Steps Ahead At Mount Fuji Jazz Festival (2008)

In the summer of 1999, Steps Ahead founder/vibraphonist Mike Mainieri joined Eliane Elias, Bob Berg, Marc Johnson and Peter Erskine for a reunion tour of Europe. They recorded several of those shows but Mainieri didn’t listen to the tapes for two years. He eventually did, and the result is the two-CD set Holding Together (N.Y.C.). The musicians perform the tunes with great sensitivity to one another, both as an ensemble and in solo spotlights. “Uncle Bob” just swings along, while Mainieri’s gliding vibes impart an almost magical quality to a lovely version of Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood,” and “The Time Is Now” is a 22-minute-plus opus that gives everyone a chance to shine. There are too many high points on this solid set to mention, but it should be noted that Berg’s playing is vigorous and inventive throughout and provides a poignant reminder of the profound loss the jazz world suffered when he was killed in a car accident.

Buster Williams Quartet - Live At The Montreux Jazz Festival 1999 (2008) {TCB 20152}
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© 1999, 2008 TCB - The Montreux Jazz Label | 20152
Jazz / Post Bop / Bass / Vibes / Piano Trio

Venerable jazz bassist and session musician of choice, Buster Williams steers this thoroughly swinging quartet through a set of vibrant standards and original compositions along with an ace front line consisting of pianist Mulgrew Miller and vibist Steve Nelson. Recorded live in 1999 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the bassist once again exhibits his seasoned musical persona via fluent lines, limber soloing, and a comprehensive sense of swing. Meanwhile, Nelson and Miller share most of the soloing opportunities as they consistently demonstrate a keen harmonic relationship atop drummer Carl Allen's masterstrokes and the leader's sinewy walking bass patterns.

Blues vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon is at the peak of his performing career during this 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival set, where he is backed by a young but enthusiastic electric band that he had recruited after hearing them open for him in a club the previous year. Witherspoon is in a playful mood, frequently speaking to the crowd. The program is filled with several Witherspoon's most popular numbers, including the humorous "I'm Going to Move to the Outskirts of Town," "Kansas City," and "Early One Morning." Following his raucous take of "Walkin' by Myself," the stage curtain is evidently pulled prematurely, provoking an extended outburst from the singer, who repeatedly threatens to cut the curtain with his knife to the delight of the crowd…

Charles Earland - In Concert: At The Montreux Jazz Festival and The Lighthouse (1972-1974) {Pestige PRCD-24267-2 rel 2002}
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© 1972-74, 2002 Prestige / Fantasy | PRCD-24267-2
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Organ Hammond B-3

This two-fer CD pairs 1972's Live at the Lighthouse with the less impressive, though still worthy, 1974 album Kharma, which was recorded at that year's Montreux Jazz Festival. As the head of a sextet on Live at the Lighthouse, Earland spearheaded some first-class soul-jazz, which integrated some funk and rock of the early '70s without sounding like a watered-down cocktail of all those styles (as many other soul-jazz-pop albums of the time did). The horn section of James Vass on sax and Elmer Coles on trumpet leaned more toward soul than jazz, as heard on the opening instrumental cover of Sly & the Family Stone's "Smilin'." The Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun" wasn't the greatest tune to attempt, though Earland gamely put it into a boppish swing arrangement.

Dexter Gordon - Live at The Playboy Jazz Festival (2018) {RSD Limited Exclusive, LP ROGV-063 rec 1982}
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© 1982, 2018 Elektra / Warner / Run Out Groove | ROGV-063
Jazz / Bop / Hard Bop / Saxophone / Vibes

Black Friday/Record Store Day Exclusive. Limited to 2000 copies worldwide. Live At The Playboy Jazz Festival features the entire set that Dexter Gordon and his working band recorded at the Hollywood Bowl for the Playboy Jazz Festival in 1982, with guest vibes on two tracks by Milt Jackson. This Record Store Day Black Friday exclusive features two previously unreleased tracks (Bag's Groove & The Blues) and two tracks ("Fried Bananas" and "You've Changed") in their complete unedited form to round out the full set.

An amazing set from Swedish trombonist Eje Thelin - a live date, but a totally excellent session that stands as one of the best demonstration of his talents in the 60s! On the European scene at the time, Thelin was easily one of the most inventive players on the trombone - one of the few who could hit the soulful swing of American musicians like Curtis Fuller or JJ Johnson, but also an artist who was starting to stretch out into new realms too - just a touch of Grachan Moncur and Roswell Rudd, with a hint of the modernism that would come later in his career. This album really captures him at the cusp - very creative, yet still mostly swinging and straight ahead - working with a great quintet that also features Ulf Andersson on tenor, Joel Vendroogenbroek on piano and flute, Roman Dylag on bass, and Rune Carlsson on drums.

Recorded live in March 2011 at the Bern Jazz Festival, this record showcases two of Europe's greatest jazz artists and innovators perform as a duo. Legendary drummer Kenny Clarke compared Jean-Luc Ponty to Dizzy Gillespie. Fellow violinist Stuff Smith marveled, "He plays violin like Coltrane plays saxophone." Born in 1942, the French violinist transported jazz violin playing into the world of modern jazz.

A good but not great set from the 1975 Montreux Jazz Festival, this set of four extended standards is nonetheless impressive for its complete rejection of all innovations in jazz after around 1955, even those that Dizzy Gillespie had himself spearheaded. This is a straight-up bop jam session. The tunes are standards almost to the point of being clichés - "Lover, Come Back to Me," "I'll Remember April," "What's New?," and the obligatory run-through of Charlie Parker's signature tune, "Cherokee" - but Gillespie and his all-star group do an impressive job of finding new avenues of exploration. The 17-minute take on "Lover Come Back to Me" is particularly impressive, with meaty solos from both Gillespie and tenor Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. The ballad "What's New?" is primarily a showcase for Milt Jackson's vibes and Tommy Flanagan's piano, though Johnny Griffin also serves up a lovely tenor solo.

Phil Woods And His European Rhythm Machine - At The Montreux Jazz Festival (1969) {2016 Japan Verve 60th Rare Albums SHM-CD Reissue Series UCCV-9612}
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© 1969, 2016 Verve / Universal Japan | UCCV-9612
Jazz / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz / Saxophone

Verve 60th Anniversary Rare Albums SHM-CD Reissue Series. Reissue with SHM-CD format. Phil Woods' recordings with his short-lived European Rhythm Machine are among the most adventurous of his career, though few of them have been available in the CD era. This 1969 concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival features the alto saxophonist with pianist George Gruntz, bassist Henri Texier and drummer Daniel Humair in a wide ranging set.