Joey Daniels

Various Artists - The Pacific Jazz Piano Trios, Mosaic Select (2005) {3CD Set, Mosaic MS-019 rec 1952-1963}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.24 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 575 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 145 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1952-63, 2005 Mosaic Records / EMI Music | MS-019 / 7243-8-75552-2-8
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Piano

This set reinstates a number of important piano recordings made for Pacific Jazz (and in the case of Jimmy Rowles Liberty). Russ Freeman and Rowles were seminal to so much of the important music that emanated from Los Angeles in the '50s and '60s that their achievements would be far too many to list here. Freeman's hard swinging style is featured on 14 tracks made between 1952 and '57. Rowles, an encyclopedic piano maestro, is represented by his rare Liberty album Rare - But Well Done and two Pacific Jazz tracks, made the end of sessions by others.

With its third album, Big Fun, Shalamar unveiled its best-known and most successful lineup. Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniels were still on board, but Gerald Brown had been replaced by the charismatic Howard Hewett. Both creatively and commercially, this album would take Shalamar to new heights and establish the trio as one of the best soul-pop units of 1979-1983. The single that made Hewett famous and really sent Shalamar into orbit was "Second Time Around," but the classic Hewett/Watley/Daniels lineup also excels on everything from the insistent "Right in the Socket" to the playfully funky "Take Me to the River" (not the 1974 Al Green classic) and the smooth, Philadelphia soul-type ballad "Let's Find the Time for Love." Definitely one of Shalamar's essential releases.

It seems remarkable that Arturo Sandoval never seems to win any jazz polls, for few trumpeters can come close to equaling his technique, jazz chops, and warm sound. On this advanced hard bop date, the music is strictly straight-ahead without any Latin rhythms. Sandoval matches wits quite successfully with clarinetist Eddie Daniels on two songs, tenor great Michael Brecker on three (including a memorable rendition of "Moment's Notice"), and veteran flugelhornist Clark Terry on a joyous "Mack the Knife." In addition, Sandoval pays tribute to Woody Shaw, John Coltrane, and Dizzy Gillespie. All in all, this is one of Arturo Sandoval's finest recordings to date.

Follow-up volumes appeared in 1993 and 1996, extending the time period to 1979 and with additional songs from the 1972-76 period, available on cassette or CD (ALL 25 volumes were issued in both formats). Each volume has twelve songs. Despite the greater capacity of compact discs, the running time of each of the volumes is no longer than the limit of vinyl records in the 1970s, from 38 to 45 minutes long.