Steve Thompson

Legendary trombonist and shell master Steve Turre’s SANYAS is amazingly his first live recording as a leader in landmark in a career spanning more than 50 years. Recorded over an electrifying weekend at Smoke Jazz Club, SANYAS boasts a dream all-star band that continues the mission of Turre’s previous Smoke Sessions release, GENERATIONS, in bringing together stellar artists from multiple generations. Turre is joined by elders in the form of the iconic rhythm section of bassist Buster Williams and drummer Lenny White; modern masters trumpeter Nicholas Payton and tenor saxophonist Ron Blake; and the rapidly rising star Isaiah J. Thompson on piano.

Tracks taken from his albums 'Bay Of Kings' and 'Genesis Revisited' with members of King Crimson, Yes, Asia and The Zombies assisting. There is nothing older than two pieces from '83 acoustic guitar album Bay of Kings (except 'Horizons' from it appeared originally in Foxtrot, and 'Steppes' from Tokyo Tapes live album in Defector '80). Each song is served with liner notes and thus clearing the 'Genesis' concept also in tracks that at first seem to have nothing to do with it. Two instrumental tracks from '99 Darktown? As well or better could have been some (new versions perhaps) from earliest solo albums that are closer in style to Genesis. But this kind of limited compiling principle suits well. The sense of compilation is almost absent if you haven't heard all the source albums. It's principally just an extended version of "Watcher of the Skies - Genesis Revisited" (96) and it works as that.

Talk to any connoisseur of '70s-era double live albums, and many will agree that Steve Hillage's Live Herald, recorded and released in 1977-1978, rates among the finest jewels that the genre has to offer. So it's astonishing to discover that someone has spent the last 25 years sitting on tapes that knock that set into the dust, both in terms of on-stage excitement and aural enjoyment. Live at Deeply Vale Festival '78 transports the listener back to one of the last truly great festivals staged in the U.K. that decade, a weekend's worth of music that fearlessly ranged across both the traditional rock range and the upcoming punk movement, before climaxing with a Hillage set that the guitarist himself reflects, "[sounds] as exciting now as Live Herald was back then."

Soon after completing work on Watcher of the Skies, Steve Hackett conceived of a series of concerts involving many of the musicians from the Genesis project, to be recorded for a special live release. This two-disc set from a December 1996 performance in Tokyo is the end result…

The Joker is, without question, the turning point in Steve Miller's career, the album where he infused his blues with a big, bright dose of pop and got exactly what he deserved: Top Ten hits and stardom. He also lost a lot of fans, the ones who dug his winding improvs, because those spacy jams were driven by chops and revealed new worlds. The Joker isn't mind-expanding, it's party music, filled with good vibes, never laying a heavy trip, always keeping things light, relaxed and easygoing. Sometimes, the vibes are interrupted, but not in a harsh way – the second side slows a bit, largely due to the sludgy "Come in My Kitchen" and "Evil," the two songs that were recorded live but lacking any kinetic energy – but for the most part, this is all bright and fun, occasionally truly silly, as on "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma."

Steve Lacy walked into the ESP-Disk offices in New York in 1966 and offered to sell Bernard Stollman a tape of a concert he had recorded with his quartet during a concert in Argentina (where they had been stranded). That band was truly an international one: Lacy and Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava made up the front line, and the rhythm section included South African expats Johnny Dyani on bass and drummer Louis Moholo - who had both been members of the Blue Notes and the Brotherhood of Breath with Chris McGregor. The musical interaction that takes place over 40 minutes here is compelling, fraught with openness and the willingness to explore the margins. Unlike a lot of the other "new thing" recordings made at the time, the focus here is unusually rich, expressive, colorful, and easy on the ears - though it may not have been at the time…

With a relationship that goes back four decades, three masters of contemporary improvisation come together for a new recording.
Walter Thompson, founder of “Soundpainting”, Steve Rust and Harvey Sorgen all have credits with the major forces in jazz.