Grace Maffucci Grace Maffuccis Senior Jazz Recital

Founded in 1942 by Herman Lubinsky, Savoy grew to become one of the great reputable jazz and blues labels. Reaching its zenith in the bebop ear, Savoy became renowned for its great recordings of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Erroll Garner, Miles Davis, The Ravens, George Shearing, Art Pepper and countless other famous names of Fifties Jazz. This compilation of Great Trumpets is drawn entirely from the famous Savoy Jazz Catalogue and is the first time that a compilation of this depth has been made available. Good jazz guitar recordings are rare birds and this compilation of standards from some of the "raves" and less popularly acclaimed guitar players of the last fifty years makes for welcome and relaxed listening.
Kenny Burrell, Pat Martino, Charlie Byrd, Grant Green and others.

Regina Carter (who has a beautiful tone and a swinging style) is one of the top new jazz violinists of the 1990s, and the more memorable selections on this CD are so strong that they almost allow one to overlook the three throwaway pop/R&B songs. Unfortunately, the opening "Downtown Underground" is one of the losers, and the Nicki Richards vocal piece "Late Night Mood" (which recording executive talked Carter into recording that turkey?) is so lightweight that it should have been released on another album. In contrast are near-classic renditions of Eddie Harris' "Listen Here" and Mal Waldron's "Soul Eyes"; Carter's haunting ballad "Reflections" deserves to become a standard. A mixed bag, but overall this CD is recommended, with reservations.

Dreams was the second solo album from the Jefferson Airplane/Starship vocalist. With epic productions and arrangements by Ron Frangipane this album is something special and was nominated for a Grammy award. The album reached #32 on the Billboard charts. It also attained the number 28 position on the UK album chart.

George Cables - At Maybeck (1994) {Concord Jazz ‎CCD-4630}
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© 1994 Concord Jazz ‎| CCD-4630
Jazz / Post Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Piano

Locked right into the mainstream, the ever-reliable Cables gets his shot at a solo recital in Vol. 35 of Concord's voluminous Maybeck series. From the opening track ("Over the Rainbow") onward, Cables immediately settles into the prevailing Maybeck idiom, sporting a do-everything technique rooted in bop, with frequent Tatum flourishes, Evans-influenced voicings, and standards as the specialty of the house. The core of the recital is a three-song, 18½-minute Gershwin medley ("Bess, You Is My Woman Now," "My Man's Gone Now," "Someone to Watch Over Me") which is perfectly listenable but doesn't shed any new or different light on these very-often-covered songs.

Producing a darker tone from the Maybeck Yamaha piano than do some other participants in the series, Kenny Barron gets a chance to flaunt a wider range of his influences than he usually does in a group format. Barron opens with a stride-ish "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," which sports a few minor fluffs (this is live, folks), and then explores a number of diverse styles under the bop umbrella. Barron's "Bud-Like" has reminiscences of "Un Poco Loco," built on an ostinato bass pattern most of the way, with a witty "Bemsha Swing." As usual with Maybeck, the sound of the hall's bright, brittle Yamaha piano is brilliantly captured.

Sadao Watanabe - Recital (1976) {2015 DSD Japan East Wind Masters Collection 1000 UCCJ-9178}
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© 1976, 2015 East Wind Music / Universal Japan | UCCJ-9178
Jazz / Post Bop / Neo Bop / Fusion / Saxopohone

A great live set from Sadao Watanabe – one that shows the wealth of influences he'd been drawing on, from post-Coltrane spirituality, to African-oriented rhythms, to a slight bit of funk! The group's great – with Watanabe on flute, alto, and soprano sax, Takehiro Honda on Fender Rhodes and piano, Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, plus added bass, trombone, and percussion – and we especially like Honda's keyboards, which make any session like this an instant treat! The album's got a warm, soulful feeling, but a sharper edge than most of Watanabe's smoother work of the time – and titles include "Hiro", "Maraica", "Wana Tanzania", and "Mathari Terbenam".

Duke Ellington - The 1962 MOMA Recital - Piano Solo & Trio (2010) {La Maison du Duke MDD 001}
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© 1962, 2010 La Maison du Duke | MDD 001
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Piano

La Maison du Duke is proud to present a collection of unpublished recordings of Duke Ellington, which come from an important stock of Ellington archives (Clavié collection), acquired by the association, which only a few collectors had access to today . The CDs are reserved for members of the Maison du Duke association and are not intended to be marketed.

Irakere (faux-Yoruba for 'forest') is a Cuban band founded by pianist Chucho Valdés (son of Bebo Valdés) in 1973. They won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1980 with their album Irakere. Irakere was a seminal musical laboratory, where historic innovations in both Afro-Cuban jazz and Cuban popular dance music were created. The group used a wide array of percussion instruments like batá, abakuá and arará drums, chequerés, erikundis, maracas, claves, cencerros, bongó, tumbadoras (congas), and güiro.