This incredible 4-CD boxed set from Mosaic chronicles trumpeter Lee Morgan's complete sessions as a leader in the 1950's for Blue Note. Through the set, one can hear the progression from a Clifford Brown influenced player(although the unmistakable Morgan touch is there) to a fiery, highly inventive soloist that would catapult him to superstardom later on. Morgan is surrounded by all star players that include: Hank Mobley, Arthur Taylor, Philly Joe Jones, Horace Silver etc. and they inspire Lee to perform at a very high level. Highlights include a August 25, 1957 date featuring George Coleman, Curtis Fuller and Art Taylor. As well as a 9/29/57 date(recorded two weeks after John Coltrane's historic Blue Train album) featuring Pepper Adams, Bobby Timmons, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones.
This three-CD set from Blue Note expands trumpeter Lee Morgan's original two-LP set from four selections to 12. Morgan's music had become much more modal by this time, heavily influenced by John Coltrane, although some of the previously unissued numbers (including a remake of his popular "The Sidewinder") are a bit more straight-ahead. Bennie Maupin (on tenor, bass clarinet, and flute) is in peak form and the rhythm section (pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Jymie Merritt, and drummer Mickey Roker) is alert and creative. All of the songs are group originals, including two by Morgan (on his "Speedball," Jack DeJohnette sits in on drums), five by Maupin, three by Mabern, and two from Merritt. Stimulating and frequently exciting music from late in Lee Morgan's short life.
The Complete Blue Note/UA/Roulette Recordings of Thad Jones is a wonderful limited-edition three-disc box set, containing everything the trumpeter recorded for the labels in the late '50s. Jones was a fantastic hard bop trumpeter, and the set captures him in all of his glory, making it of interest to serious hard bop connoisseurs.
Two and a half years after his last recording as a leader for Impulse, pianist McCoy Tyner emerged to start a period on Blue Note that would result in seven albums. Having left John Coltrane's Quartet in late 1965, Tyner was entering a period of struggle, although artistically his playing grew quite a bit in the late '60s. For this release, the pianist is teamed with tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Elvin Jones for five of his originals. Highlights of the easily recommended album include "Passion Dance," "Four by Five," and "Blues on the Corner."
The history of jazz is written as a recounting of the lives of its most famous (and presumably, most influential) artists. Reality is not so simple, however. Certainly the most important of the music's innovators are those whose names are known by all Armstrong, Parker, Young, Coltrane. Unfortunately, the jazz critic's tendency to inflate the major figures' status often comes at the expense of other musicians' reputations men and women who have made significant, even essential, contributions of their own, who are, for whatever reason, overlooked in the mad rush to canonize a select few.
This recording is a studio throw-down with 5 of popular music's most accomplished string specialists: Derek Trucks, Bela Fleck, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, and Marc Ribot. The song stack covers the old and new. McCoy finds common ground alongside na group of handpicked guitar and banjo players. It's a meeting of the generations.
One of the most important and enduring jazz pianists emerging from the 1960s, McCoy Tyner needs little introduction. John Coltrane's former sideman's style has always mixed melody, beauty, invention, and volatility. GUITARS is proof he's lost none of his edge. Here, Tyner mixes it up with a seemingly disparate range of guitarists (and one banjoist!), which might shock some old-school fans. Each guitarist joins Tyner's trio for two or three tracks. Marc Ribot's jazz-informed thorniness, John Scofield's plump-toned йlan, Bela Fleck's down-home sophistication and clarity, Derek Trucks's tightly wound blue-tones, and Bill Frisell's mystic, Jim Hall-inspired poetry–all meet Tyner on his own turf. Each string-bender is pushed to be his best in this setting.
On nearly all his projects, trombonist Conrad Herwig is known for his tasteful arrangements, excellent playing, and keen instinct for top-notch personnel, characteristics he’s brought to bear on his Latin treatments of compositions by jazz legends like John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Herwig applies the same standard to his live recording, he Latin Side Of Wayne Shorter, taking on compositions by the great saxophonist, including “Ping Pong,” “Adam’s Apple,” and “Footprints,” and infusing them with healthy doses of Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, and other Latin rhythms. Shorter’s dynamic tunes provide the perfect backdrop for Herwig’s impressive facility for reinvention.