Marvpaul Di'anno's Warhorse

Various Artists - Blue Note Explosion: New York Is Our Home (2008) [2CD] {Blue Note}
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© 2008 Blue Note / Capitol / EMI | 50999-521433-0-4
Jazz / Hard Bop

New York Is Our Home brings together twenty tracks recorded by Blue Note artists between 1953-58 which helped shape the hard bop template. The compilation includes a handful of acknowledged early classics, but also some primo lesser-known tracks. Hard bop was at the apex of African-American culture from 1955 to around 1965, when rock and soul drove it from the throne. By the time it declined, the music was heavily, often excessively codified. Between 1954-57, however, when most of the tracks on New York Is Our Home were recorded, everything was still to play for. Horace Silver may be the pianist on ten of these tracks, and Art Blakey the drummer on eight, but the only thing that runs through all of them is African-centric energy, as received through blues and gospel. Beyond that, individual expression is key.

Junko Onishi Trio - Live At The Village Vanguard (1994) {Blue Note CDP 7243 8 31886 2 8}
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© 1994 Blue Note / Somethin' Else Records / Toshiba-EMI | CDP 7243 8 31886 2 8
Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Piano Trio

This is a memorable set. When pianist Junko Onishi performs songs from the likes of Charles Mingus ("So Long Eric"), John Lewis ("Concorde"), and Ornette Coleman ("Congeniality"), she interprets each of the tunes as much as possible within the intent and style of its composer.

Don’t judge this album from the first aria – the Puccini arias are the weakest here. The French repertoire finds Kaufmann on excellent form. The most encouraging thing about him is his musical intelligence – a genuine soft high note to crown his Carmen Flower Song – and elsewhere he strives to serve the music. The voice can’t quite do all he asks yet, but it’s full of brooding, Vinay-like darkness.

Their union in the Boneshakers was fairly short-lived, but together guitarist/songwriter Randy Jacobs and vocalist Sweet Pea Atkinson put together two powerful, rockin' funk and soul albums and entertained some lucky audiences who became Boneshakers themselves on dance floors across the U.S. Atkinson was born in Oberlin, OH. After working 14 years as a Chrysler assembly line worker, he left his job to pursue a music career, singing for such Detroit R&B groups as the Exquisites and Energy. While with Energy, he worked with Detroit producer Don Was (then unknown). He has also sung with industry heavyweights Elton John, Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Diamond, and Brian Wilson.

Even though Saxon had convinced many skeptics that they might still have plenty of quality heavy metal to offer thanks to career-saving early-‘90s albums like Solid Ball of Rock and Forever Free, a three-year recording hiatus and another independent label change hardly foreshadowed an imminent return to glory for the band's wary, ill-treated fans…

Clearly, cellist Mischa Maisky has discovered a terrific marketing gimmick. With his recording of Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata coupled with transcriptions of 14 of that composer's songs; his recording of Brahms' cello sonatas coupled with seven transcriptions of that composer's songs; and his recording of almost nothing but transcriptions of songs by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Duparc, and Poulenc, Maisky has found an effective way to distinguish his recordings from those of other cellists. Thankfully, Maisky's gimmick is more than a publicity stunt: each of the above recordings is distinguished by his full-bodied tone, spectacular technique, and sensitive musicianship.

The Paul Smith Trio - He Sells Jazz By The Sea Shore (1965) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27329}
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© 1965, 2013 Warner Bros. / Warner Japan / WEA / Rhino | WPCR-27329
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Piano Trio

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Paul Smith is well-known to jazz fans for his sterling accompaniment on a number of Ella Fitzgerald's best albums, particularly Ella in Berlin. But the veteran pianist has recorded quite a bit on his own, though few of his LPs (like this Warner Bros. album from the 1960s) have been reissued on CD. Joining him on this trio date are bassist Wilfred Middlebrooks (who worked alongside Smith with Ella) and drummer Frank Capp.

There is a self-selecting audience for this disc. People who want to know what the withdrawn original version of the Violin Concerto of Sibelius will have to hear this recording by violinist Leonidas Kavakos with Osmo Vänskä and the Lahti Symphony. Sibelius withdrew the version of the Concerto premiered in 1904 shortened it, tightened it and focused it and premiered a second version in 1905. The revised version became a warhorse in the stable of violin concertos, but the original version disappeared until this world-premiere recording was released in 1990.