Pat And Dick

"While At Birdland", recorded in 1957, was only one of two albums Pat Moran made for Bethlehem. The session features a large ensemble with a front line accompanying Beverly Kelly and the rhythm section members on vocals. Pat Moran leads the rhythm section on piano and backing vocals with John Doling on bass and vocals and Johnny Whited on drums and vocals. Oscar Pettiford plays bass on some of the tracks here.

Of Claus Ogerman's four mod albums for Victor, "Soul Searching" is a favorite for many because the theme, and certainly the tunes, are hip. As Ogerman's liner notes explain, he ranks soul third in significance after pop and jazz. In any case, Ogerman does a competent job covering all these songs; the title track (an Ogerman original) can be called funky, even. A large factor is Dick Hyman's Lowrey organ; his facility with both jazz and soul is in full evidence here. "The End of the Line" was a hit for Vinnie Bell, but the greater significance is that it was written by Pat Williams and Phil Ramone. The Ogerman albums on Victor share a great deal with the mod albums on Verve by Williams, Kai Winding, and others. Veering away from pop and toward soul-jazz, Soul Searchin' has a peppy jazz-boogaloo beat that feels neither constrained nor ponderous. The surprise is that it works.

Of Claus Ogerman's four mod albums for Victor, "Soul Searching" is a favorite for many because the theme, and certainly the tunes, are hip. As Ogerman's liner notes explain, he ranks soul third in significance after pop and jazz. In any case, Ogerman does a competent job covering all these songs; the title track (an Ogerman original) can be called funky, even. A large factor is Dick Hyman's Lowrey organ; his facility with both jazz and soul is in full evidence here. "The End of the Line" was a hit for Vinnie Bell, but the greater significance is that it was written by Pat Williams and Phil Ramone. The Ogerman albums on Victor share a great deal with the mod albums on Verve by Williams, Kai Winding, and others. Veering away from pop and toward soul-jazz, Soul Searchin' has a peppy jazz-boogaloo beat that feels neither constrained nor ponderous. The surprise is that it works.

This expansive four-disc anthology essentially covers the recorded history of the guitar in the 20th century, beginning with the ragtime banjo that set the table for the role of the guitar in a jazz setting in the early 1900s, and then touching all the bases clear through to the post-postmodern possibilities of the instrument in the 21st century. Don't let the subtitle throw you, though, because Progressions: 100 Years of Jazz Guitar interprets jazz guitar in the broadest of strokes, as it includes not only pantheon jazz players like Eddie Lang, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Les Paul, Wes Montgomery, and John McLaughlin but also provides an uncommon sweep by featuring Hawaiian stylists Roy Smeck and Sol Hoopii; Western swing aces Leon McAuliffe and Eldon Shamblin; country jazzman Hank Garland; rock virtuosos Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and Jeff Beck; fusion funksters Larry Carlton, Al DiMeola, and Mike Stein; and hard to classify avant-garde players like Derek Bailey, Sonny Sharrock, James Blood Ulmer, and Marc Ribot.

This expansive four-disc anthology essentially covers the recorded history of the guitar in the 20th century, beginning with the ragtime banjo that set the table for the role of the guitar in a jazz setting in the early 1900s, and then touching all the bases clear through to the post-postmodern possibilities of the instrument in the 21st century. Don't let the subtitle throw you, though, because Progressions: 100 Years of Jazz Guitar interprets jazz guitar in the broadest of strokes, as it includes not only pantheon jazz players like Eddie Lang, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Les Paul, Wes Montgomery, and John McLaughlin but also provides an uncommon sweep by featuring Hawaiian stylists Roy Smeck and Sol Hoopii; Western swing aces Leon McAuliffe and Eldon Shamblin; country jazzman Hank Garland; rock virtuosos Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and Jeff Beck; fusion funksters Larry Carlton, Al DiMeola, and Mike Stein; and hard to classify avant-garde players like Derek Bailey, Sonny Sharrock, James Blood Ulmer, and Marc Ribot.