Horn 1997

From his swaying and suggestive onstage body movement to conceptualizing the electro-psychedelic cover art for his latest album Pleasure Seeker (Countdown/Unity), saxman Paul Taylor seems determined to captivate us visually. For his breakthrough hit On the Horn, Taylor gathered some of his existing tunes and sought the production direction of Kazu Matsui; on Pleasure Seeker, Taylor chose a more collaborative approach. For the most part, he started composing the tunes from scratch with the new production team of Dino Esposito (an old college chum of Taylor's) and Scot Rammer…

The music and performances are plain irresistible. Louis Dauprat and the Detmold Hornists may not be household names, but the Sextet is an outstanding, possibly unique work, and this ensemble, named after their base in Germany, have superb intonation and expressiveness. Neither the date of composition nor of publication of the Sextet are known, but some time between 1810 and 1827 seems likely for both. The work is fairly conservative, with little of the innovation characteristic of Antonín Rejcha's wind quintets, which were composed around this time, and indeed written in part for Dauprat, who studied with Rejcha from 1811 to 1814.

Roy Eldridge worked with Gene Krupa for a couple of years, then made a series of hot sides with a great seven-piece band, featuring tenor saxophonists Ike Quebec and Tom Archia. "After You've Gone" begins with a funny false-start introduction that Eldridge seems to have developed while working with Krupa. "The Gasser," a hot-to-trot walking blues, was based on the chord changes of "Sweet Georgia Brown." Also included here are two lovely, passionate ballads and an incomplete take of "Oh, Lady Be Good." The Esquire Metropolitan Opera House V-Disc Jam Session turned into a real all-star blowout on "Tea for Two," the conglomerated ensemble sounding pretty crowded by the time it works up to the out chorus…

For the sake of both vocal and family well-being, Anne Sofie von Otter has always followed the wise course of self-rationing in opera. This disc, an entirely personal selection of arias from the Viennese Classical period, means all the more to her including, as it does, arias sung by dramatic and passionate women 'most of whom', she admits in the accompanying notes, 'I have never performed on stage and, alas, probably never will'.

Lennie Niehaus - Vol. 2: Zounds! (1956) {Contemporary OJCCD-1892-2 rel 1997}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 203 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 45 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1954-56, 1997 Contemporary Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-1892-2
Jazz / Cool / Bop / West Coast Jazz / Saxophone

This formerly rare Contemporary set was reissued on a 1997 OJC CD. Lennie Niehaus, best known for his scores for Clint Eastwood films in the 1980s and '90s, was an excellent cool-toned bop altoist back in the '50s who spent time working with Stan Kenton. For this album, he is heard on two different occasions providing arrangements and alto solos for octets. With such fine players as either Jack Montrose or Bill Perkins on tenor, Bob Gordon or Pepper Adams on baritone, and other top West Coast jazz musicians, Niehaus primarily performs cool jazz. The inventive charts (which on the later date utilize a French horn and a tuba) and the superior, concise solos make this a set well worth acquiring by fans of the West Coast jazz sound of the '50s.