Rufus Reid Caelan Cardello

Kenny Barron - Other Places (1993) {Verve-Gitanes Jazz 519 699 - 2}
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© 1993 Verve / Phonogram/PolyGram / Gitanes Jazz | 519 699 - 2
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

In the 1990s, Kenny Barron was finally recognized as one of jazz's top pianists, recording a series of top-notch and consistently inventive releases. This CD has seven of Barron's originals in which he is teamed with Ralph Moore (tenor and soprano), vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Rufus Reid, drummer Victor Lewis, and sometimes percussionist Mino Cinelu. These fine performances help to define the modern mainstream of the period. In addition, there are a pair of standards ("For Heaven's Sake" and a lengthy version of "I Should Care") that are played as sensitive duets with Reid. Excellent and often exquisite music.

Frank Kimbrough - Monk's Dreams: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk (2018) {6CD Set Sunnyside SSC4032}
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© 2018 Sunnyside Records | SSC4032
Jazz / Modal Music / Post Bop / Piano / Jazz Quartet

The genius of pianist and composer Thelonious Monk is unassailable. Since his death in 1982, he has become recognized as one of the greatest composers of jazz – and of the wider world of music. The year 2017 was the centennial of Monk’s birth, and brought scores of tributes, including a well-received stay of pianist Frank Kimbrough’s quartet at the Jazz Standard club in New York City.

Andrew Hill - Shades (1986) {Soul Note SN1113CD}
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© 1986 Soul Note | SN 1113 CD
Jazz / Modern Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

Andrew Hill works mostly in a trio here – a great group with Rufus Reid on bass and Ben Riley on drums – but also gets some help from Clifford Jordan's tenor on a few tracks, which really makes the album stand out from other Hill dates of the time! The core group is already great – and Reid and Riley bring a slightly straighter vibe to the date, and a sound that's filled with plenty of soul – and when Jordan joins in, there's almost a classic hardbop approach going on – quite a change from usual for Andrew, and proof that he can handle just about anything that comes his way. Hill still throws out plenty of creative piano lines throughout – those deft, modern moments that are always illuminating, even amidst a straighter swing – with a tension that's not unlike his Grass Roots album.

Charlie Parker was a pioneer of many of the elements and characteristics that make up the 'classic' BeBop sound, forever pushing the boundaries of tempo, tonality and improvisation beyond the limitations of his time. His influence is only too clear today, and is no better demonstrated than in this spectacular tribute performance. Phil Woods, Red Rodney, Rufus Reid, Roy Haynes and Monte Alexander perform their own collective tribute to the great improviser and composer in this very special live concert from Cannes, 1990.

This excellent Columbia album was recorded less than a year after Dexter Gordon's well-publicized tour of the United States following a dozen years spent living in Europe. With assistance from such other major players as trumpeters Woody Shaw and Benny Bailey, vibraphonist Bobby Gordon sounds in superlative form on Woody Shaw's "The Moontrame," four standards and his own "Fried Bananas." In addition to the original program (which features Dexter with an all-star tentet), the 1997 CD reissue adds two 1979 features for vocalese singer Eddie Jefferson ("Diggin' It" and "It's Only a Paper Moon") which were originally released on Gordon's Great Encounters; trumpeter Shaw and trombonist Curtis Fuller co-star with Gordon. An excellent acquisition.

Special Edition – a band with revolving membership and an incredible cast of soloists including David Murray, Arthur Blythe and Chico Freeman – was one of the most sophisticated vehicles for Jack DeJohnette’s all-around talents. This set brings together the albums Special Edition (ECM 1152), Tin Can Alley (ECM 1189), Inflation Blues (ECM 1244) and Album Album (ECM 1280), underscoring the excitement of invention and possibility one can hear in this era of DeJohnette’s career. The recordings reveal him as an artist in touch with tradition even as he sought the cutting edge of the day, paying homage to his jazz heroes yet experimenting with new sounds. There are echoes of old New Orleans grooves and Swing-era big bands in this collection, as well as material crafted with the techniques of ’80s pop singles; there are ambitious suite-like compositions, and there is spontaneously lowdown rhythm & blues.