Soul Jazz Records release flautist Lloyd McNeill’s album ‘Treasures’ (1976). Originally issued on the artists’ own private press Baobab label in New York, the album is a serious collectors’ piece, a heavyweight and fascinating fusion of deep and spiritual jazz sensibilities blended with Brazilian and Latin rhythms and melodies.
Columbia Records dropped Jimmy Giuffre following 1962’s experimental Free Fall, and he didn’t record another album for nine years. The period in-between has been called his “lost decade,” but the clarinetist-saxophonist kept busy. His forward vision fit right in at the New York Festival of the Avant Garde in 1965, even though he wasn’t completely aligned with the New Thing. Giuffre’s set from the festival was recorded and broadcast once on Columbia University’s radio station, WKCR-FM, along with a session done earlier in the year in a college auditorium. Both sets are being released as New York Concerts, heard for the first time since those broadcasts, and they present some missing pieces of the Giuffre puzzle.
Jazz at Preservation Hall: The Eureka Brass Band features New Orleans street parade jazz with bristling horns, sousaphone, and two marching drummers. Trumpeter Percy Humphrey leads an ensemble notable for the presence of saxophonist Emanuel Paul and Percy's brother, Willie, who blows some of the best clarinet he ever recorded. What makes this an unforgettable listening experience is the dual trombone action supplied by Albert Warner and Oscar "Chicken" Henry. Tailgate trombone is almost always fun, but these two seem to have discovered some sort of harmonic convergence, as two trombones, in unison glissando with a slight burr, deliver an almost intoxicating thrill. The best example of this effect occurs in "Take Your Burden to the Lord," while "Panama" allows the 'bones to interact with the saxophone in marvelous ways. A gem of an album, certainly among the finest extant examples of classic Crescent City jazz as played in the early '60s.
Jazz at Preservation Hall: The Eureka Brass Band features New Orleans street parade jazz with bristling horns, sousaphone, and two marching drummers. Trumpeter Percy Humphrey leads an ensemble notable for the presence of saxophonist Emanuel Paul and Percy's brother, Willie, who blows some of the best clarinet he ever recorded. What makes this an unforgettable listening experience is the dual trombone action supplied by Albert Warner and Oscar "Chicken" Henry. Tailgate trombone is almost always fun, but these two seem to have discovered some sort of harmonic convergence, as two trombones, in unison glissando with a slight burr, deliver an almost intoxicating thrill. The best example of this effect occurs in "Take Your Burden to the Lord," while "Panama" allows the 'bones to interact with the saxophone in marvelous ways. A gem of an album, certainly among the finest extant examples of classic Crescent City jazz as played in the early '60s.
You have to admire New York Voices' diversity – this is a jazz vocal group that has embraced everything from modal post-bop and Brazilian jazz to Stevie Wonder pearls. And how many artists have devoted an entire album to jazz interpretations of Paul Simon tunes? Not everything the Voices have recorded is great, but more often than not, their sense of adventure and open-mindedness have served them well. After paying tribute to pop-rocker Simon in 1997, the Voices make big band music the main focus of Sing, Sing, Sing. This time, they are backed by a big band and turn their attention to gems associated with swing icons like Benny Goodman ("Sing, Sing, Sing," "Don't Be That Way"), Duke Ellington ("In A Mellow Tone"), Woody Herman ("Early Autumn"), and Artie Shaw ("Stardust"). Although many of these classics came out of the Swing Era, Sing, Sing, Sing also has its share of post-World War II gems. Ralph Burns' lovely "Early Autumn" is a gem that Herman recorded in 1948, when he was exploring bop with his Second Herd and the Four Brothers. And "Orange Colored Sky," which was a major hit for Nat "King" Cole in 1950, is quite relevant to the CD's big band theme because Cole recorded it with the Stan Kenton Orchestra.