman Granz decided to let Charlie Parker record standards with a full string section (featuring Mitch Miller on oboe!), the purists cried sellout, but nothing could be further from the truth. There's a real sense of involvement from Bird on these sides, which collect up all the master takes and also include some live tracks from Carnegie Hall that - judging from the sometimes uneasy murmurings of the crowd - amply illustrate just how weirdly this mixture of bop lines against "legit" arrangements was perceived. The music on this collection is lush, poetic, romantic as hell, and the perfect antidote to a surfeit of jazz records featuring undisciplined blowing. There's a lot of jazz, but there's only one Bird.

On this, Charlie Daniels' second release, there are obvious signs of a bright future for the guitar- and fiddle-playing hillbilly rocker. Along for the ride is Joel "Taz" DiGregoria, Charlie's longtime bandmate and keyboard wizard. Taz even takes lead vocal duties on one song, "Billy Joe Young," and his ivory tickling is a highlight of this historical Southern rock document. Daniels rocks with the intensity of a downbound train on "Great Big Bunches of Love," and on his cover of the Jerry Lee Lewis chestnut "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee." A true Southern poet, Charlie Daniels is seen here in the infancy of his artistic development, but even at this early stage, the poet is alive and well.

CD configuration of the Charlie Parker LP box set released earlier in the year. The collection highlights Bird's pioneering bebop recordings for Savoy Records from 1944-1948, featuring jazz legends Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Bud Powell, Max Roach and more.