Elephant House Quartet invites the listener for a stroll through the colourful oeuvre of Telemann — himself a gardening enthusiast — presenting a bouquet of chamber-musical jewels. Telemann’s Garden ranges from excerpts of solo fantasias for violin, flute and harpsichord to a sonata for viola da gamba and basso continuo, a trio sonata for violin, recorder and basso continuo, a suite for violin, flute and basso continuo, as well as one of the quartets Telemann wrote during his Paris sojourns. These pieces together constitute a fascinating portrait of one of the most prolific and successful composers of the Baroque era.
Sessions in any genre of music are all too often described as "sublime," but seldom has that description been better deserved than with this relaxed hard bop classic. One looks to other catchalls such as "effortless" and "loose," but even those slight this amazing date by implying a lack of intensity - and intensity comes in all forms. For all intents and purposes, this is the first recorded meeting of what would become the famous Benny Golson/Art Farmer Jazztet (albeit without Farmer), a group most commonly associated with its 1960 Chess session, Meet the Jazztet. Curtis Fuller's next date, The Curtis Fuller Jazztet, and his appearance on the Chess date, only compound this point. Like perhaps Jimmy Smith's flagship, The Sermon, Blues-ette's brilliance manifests itself not only within the individual solos but also in the way the group functions as a collective…
Recorded in 1973, Fuller's Blues was Johnny Fuller's much-belated full-length debut, and it also turned out to be his last record. That's too bad, because it certainly illustrates what he was capable of achieving. He runs the gauntlet here, pulling out jumping R&B numbers and acoustic blues with equal aplomb. It's an exhilarating listen - it's just too bad there weren't more like it.
The French horn has rarely been used in jazz as a solo instrument until recent times. Back in the 1950s, jazz's top French horn player was Julius Watkins, with David Amram certainly ranking in the top five. For this 1957 session, trombonist Curtis Fuller and his quintet with altoist Sahib Shihab, pianist Hampton Hawes (Teddy Charles, who contributed three originals, takes his place on one number), bassist Addison Farmer, and drummer Jerry Segal are joined by both Watkins and Amram. On originals by Charles, Amram, and Salvatore Zito, the colorful ensembles and the very adept soloing by the French horns make this a particularly memorable recording. Strange that this album has been obscure for so long. Only the brief playing time keeps this intriguing set from getting a higher rating.