Wilbur Und Charlotte

The presence of John Coltrane on this 1958 Savoy release is its obvious drawing card, but in fact there are impressive contributions from all hands. Leader Wilbur Harden left the jazz scene by the early '60s, which is a pity. He was a player with fresh ideas and an engaging command of his trumpet's and flügelhorn's middle register. The sextet heard on this date performs two Harden compositions and one by the group's trombonist, Curtis Fuller, for a skimpy total running time of 29 minutes. The "way out" reference in the title is misleading. There are traces of exotic Asian and African influences, but they never overpower what is essentially an intelligent, straight-ahead, hard bop date. At the time of this release, Coltrane had been recording as a leader and sideman for Prestige and was on his second tour of duty with Miles Davis, whose group was on the verge of recording Kind of Blue…

Hailed as an "irresistibly fluid" by The New York Times and "illuminating" by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, pianist Eric Zuber releases his debut album, The Young Chopin, with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and conductor Wilbur Lin. The release celebrates the early piano repertoire of Frederic Chopin (1810 - 1849), including his Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano' from Mozart's Don Giovanni, Op. 2; Andante spianato & Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22; and his Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11. Zuber writes, "The ingenuity of [Chopin's early] piano writing shows a complete technical understanding of the craft of the instrument, and the seductive beauty of his melodic and harmonic writing is second to none.