Oscar Peterson The Lost Tapes

Barney Kessel - Live At The Jazz Mill 1954 (2016) {Modern Harmonic MHCD-007}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 175 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 83 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1954, 2016 Modern Harmonic / Sundazed Music | MHCD-007
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Guitar

A fantastic addition to the Barney Kessel catalog of the 50s – a never-heard live set that has the guitarist in form that's every bit as strong as his famous albums for Contemporary Records! In fact, the strength of the recording may well capture Kessel at a level that beats those sessions – as Barney's playing live, with a bit more bite – and really grabs us with the strong tone on his solos – and the sense of energy he gets in a quartet that also includes a young Pete Jolly on piano! The recording quality is excellent – crystal-clear, and very focused – and the set isn't one of those lost tapes that should have stayed "lost" – but instead a real lost chapter in Barney's tremendous career.

Toshiko Akiyoshi was only 23 years old when Oscar Peterson heard her during a Jazz at the Philharmonic tour of Japan in 1953; he immediately went raving to impresario Norman Granz to implore him to record her. So Granz produced Akiyoshi's debut as a leader on a 10" disc (released as Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi in Japan and as Toshiko's Piano elsewhere) with the Jazz at the Philharmonic rhythm section (guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer J.C. Heard). The Bud Powell influence is rather obvious during several of the tracks, as Akiyoshi slashes her way through "What Is This Thing Called Love?," "I Want to Be Happy," the lesser-known "Shadrach," and a very brisk treatment of Johnny Hodges' "Squatty Roo." She also shows promise at more relaxed tempos, playing standards such as "Gone With the Wind" and a dreamy, somewhat impressionistic piano solo of "Laura"…