Live The Thelonious Monk Quartet

Vibraphonist Milt Jackson and tenor saxophonist John Coltrane make for a surprisingly complementary team on this 1959 studio session, their only joint recording. With fine backup by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Connie Kay, Bags and Trane stretch out on two of Jackson's originals (including "The Late Late Blues") and three standards: a romping "Three Little Words," "The Night We Called It a Day," and the rapid "Be-Bop."

Recently the fifth album in a great series of unique live recordings was released by the former Dutch Jazz Archive (now: MCN) in its series Jazz at the Concertgebouw. Previous releases contained live recordings by Chet Baker (1955), Gerry Mulligan (1956), J.J. Johnson (1957) and Sarah Vaughan (1958), all originally recorded by Lou Van Rees, then Holland's most well-known producer. The Mengelberg-Noordijk album is the first one which features a Dutch quartet, a legendary group with a certain presence: the Misha Mengelberg - Piet Noordijk Quartet.

Jazz pianist Mal Waldron and soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy became acquainted at the Five Spot in 1958. The following year, the saxophonist approached Waldron to guest on his New Jazz debut, Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk. They continued playing concerts and making records together until Waldron's death in 2002. Both collaborated with multi-disciplinary artists including filmmakers, poets, painters, and sculptors. While their collaboration was by no means prolific, releasing less than 15 albums together - their duo offerings usually contained compositions by both men - and idiosyncratic readings of tunes by Monk or Herbie Nichols. The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp is a previously unreleased 1995 quartet concert with drummer Andrew Cyrille and bassist Reggie Workman. Released by the Barcelona-based Elemental Music in collaboration with producer Zev Feldman, the double-disc package contains six long tracks spread over an hour-and-40 minutes…

This live, solo outing by Mccoy Tyner was recorded at the Warsaw Jazz Festival (aka Warsaw Jazz Jamboree) on October 27, 1991. Tyner branched out on his own in the late 1960's, leaving Coltrane to foray further into his extended free jazz explorations with wife Alice replacing Tyner at piano. However, although his prodigious style is well suited to it, Tyner wouldn't record a solo album until the famous and excellent Coltrane tribute, Echoes of Friend, released in 1972. Throughout the 70's, Tyner typically fronted larger bands, not returning to solo concerts until a string of Blue Note records from 1989 and 1990 (Revelations, Things Ain't What They Used to Be (also containing some duets), and Soliloquy).

Bud Powell - Live at the Blue Note Cafe, Paris 1961 (2007) {ESP-Disk' ESP4036}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 490 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 166 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 35 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1961, 2007 ESP-Disk' | ESP 4036
Jazz / Bop / Piano

After bop pianist Bud Powell died in 1966, ESP-Disk Records kept his name alive with a series of archival live recordings curated from the personal collection of his wife, Buttercup Powell. Unlike their higher-profile Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker series, which were of unfortunately varying (and quite often very low) quality, the Bud Powell sessions are uniformly fine, with the excellent Blue Note Café Paris 1961 a particular standout.

Joe McPhee Quartet - Underground Railroad 1968/69 [2CD] (2001) {Atavistic}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 793 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 304 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 51 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 Atavistic | Unheard Music Series | ALP226CD
Jazz / Free Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Funk

This is an event worth celebrating. Since 1970, trumpeter and saxophonist Joe McPhee's first album, Underground Railroad, has been virtually impossible to find or even hear. Issued in an edition of 500 copies on Craig Johnson's CJR label – it was recorded next to Johnson's house at the Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, New York – it sold out and was never reprinted until now. As part of Atavistic's unprecedented and truly essential Unheard Music Series, it is packaged as a double CD with a gig from earlier in 1969 at the very same place: Holy Cross Monastery.