Ira Zepp

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book (1959) {4CD Box Set Verve 539 759-2 rel 1998}
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© 1959, 1998 Verve / PolyGram | 539 759-2 | Verve Master Edition | 20bit remaster
Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Standards

During the late '50s, Ella Fitzgerald continued her Song Book records with Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, releasing a series of albums featuring 59 songs written by George and Ira Gershwin. Those songs, plus alternate takes, were combined on a four-disc box set, Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, in 1998. These performances are easily among Fitzgerald's very best, and for any serious fan, this is the ideal place to acquire the recordings, since the sound and presentation are equally classy and impressive.

Red Rodney & Ira Sullivan - Spirit Within (1981) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit Remaster WPCR-27367}
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© 1981, 2013 Electra Musician / Asylum / Warner Japan / WEA / Rhino | WPCR-27367 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Post Bop / Trumpet / Flugelhorn

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Really beautiful work from the team of Red Rodney and Ira Sullivan – hardly the sort of stuff we might have heard from the players a decade or two before – and a sophisticated batch of tunes that has them stretching out in rich musical directions! There's little of the boppish roots of either player here – and instead, the album mostly features inspiring jazz compositions from Garry Dial – the pianist in the group, and a real genius with color, tone, and timing. Dial's tunes dominate most of the record, and they really set the group on a great footing – horn trading between Rodney's trumpet and Sullivan's soprano, flute, and flugelhorn – supported with complicated changes from the core rhythm trio.

Jane Ira Bloom - Slalom (1988) {Koch Jazz KOC 3-7827-2 rel 1996}
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© 1988, 1996 Koch Jazz / Sony Music | KOC 3-7827-2
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

Jane Ira Bloom is teamed with pianist Fred Hersch in a quartet that explores a variety of melodic material in unexpected ways. Bloom, one of the top soprano saxophonists around and a creative user of electronics, has a fairly original tone and her improvisations are consistently full of surprises. Check out her transformations of "I Loves You Porgy" and "If I Should Lose You" on this Columbia LP.

Ira Sullivan - Horizons (1967) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit Remaster WPCR-27315}
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© 1967, 2013 Atlantic / Warner Japan / WEA / Rhino | WPCR-27315 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Bop / Post Bop / Saxopohone / Trumpet

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Ira Sullivan's first recording in five years (which was originally released on Atlantic) features him switching between soprano, tenor, trumpet and flugelhorn with a quintet consisting of some obscure Florida players: pianist Dolphe Castellano, trombonist Lon Norman, bassist William Fry and drummer Jose Cigno. The relaxed and thought-provoking performances of tunes ranging from "Norwegian Wood" and "Everything Happens to Me" to group originals display a solid group sound and Sullivan's interest in integrating freer music and ideas into his playing.

Carl Heinrich Graun - Polydorus - barockwerk hamburg, Ira Hochman (2020) {2CD Set, cpo 555 266-2}
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© 2020 cpo | 555 266-2
Classical / Baroque / Opera / Period Instruments

The opera Polydorus penned 287 years ago last found a place in the performance program of the Gänsemarkt Opera in Hamburg in 1735. The libretto by Johann Samuel Müller depicts exchanges of identity, avaricious kings, queens bent on bloodthirsty revenge, and princes who despise their progenitors. The result is a retelling of the Polydorus legend combining Greek mythology and Shakespearean dramatic suspense. Carl Heinrich Graun, one of the best-known opera composers of the eighteenth century, wrote the emotionally moving music. The first performance in modern times by the barockwerk hamburg and the CD recording of this opera rarity now being released have once again uncovered this genuinely original work and following the ensembles successes in recent years once again guarantee you a very special listening experience.

Ira Sullivan - Nicky's Tune (1958) {Delmark DD-422 rel 1994}
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© 1958, 1994 Delmark Records | DD-422
Jazz / Bop / Trumpet

A great little record – not only for the early trumpet work of Ira Sullivan, but also for the presence of tenorist Nicky Hill – an under-recorded legend from the Chicago scene of the 50s! The set features Sullivan in extremely tight bop formation – working on longer tracks that represent some of his greatest work on record – studio sides, but done with the sense of on-the-fly imagination of his landmark live dates. Hill's a great partner on this date – a player whose edge and timing really makes things bristle, and a reminder that Chicago had a lot of great jazz to offer the world back in the day! Rhythm is by Jodie Christian on piano, Victor Sproles on bass, and Wilbur Campbell on drums.