Harden

Ava "Arlene" Harden is an American country music singer. Between 1966 and 1968, she was one-third of The Harden Trio, which comprised her brother, Bobby and sister, Robbie. Arlene recorded for Columbia Records as a solo artist between 1967 and 1973, charting fifteen times on the Hot Country Songs charts. Her most successful release was a cover of Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman", titled "Lovin' Man (Oh Pretty Woman)". She later recorded for Capitol and Elektra as Arleen Harden.

Tanganyika Strut is the last of the three 1958 Savoy recordings made by jazz musicians John Coltrane and Wilbur Harden. The album would be Harden's last as a leader. The sessions also produced a couple of alternate takes which can be found on some compilations, most notably the ones featuring the complete Savoy recordings made by Harden and Coltrane together, The Complete Mainstream 1958 Sessions (2009) and The Complete Savoy Sessions (1999).

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…

Musical institutions have their funny ideas, and the quirk of the Prague Conservatoire in the 1880s was that if you were an instrumentalist you couldn't be a composer, too (evidently no one had told them about Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin et al). At his father's insistence Léhar was enrolled as a violinist, but his real interest lay in composition. He took a few secret lessons from Fibich and had the opportunity to play his D minor sonata to Dvorak, who urged him to give up the violin and switch to the composition classes. But Léhar senior was adamant and Lèhar is to be considered as practically a self-taught composer.

The essence of Ferruccio Busoni’s music lies in its synthesis of emotion and intellect, rooted in his Italian and German ancestry. His Sonatinas typify the stylistic range of his maturity, with the First Sonatina unfolding with the spontaneity of an improvisation. Veering between darting angularity and ominous expectancy, the Second Sonatina is one of his most radical musical statements, while the poise of the Fourth Sonatina marks Busoni’s closest approach to Impressionism. The Drei Albumblätter represent Busoni at his most austere and profound, reflecting the mystical character of his late music.

Wilbur Harden & John Coltrane - The Complete Savoy Sessions (1958) {2CD Set, Savoy Jazz 92858-2 rel 2012}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 773 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 345 Mb
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© 1958, 2012 | Savoy Jazz 92858-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Bebop / Flugelhorn / Trumpet / Saxophone

This Savoy double CD brings together in one package all of the label's sessions led by Harden, a talented young musician who turned up briefly, disappeared and is presumed to have died in the 1960s. It includes several alternate takes, giving ample evidence of his attractiveness as a player. He wrote all the pieces, which are more substantial than the on-the-spot "compositions" of many Savoy sessions of the '50s. Sometimes playing trumpet and sometimes rotary valve flugelhorn, he was capable of range, power and bursts of speed, but he built many of his solos on a base of restraint, lyricism and a certain wistfulness.