Benny Green Solo

Miles Davis - Miles Davis And Horns (1951-53)
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© 1989 Fantasy / Prestige | OJCCD-053-2 (P-7025) | Jazz / Bop / Cool

The music from two of Miles Davis' lesser-known Prestige sessions is reissued on this CD. There are four titles from a 1953 date that finds the great trumpeter playing arrangements by Al Cohn in a sextet with tenors Cohn and Zoot Sims; trombonist Sonny Truitt joins the group on "Floppy." Those obscure performances (which include "Tasty Pudding" and "For Adults Only") are joined by four songs plus an alternate take from a 1951 date featuring Miles with tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins (their first recordings together) and trombonist Benny Green. Davis is a bit supbar on such tunes as "Whispering" and "Blue Room," but his emotional playing is still worth hearing.

Warren Wolf - Wolfgang (2013) {Mack Avenue MAC 1077}
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© 2013 Mack Avenue Records | MAC 1077
Jazz / Post Bop / Vibraphone

On the strength of his membership in ensembles led by Christian McBride and Aaron Diehl and his own auspicious Mack Avenue debut in 2011, Warren Wolf appears on a path to stardom as arguably the most exciting bop vibraphonist since Bobby Hutcherson. For Wolfgang, his followup collection on Mack Avenue, Wolf said he wanted to showcase his writing skills and provide more melodies that people can remember. For precisely those reasons, Wolfgang suffers by comparison with his previous work.

Bennie Green and Gene Ammons - The Swingin'est (1958) {Vee-Jay NVJ2-905 rel 1993}
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© 1958, 1993 Vee-Jay | NVJ2-905
Jazz / Bop / Trombone / Saxophone

The emphasis is on the blues and very basic chord changes on this relaxed jam session. With trombonist Bennie Green leading an octet that also includes the tenors of Gene Ammons and Frank Foster, trumpeter Nat Adderley, Frank Wess on tenor and flute and a rhythm section led by pianist Tommy Flanagan, everyone has plenty of opportunities to solo.

Jimmy Ponder - Steel City Soul (1998) {32 Jazz 32075}
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© 1998 32 Jazz | 32075
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Blues / Guitar

32Jazz continues to reissue much of the former Muse label material; compiled here, much to the company's credit, are 11 tracks from Jimmy Ponder's days at Muse. As another product from Pittsburgh, one of the cradles of jazz, he honors that city through the title of this release, Steel City. Ponder is one of those few who strum the guitar with his thumb, like Wes Montgomery; also like Montgomery, he gets a very warm and soft sound from the stringed box. On this album, Ponder shows he is equally facile with romantic, soulful material, like "You Are too Beautiful," where he is backed by ace pianist Benny Green, and on the Duke Ellington classic "Solitude," where Big John Patton's organ and Bill Saxton's flute take the lead.

Pianist/vocalist Diana Krall pays tribute to the Nat King Cole Trio on her Impulse! set. In general, the medium and up-tempo tunes work best, particularly such hot ditties as "I'm an Errand Girl for Rhythm," "Frim Fram Sauce," and "Hit That Jive Jack." Krall does not attempt to directly copy Cole much (either pianistically or vocally), although his influence is obviously felt on some of the songs. The slow ballads are actually as reminiscent of Shirley Horn as Cole, particularly the somber "I'm Through With Love" and "If I Had You." Guitarist Russell Malone gets some solo space on many of the songs and joins in on the group vocal of "Hit That Jive Jack," although it is surprising that he had no other opportunities to interact vocally with Krall; a duet could have been delightful. Bassist Paul Keller is fine in support, pianist Benny Green backs Krall's vocal on "If I Had You," and percussionist Steve Kroon is added on one song. Overall, this is a tasteful effort that succeeds.

Jimmy Ponder - Soul Eyes (1991) {Muse MCD 5514 rel 1995}
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© 1991, 1995 Muse Records | MCD 5514
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Funk / Jazz Blues / Guitar

I think that the corrrect name of this album is SOUL EYES and not sad eyes as indicated here. This recording is from 1991, but well on the same artistic level as later albums from Ponder. Here we have Ponders usual "brew" of Heavy Blues Swingers (Kansas City) Funk(All Blues)Standards(You are too beautiful) and Blues (You dont have to go) and that mix works. Ponder plays the simple riff on Kansas City single string.and he can "outline the groove" like noone else on tunes like this.Another highlight is "You are too beautiful" where Ponders solo will take any jazzguitar nut to "heaven".

This live Boston summit meeting between Ray Brown, Christian McBride and John Clayton was the logical outcome of several joint appearances, as well as an extension of a one-off bass troika track that McBride included on his first solo album. The idea of a bass trio on records probably would have been unthinkable in the primitive days of recording when Brown was coming up, but Telarc's fabulously deep yet clear engineering makes it seem like a natural thing to do. Whether pizzicato or bowed, whether taking the melodic solo or plunking down the 4/4 bottom line, all three perform with amazing panache, taste, humor, lack of ego, and the sheer joy of talking to and against each other beneath the musical staff.