Nee Port Jazz Festival

Various Artists - Deutsches Jazz Festival, Frankfurt 1954-1955 (1990) {8CD Box Set Bear Family BCD 15430}
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© 1954-55, 1990 Brunswick / Bear Family Records | BCD 15430
Jazz / Traditional Jazz / Cool / Continental Jazz / Jump / Swing / Big Band / Third Stream

8-CD box (LP-size) with 47-page book, 137 tracks. Playing time approx. 725 mns. The third German Jazz Festival in 1955 was a four-day event that featured nearly 30 groups and soloists. It was recorded by Deutsche Grammophon for release on Brunswick, but only parts of it were released on long-deleted EPs. The complete tapes survived though. The 1954 festival was also recorded, but only the portion issued on an EP was saved. Now the surviving portion of the 1954 festival and the entire 1955 festival are issued complete by Bear Family on eight CDs.

This two-CD set (a reissue of an earlier two-LP set plus six previously unreleased numbers) brings back a memorable Carnegie Hall concert that both features and pays tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. The great singer is joined on a few numbers by a Chick Webb reunion band that has a few of the original members (plus an uncredited Panama Francis on drums). Although the musicians do not get much solo space (why wasn't trumpeter Taft Jordan featured?), the music is pleasing. Fitzgerald performs three exquisite duets with pianist Ellis Larkins and then sits out while the Jazz at the Philharmonic All-Stars romp on a few jams and a ballad medley. Trumpeter Roy Eldridge's emotional flights take honors, although tenorman Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and trombonist Al Grey are also in good form. Fitzgerald comes out for the second half of the show and sings 14 numbers with guitarist Joe Pass (including a pair of tender duets) and the Tommy Flanagan trio.

This sampler is comprised of performances from several different Monterey Jazz Festivals, spanning 41 years. Some of the selections (those featuring Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Sarah Vaughan) were released elsewhere in the first batch in this series of previously unavailable Monterey performances. One can assume that the other seven songs will probably be in future releases. Just judged by itself, the most rewarding selections of this sampler are an inspired Thelonious Monk romp on "Rhythm-A-Ning," an excellent "Someday My Prince Will Come" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Joe Henderson's exploration of "Isotope," and Dizzy Gillespie's happy calypso "Poor Joe." Most of the other performances, including the 1963 Miles Davis Quintet on "Autumn Leaves" and Jimmy Witherspoon's humorous "S.K. Blues" have their moments of interest…

Miles Davis - Live At The 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival (2007) {Concord MJFR-30310}
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© 1963, 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival Records / Concord Music | MJFR-30310
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Trumpet Jazz

This previously unreleased live album features Miles Davis on trumpet, George Coleman playing the tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter playing bass and Tony Williams on drums. Produced by Jimmy Lyons, this album was recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 22, 1963. All proceeds from this recording go to Monterey Jazz Festival-supported jazz education programs.

Sadao Watanabe - Sadao Watanabe At Montreux Jazz Festival (1970) {2015 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series SICJ 64}
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© 1970, 2015 Columbia / Sony Music Japan / CBS | SICJ 64
Jazz / Post Bop / Neo Bop / Saxopohone

Reissue with the latest DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A searing performance from Japanese jazz giant Sadao Watanabe – and key proof that he was a hell of a player in the years before he softened things up! There's a blissful post-Coltrane post-Miles sort of vibe going on here with Watanabe really jamming things up on the main track on the album – "Round Trip Going & Coming", which features incredible work on soprano sax, and eventually rolls into a kicked-up electric groove that has Sadao playing electric keys, alongside guitar, bass, and drums. Side two features slightly shorter tracks, but still with a great degree of exploratory freedom and fresh improvisation from Sadao – and titles include "Lament" and "Tokyo Suite: Sunset".

Bill Evans and Orchestra - Brandeis Jazz Festival (1957) {Gambit Records 69214 rel 2005}
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© 1957, 2005 Gambit Records | 69214
Jazz / Post Bop / Experimental Big Band / Progressive Jazz / Piano

The 1957 Brandeis Jazz Festival featured the work of 6 of the finest composers from the jazz and 20th Century Classical avant-garde. George Russell, Charles Mingus and Jimmy Giuffre represented the jazz contingency. These outstanding concerts featured the finest musicians of the day performing some extremely difficult and highly rewarding charts that tested theirs mettle as both improvisers and sight readers. Among the brightest stars of the concerts was pianist Bill Evans, whose considerable talents were tested in a variety of styles to great results. His excellent performances here gained him a reputation as a top-notch pianist which would directly lead to an invitation to join Miles Davis' legendary sextet. The 3 rare bonus tracks of Bill Evans with Don Elliott at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival showcase the pianist's fluid versatility in an unusual quartet setting featuring Elliot alternating between the mellophone and vibraphone.

The Cees Slinger Octet - Live At The North Sea Jazz Festival (1982) {2015 Japan Timeless Jazz Master Collection Complete Series}
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© 1982, 2015 Timeless Records / Solid Records Japan / Ultra-Vibe | CDSOL-6399
Jazz / Post Bop / Hard Bop / Modern Post Bebop / Piano

Reissue with the latest remastering. Features original cover artwork. A mighty nice set from pianist Cees Slinger – a live performance from a very hip octet – a group who can come on with ensemble fury one minute, then play like a small combo the next! Slinger's choice of musicians is wonderful – and includes Dusko Goykovich on trumpet, Fredinand Povel on alto and soprano, and Ruud Brink on tenor – all musicians who really make the sound sparkle with their solos, but can also slide nicely into the context of the rest of the group, too – in the manner that Povel and Goykovich were so good at on performances for MPS. There's a great sense of color throughout – really showing off Slinger's skill as an arranger – and titles include "Never Forever", "From Way Back", "Changing Colours", "Fee Fi Fo Fum", and "Killer Joe".

Released for the first time on this 1999 Challenge CD, this live set features the unusual duo of guitarist Jim Hall and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, two-thirds of the 1957 Jimmy Giuffre Three. Although there are occasions when one of the musicians accompanies the other one, much of the time Hall and Brookmeyer function as equals, improvising together on a set of standards plus an ad-lib blues called "Sweet Basil." Their ability to improvise while thinking of the whole picture and their knack for spontaneously harmonizing really come in handy during this intriguing and frequently exciting outing. Among the selections reborn in the playing of Hall and Brookmeyer are John Lewis' "Skating in Central Park," "Body and Soul," "Darn That Dream," and "St. Thomas." A successful effort that should not have taken 20 years to release.