Nola Down

The 7th annual collection for Blind Raccoon (third in partnership with Nola Blue) has been a favorite with DJs and attendees at the International Blues Challenge, with funds raised to benefit The Blues Foundation's HART Fund. The Blind Raccoon and Nola Blue Collection Volume III contains 32 compositions. An array of Blind Raccoon clients, including both independent and label artists, are represented as noted in the song credits.

Sonny Stitt - The Complete Roost Sonny Stitt Studio Sessions (1952-65) {9CD Box Set Mosaic MD9-208 rel 2001}
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© 1952-65, 2001 Mosaic Records / Capitol / EMI | MD9-208 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

Under the watchful eye of famed producer Michael Cuscuna, this nine-CD set serves as a compilation of Stitt's 1950s and 1960s Roost LPs. This release also features a 28-page booklet consisting of comprehensively annotated liners. Moreover, the record label does its best to convey the artistic element via a series of black-and-white photos of Stitt and his sidemen amid anecdotes by many of the late saxophonist's affiliates. Interestingly enough, seven of the original LPs did not list personnel. In some instances, guesses were made, although most of these tracks are well-documented, thanks to the producer's diligence and painstaking research. Artists such as drummer Roy Haynes, bassist/composer Charles Mingus, and pianist Harold Maber represent but a few of Stitt's accompanists.

Mel Henke - Shock Treatment (1954-55) {2CD Set, Contemporary–Fresh Sound FSR-CD 529 rel 2008}
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© 1954-55, 2008 Contemporary / Fresh Sound Records | FSR-CD 529
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Piano

About the things I play: Id say my treatment of tunes should be classed as repertoire rather than a particular jazz style. This is probably due to the fact that years ago when I first started to play jazz, I would imitate various jazz greats such as Earl Hines, Tatum, and Cleo Brown. (She was the first musician Id ever heard who played eight-beat piano.) With imitation we can come close but we never really achieve what we try to achieve by imitation, at least I didnt. So I started to develop each tune as an individual composition rather than trying to play every tune in the same style. I had the best luck with this kind of approach, and now I have a repertoire built up over twenty years Incidentally, I usually write the piano parts out note for note even though when I play I never work from the music. This is a kick I got on years ago. I think we get the sound we do because a lot of our stuff is worked out carefully. It isnt what youd call free improvisation.

Paul Bley - Ballads (1967) {ECM Japanese Reissue UCCE-3003 rel 2007}
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© 1967, 2007 ECM Records / Universal Japan | UCCE-3003 / ECM 1010
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

Ballads, which really seems to make ballads out of ballads, has been considered both worthy of hanging on the museum wall alongside the other masterpieces and being accorded special merit as the jazz record most used for background music. Since no less a genius than the great French composer Erik Satie invented the concept of background music, this might not be such a contradiction or insult. Only the short "Circles" invites a real comparison with the piano music of Satie; elsewhere you're in extremely extended territory, Paul Bley's desire to play the slowest music in history meshing with a new style of rhythm section accompaniment that sounds like everything from tuning the drums to adjusting the drapes.

After careers spanning six decades, BMA nominee Benny Turner and Grammy-winning co-producer Cash McCall return to their roots in this inspired collection of Chicago treasures.