Linda Lou Paget

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to connect with each other almost telepathically.”

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to connect with each other almost telepathically.”

Pianist-composer Vijay Iyer follows his 2021 ECM disc Uneasy — the first to showcase his trio featuring bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey — with Compassion, another album in league with these two gifted partners. The New York Times captured the special qualities of this group, pointing to the trio’s flair for playing “with a lithe range of motion and resplendent clarity… while stoking a kind of writhing internal tension. Crucial to that balance is their ability to connect with each other almost telepathically.”

This seventh volume in the Classics Mary Lou Williams chronology opens with a pair of gorgeous modern-sounding rhythm quartet tracks recorded in London on June 26, 1953. The next leg of her journey took her onto the northern European mainland. After a period spent gigging in France and Holland the pianist settled in Paris at the Hotel Cristal in St.-Germain-des-Prés, not far from the Deux Magots and the Café de Flore. On December 2, 1953 Mary Lou Williams recorded eight selections for the Vogue label with her good friend the perpetual expatriate tenor saxophonist Don Byas, bassist Buddy Banks, and drummer Gérard Pochonet. This exceptionally satisfying material has popped up here and there over the years but like much of Mary Lou Williams' oeuvre (and most jazz in general) it seems to have eluded the public…

Most of the musicians heard on this fourth installment in the Classics Mary Lou Williams chronology are women. During the second half of the 1940s, this was considered unusual and innovative. Female musicians, with the exception of carefully coiffed vocalists and the occasional pianist, were generally regarded by the public, by the entertainment industry, and by most male musicians as curious anomalies and were not taken very seriously. Mary Lou Williams always preferred to surround herself with musical minds possessing artistic acumen commensurate with her own highly developed musical intellect. The first four tracks were recorded for the Continental label in 1945 with guitarist Mary Osborne, bassist Bea Taylor, and percussionists Margie Hyams and Bridget O'Flynn, a fascinating duo who took turns either handling the vibraphone or the drums…

Mary Lou Williams spent a fair amount of time in Europe in the early '50s, prior to a temporary hiatus from jazz. This CD from Verve's Jazz in Paris series compiles two separate sessions from 1954; one features a trio, a quintet, and a pair of vocals by blues singer Beryl Bryden, and the other is purely a trio. All of the selections are fairly brief, with only one running over three-and-a-half minutes. The first 11 songs are a bit of a mixed bag. The strongest tracks feature Williams alone ("I Made You Love Paris" and her "Club Francais Blues") or with her trio ("Avalon," "Swingin' for the Guys," and "Memories of You"). Weaker are the four tracks with trumpeter Nelson Williams and tenor saxophonist Ray Lawrence, who aren't up to the playing level of horn players who typically worked with the pianist, though bassist Buddy Banks somewhat makes up for their shortcomings by contributing an enjoyable original ("Leg'n Lou") and a strong solo…

Mary Lou Williams spent a fair amount of time in Europe in the early '50s, prior to a temporary hiatus from jazz. This CD from Verve's Jazz in Paris series compiles two separate sessions from 1954; one features a trio, a quintet, and a pair of vocals by blues singer Beryl Bryden, and the other is purely a trio. All of the selections are fairly brief, with only one running over three-and-a-half minutes. The first 11 songs are a bit of a mixed bag. The strongest tracks feature Williams alone ("I Made You Love Paris" and her "Club Francais Blues") or with her trio ("Avalon," "Swingin' for the Guys," and "Memories of You"). Weaker are the four tracks with trumpeter Nelson Williams and tenor saxophonist Ray Lawrence, who aren't up to the playing level of horn players who typically worked with the pianist, though bassist Buddy Banks somewhat makes up for their shortcomings by contributing an enjoyable original ("Leg'n Lou") and a strong solo…