The Gap Fact

Jimmy Heath - The Gap Sealer (1972-1973) {Jazz Beat Records JB523 rel 2007}
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© 1972-73, 2007 Jazz Beat Records | JB523
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Saxophone / Flute

Digipak edition of this 1972 album from the Jazz great featuring five bonus tracks taken from the album Love And Understanding (1973). Although Jimmy Heath released an album per year between 1959 and 1964, he would undergo an eight-year recording hiatus as a leader before returning to the studios in 1972. This CD contains the first album Heath recorded after his break. The tracks have a cohesive group sound and showcase the individuality and force of Jimmy's compositions coupled with his instrumental brilliance as a flautist and soprano and tenor saxophonist.

The Pretenders' 1987 collection, The Singles, did a fine job of assembling most of the group's finest tracks up to that point in their career, so after another decade passed, their record company felt it was necessary to compile a more "updated" collection, 2000's Euro-only release Greatest Hits. Although it contains a total of 20 tracks, Greatest Hits ultimately fails to improve over its predecessor, for the simple fact that the early '80s was the Pretenders' artistic and commercial peak, and Greatest Hits contains too much latter-day material. Whereas it would have been a wise move to showcase such oft-overlooked classics as "Tattooed Love Boys," "Mystery Achievement," "Precious," "My City Was Gone," or "Birds of Paradise" (all of which weren't included on The Singles), Greatest Hits includes such not-as-strong selections as "Night in My Veins," "Breakfast in Bed," and "Human" instead. Although there are quite a few gems included ("Brass in Pocket," "Message of Love," "Talk of the Town," "Kid," "Back on the Chain Gang," etc.), Greatest Hits leaves out far too many prime selections to be considered truly definitive.

Whether or not pianist Ethan Iverson is literally using it, all of the Bad Plus' These Are The Vistas sounds as if it was recorded with the sustain pedal of the piano depressed. It's actually probably mostly the fault of producer Tchad Blake (Soul Coughing, Cibo Matto, Los Lobos), who applies his incredible treatments throughout the album, shining through especially in his work on David King's chaotic drums. Nonetheless, the Bad Plus sound as if they are in a cavernous space. The band rolls out the now-requisite jazz covers of pop tunes (in this case, Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Blondie's "Heart of Glass," and Aphex Twin's "Flim"), but it is their attitude (the very fact that they hired Blake to begin with, for example) that carries them the distance…