Jazz Guitar School

The final Riverside release of Wes Montgomery material (before the important label went completely bankrupt) was similar to his debut four years earlier: a trio with organist Melvin Rhyne and an obscure drummer (this time George Brown). The CD reissue even includes one leftover track from the earliest session ("Missile Blues") along with newer jams and a pair of "bonus tracks" – an alternate take of "The Way You Look Tonight" and a brief "Unidentified Solo Guitar" piece. In general, the music swings hard (particularly the two versions of "The Way You Look Tonight"), and is a worthy if not essential addition to Wes Montgomery's discography. He would have a few straight-ahead dates for Verve, but this release was really the end of an era.

Violinist Stéphane Grappelli's maturity is nicely mapped by this Verve Jazz Masters compilation containing 14 recordings made between September 1966 and May 1992. A skilled improviser whose lengthy career began in the '30s when he co-led the Quintet of the Hot Club de France with Django Reinhardt, Grappelli had a very productive comeback during the time period covered by this collection. The cast of creative collaborators includes guitarists Diz Disley, Ike Isaacs, and Larry Coryell, pianists Michel Legrand and George Shearing, and bassists Eberhard Weber and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

Long-time collaborators, guitarists Henry Kaiser and Eugene Chadbourne perform the compositions of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, starting with their recording from 1977 of his "Wind Crystals", then improvising over 5 other Smith compositions, ending the album with an updated, 2017 version of "Wind Crystals"; an excellent refresh and retrospective from two incredible improvisers.

Laid back, jazz of great subtlety and artistry by two masters of their instruments.
Joe Pass did the near-impossible. He was able to play up-tempo versions of bop tunes such as "Cherokee" and "How High the Moon" unaccompanied on the guitar. Unlike Stanley Jordan, Pass used conventional (but superb) technique, and his Virtuoso series on Pablo still sounds remarkable decades later.
Joe Pass had a false start in his career. He played in a few swing bands (including Tony Pastor's) before graduating from high school, and was with Charlie Barnet for a time in 1947. But after serving in the military, Pass became a drug addict, serving time in prison and essentially wasting a decade…

Chico Hamilton - The Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings Of The Chico Hamilton Quintet (1954-1959) {6CD Mosaic MD6-175 rel 1997}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.74 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 906 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 152 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1954-59, 1997 Mosaic / Pacific Jazz / Blue Note / EMI-Capitol | MD6-175
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Bop / Drums / Percussion

The original Chico Hamilton Quintet was one of the last significant West Coast jazz bands of the cool era. Consisting of Buddy Collette on reeds (flute, clarinet, alto, and tenor), guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Carson Smith, and the drummer/leader, the most distinctive element in the group's identity was cellist Fred Katz. The band could play quite softly, blending together elements of bop and classical music into their popular sound and occupying their own niche. This six-CD, limited-edition box set from 1997 starts off with a Hamilton drum solo from a 1954 performance with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet; it contains three full albums and many previously unreleased numbers) by the original Chico Hamilton band and also has quite a few titles from the second Hamilton group (which has Paul Horn and John Pisano in the places of Collette and Hall).