Michael Porter

Sun Ra - Live At The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto 1978 (2008) {10CD Set, Transparency ‎0310, Limited Edition}
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© 1978, 2008 Transparency ‎| 0310
Jazz / Experimental Big Band / Avant-Garde Jazz / Cosmic Jazz / Progressive Jazz

Three slices of work from the Sun Ra Arkestra – all recorded at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto in 1978, and presented here as a massive 10 CD package! The format is great – as the set offers up the full concert performance from each night, not just a handful of songs – and each date in the package is represented with 3CDs of music, so that together the whole thing spans almost 8 hours in length! Performances are from March 13, September 27, and November 4, 1978 – and the set also features a bonus CD that includes a 1968 interview on WBAI. And the recording quality is great!

Andreas Varady's eponymous 2014 Verve debut artfully celebrates the Hungarian jazz guitarist's prodigious skill. A prodigy, Varady has been playing guitar since childhood. Only 17 at the time of this release, he has a fluid, technically proficient style that reveals a love of jazz tradition, both old and new. However, rather than simply delivering a collection of well-worn standards, a task Varady is clearly capable of, here he delves into a batch of modern pop hits and original songs in a contemporary jazz style. Executive produced by Varady's manager, the legendary Quincy Jones, along with David Paich and Jay Oliver, the album fits more into the instrumental smooth jazz vein of artists like George Benson and Lee Ritenour than it does the straight-ahead style of Wes Montgomery, although Varady dips his toe in that tradition here too.

The Savoy imprint, after being acquired by an assortment of companies over the years, has been reinvigorated to celebrate its 60th anniversary. This three-disc set includes all of Parker's work for the Dial and Savoy labels (excluding alternate takes–hence the title). It starts off with his appearance as a sideman with the Tiny Grimes Quintette, at which time the 24-year-old's alto saxophone playing bears his unmistakable stamp of fluidity and daring aplomb. The stellar lights of bebop are heard throughout this set, as Parker plays with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Max Roach, creating the enduring shape of contemporary jazz.