Paul Ferguson Jazz Orchestra Live At The Bop Stop

A year after Thad Jones' decision to end his musical partnership with drummer Mel Lewis, Lewis' jazz orchestra was changing its sound. Valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer became the big band's chief arranger for a time, and his charts show the influence of modern classical music while usually still swinging. This hard to find LP features the orchestra playing live at their home base (the Village Vanguard), and such soloists as pianist Jim McNeely and Dick Oatts on alto and soprano; flugelhornist Clark Terry, and Brookmeyer himself are featured on the nearly 16-minute "El Co" and "The Fan Club."

Paul Weller didn't play many dates in support of his 2018 album True Meanings. Not counting his summer festival appearances, which were all delivered prior to the album's September release, he gave just five concerts: two in the Netherlands, one in Belgium, and a two-night stand at London's Royal Festival Hall in October, where he played with the support of a full orchestra. Those two dates are the basis of Other Aspects: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, a double-CD accompanied by a DVD. Weller deliberately avoided familiar material for these concerts. All of True Meanings save three songs is performed (the mid-album sequence of "Bowie," "Wishing Well," and "Come Along" is absent) and he eschews crowd-pleasers from both his solo career and the Jam in favor of moody, lush reworkings of "Tales from the Riverbank" and "Private Hell."

During October and November 1988, an all-star quartet comprised of some of the then-Soviet Union's top bop-based jazzmen made their initial tour of the United States. They recorded this CD at their final stop, the Village Gate in New York. Altoist Alexander Oseichuck displays a fiery sound influenced by Phil Woods and he is at his best on a duet with pianist Igor Bril on "My One and Only Love." Guitarist Alexei Kuznetsov gets "It's Alright with Me" as an unaccompanied solo and sounds excellent on the five quartet tracks while bassist Victor Dvoskin is fine in support. But the most impressive voice is Igor Bril, particularly during his three solo piano features. "Dance of the Seagulls" is impressionistic and on a thoughtful "Body and Soul" Bril hints at times at Erroll Garner. Best is his tour-de-force "Journey into the Blues" which evolves from relaxed stride to doubletime, stoptime and finally boogie-woogie straight from Albert Ammons. A surprising and recommended release.