Sonny Terry Folkway

Originally released on Stax's short-lived Enterprise label, this finds Detroit harp man Aaron "Little Sonny" Willis backed by Memphis players working in an early-'70s blues-rock groove. The Bar-Kays provide the horn blasts, and although it would be a sin for Memphis players to overplay on anything, nothing here really catches fire; the whole session stays in low gear throughout.

It took awhile, but Blue Note has finally seen fit to honor one of its best with a best-of disc. And thanks to rabid fans like John Zorn and hard bop fanatics the world over, pianist Sonny Clark has also gotten the kind of reissue program such label cohorts as Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter, and Lee Morgan have been blessed with for some time. Culled from Clark's short but potent prime of 1957-1961, the first five sides here (out of nine) come from his particularly fertile first year, when such classic LP's as Dial "S" for Sonny, Sonny's Crib, and Sonny Clark Trio were cut. Besides an urbane slice of Clark's single note style ("Softy, As In a Morning Sunrise"), this batch features two of his marquee originals (the Far Eastern-tinged, noirish blues swingers "Sonny's Crib" and "Dial S For Sonny") and an exquisite early Coltrane vehicle ("Speak Low")…

Although Joel Dorn's 32 Jazz label mostly concentrates on repackaging reissues from the Muse catalog, there have been some important discoveries. This 1998 CD has a previously unreleased Sonny Stitt club appearance that took place in San Francisco's Keystone Korner in September 1981. It is a special all-star concert in which Stitt splits his time between tenor and alto and is joined by pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Herbie Lewis, drummer Billy Higgins, and (on a few numbers) vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, altoist Richie Cole, and John Handy on alto and tenor. Stitt, a master of the bebop vocabulary, was not an innovator, but he was a fiery competitor who could blow most musicians off the stand when he chose to. In this case, he had a lot of respect for Cole and Handy, but still played at his best, just in case…

Iconic guitarist Jimmy Raney and legendary pianist Sonny Clark’s paths crossed only during a European tour promoted by Leonard Feather in 1954, which included concerts in several countries and also allowed Feather time to organize a few studio dates here and there.
Jimmy Raney (guitar) and Sonny Clark (piano) are featured with Costa Theselius (tenor sax), Red Mitchell/Simon Brehm (bass) and Bobby White/Elaine Leighton (drums).

Fifty songs spread among two CDs, various attributed to Cher, Sonny & Cher, and even "Caesar & Cleo," through which we trace the evolution of this duo from a doo wop-influenced pop team into folk-rock and protest mavens, to the media's reigning early-'70s pop/rock team. The sound is very good, and the range of music is almost dizzying, as the influence of Phil Spector wafts in and out over the recordings, and the duo turns its talents toward just about every sound that was selling at the time. There's a huge amount of good music here, much of it familiar from other collections, including "Sunny," "I Feel Something in the Air," and "All I Really Want to Do" – other notable cuts, apart from such solo Sonny Bono stuff as "The Revolution Kind" and "Laugh at Me," include Cher's renditions of "Alfie" and "Needles and Pins" and her first, failed, "comeback" attempt, "Classified 1A."

The Bridge was the first album Sonny Rollins recorded after he returned to the jazz scene in late 1961, following a two-year layoff to practice and reflect during a time of great stylistic upheaval in the music. If the sabbatical added to his instrumental command and his musical understanding, the triumphal return confirmed that this was the same authoritative player of the classic Saxophone Colossus, Way Out West and Village Vanguard albums.
Fronting his new quartet, Sonny Rollins & Co, which included guitarist Jim Halla surprising but brilliantly successful choicebassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Ben Riley, Rollins, in stirring form, played with a high-minded seriousness even deeper than before…

Sonny Clark's conception of modern jazz is not far removed from his peer group of the late '50s, in that advanced melodic and harmonic ideas override the basic precepts of swing and simplicity. What sets Clark apart from other jazz pianists lies in his conception of democracy to allow his bandmates to steam straight ahead on compositions he has written with them in mind. Though the bulk of this session features the marvelous trumpet/tenor tandem of Donald Byrd and Hank Mobley, it is drummer Art Blakey whose demonstrative presence is heard in full force. He's kicking the band in his own distinctive, inimitable way, rambling through the opener "Junka," based on the changes of "You Go to My Head" with his brand of bomb drops, hard accents, and indefatigable swing…