Victor Feldman – The Artful Dodger

In 1963, with guitarist Al Viola, bassist Monty Budwig, Shorty Rogers on trumpet, saxophonist Teddy Edwards and pianist/vibraphonist Victor Feldman, Manne released one of only a handful of sessions from that time period to approach Jewish music from a modern jazz perspective.

Dempsey Wright - The Wright Approach (1958) {VSOP 57CD rel 1995}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 228 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 90 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 51 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1958, 1995 Andex / V.S.O.P. Records | V.S.O.P. #57 CD
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Guitar

Dempsey Wright, who came out of nowhere to record a small label album in the 1970s, has been essentially forgotten for decades. However, on this Andex album (reissued on CD by V.S.O.P.), Wright holds his own with a strong supporting cast (Richie Kamuca on tenor, Victor Feldman doubling on piano and vibes, bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Stan Levey) on six swing-oriented standards and the obscure "Something for Lisa," all given Bill Holman arrangements. Wright had a quiet, appealing tone and a strong bop-based improvising style.

This is a fine all-around set from the Cannonball Adderley Quintet of 1960 with the altoist/leader, cornetist Nat Adderley, pianist Victor Feldman, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes. The fifth of seven LPs reissued by Orrin Keepnews and taken from Adderley's Riverside years finds his band in top form on the original version of "Sack O' Woe," a previously unissued "Our Delight," Jimmy Heath's "Big 'P'" and "Blue Daniel" among others. It's a strong introduction to the music of this classic hard bop group.

Wind, Sky and Diamonds celebrates much of what was important to the guitarist – the new world of rock music, the lure of California and the hope and inspiration of the "Summer of Love." But, at best, it's an ill-conceived jazz-rock concoction…

Writer/director Dylan Kidd got a chance to make his script for Roger Dodger into a feature film when he boldly approached Campbell Scott in a café in Greenwich Village and made his pitch. Eventually, Scott would agree to executive produce and star in the film, and was responsible for bringing Jennifer Beals and Isabella Rossellini onboard. Scott stars as the eponymous Roger, a successful New York ad man and self-proclaimed master of reading and manipulating women. The film begins with Roger out for drinks with his co-workers and demonstrating his verbal gifts. "Words are my stock in trade," he explains as he expounds. But he soon learns that his boss, Joyce (Rossellini), wants to end their clandestine sexual relationship. Roger gets another shock when his teenaged nephew, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg of TV's Get Real), shows up unannounced the next day at his job. Nick explains that he's in town for an interview at Columbia and soon admits that he wants Roger to take him out and give him a crash course on women.