Eddie Henderson so What

Four masters of the trumpet, two generations apart, get together for an inspired session to pay homage to Dizzy, Miles, Satchmo, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, Lee Morgan, Kenny Dorham, Booker Little, and Fats Navarro. All four play together on the opening "So What" and the closer, Gillespie's "That's Earl Brother"; they split off in different groupings on the other tracks. With Mulgrew Miller on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Carl Allen on drums, the rhythm section is well in the pocket, and while none of the tunes are copies of their more famous namesakes (no chorus quoting here), the spirit is dead on the money on every track, making for some exciting jazz very well played. Highlights include "Jordu," "Nostalgia," "My Funny Valentine," "The Sidewinder," and "There's No You." An inspired and accessible session.

Eddie Henderson - Flight Of Mind (1991) {SteepleChase ‎SCCD 31284}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 329 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 16 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991 SteepleChase ‎| SCCD 31284
Jazz / Post Bop / Trumpet

The trumpet and flugelhorn player Dr. EDDIE HENDERSON (also known in Mwandishi circles as Mganga) received his first casual trumpet lesson from Louis Armstrong when he was nine years old, then went on, as a teenager, to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of music and performed with their symphony orchestra. MILES DAVIS was a friend of the family (his step-father being Davis' doctor), and Henderson first met him in 1957. Davis, who was impressed, encouraged Henderson to pursue a career in music.

This milestone anniversary box set commemorates of a pivotal year for Stax Records and for American history: 1968. This period immediately follows the untimely passing of Otis Redding; it’s the year that Stax parted ways with Atlantic Records, and it’s also when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. This five-disc CD box set compiles every single (A- and B-sides) released on Stax and its subsidiary labels in ’68–over 120 iconic songs from era-de ning artists, including Otis Redding, The Staple Singers, William Bell, Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King, Isaac Hayes, Linda Lyndell, Rufus Thomas and many more.

This series of live discs mark the first recordings of what became the regular working quintet of the criminally underrated saxophonist, composer and bandleader Billy Harper. With bassist Louie Spears the new addition to the line-up, three distinct concerts were recorded on Harper's spring, 1991 tour of the Far East and released separately without any duplication of material. Volume One comes from Pusan, Korea on April 27 and while the sound isn't the best – the bass and drums are muted and lack crispness – the extremely high quality of the music and interaction between the players more than compensates.

Billy Harper - On Tour, Vol.2 (1993) {SteepleChase SCCD31321 rec 1991}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 328 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 156 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 7 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1993 SteepleChase | SCCD 31321
Jazz / Modal Music / Post Bop / Saxophone

This Taiwan performance predates the Korean performance on Volume 1 by five days and it may be the best of three releases (maybe) that collectively function as an audio verite documentary of a jazz group on the road. The cohesive way the four pieces here complement each other makes it sound like a complete performance. The recording quality again isn't optimal – it's Harper's saxophone and Eddie Henderson's trumpet which suffer slightly in clarity this time – but no way should that serve as an excuse to avoid savoring these snapshots of a great jazz unit in the process of coming together.

After both John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley left Miles Davis' quintet, he was caught in the web of seeking suitable replacements. It was a period of trial and error for him that nonetheless yielded some legendary recordings (Sketches of Spain, for one). One of those is Someday My Prince Will Come. The lineup is Davis, pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and alternating drummers Jimmy Cobb and Philly Jo Jones. The saxophonist was Hank Mobley on all but two tracks. John Coltrane returns for the title track and "Teo." The set opens with the title, a lilting waltz that nonetheless gets an original treatment here, despite having been recorded by Dave Brubeck. Kelly is in keen form, playing a bit sprightlier than the tempo would allow, and slips flourishes in the high register inside the melody for an "elfin" feel. Davis waxes light and lyrical with his Harmon mute, playing glissando throughout. Mobley plays a strictly journeyman solo, and then Coltrane blows the pack away with a solo so deep inside the harmony it sounds like it's coming from somewhere else.