i Loves You Porgy

The highlights of a 2½-hour concert recorded in Paris, this CD has even more ballads than a typical Shirley Horn set because, due to the monitor malfunctioning during the second half of the performance, Horn chose to stick exclusively to ballads during that portion of the show. Accompanied by bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams, Horn is in peak form throughout this program, often sounding exquisite and using silence and pauses quite expertly. Among the highlights are "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "Do It Again," a medley of "I Loves You Porgy" and "Here Comes De Honey Man," and a lengthy version of "A Song for You" that eventually becomes "Goodbye."

Miles Davis - Porgy and Bess (1958) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition Analog Collection SICP 1205}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 297 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 122 Mb | Full Artwork
© 1958, 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1205 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Cool / Experimental Big Band / Trumpet

Of all Gil Evans' orchestral scores for soulmate Miles Davis, PORGY AND BESS is his richest and most ambitious–a watershed of modern jazz harmony which served to secure Davis' pop star stature and define his brooding mystique. Inevitably, even non-jazz listeners own a copy of PORGY AND BESS or SKETCHES OF SPAIN.

George Gershwin's folk opera has been a source of inspiration for countless jazz musicians. This 1959 recording with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Ed Thigpen (who had replaced guitarist Herb Ellis the previous year) features some of Peterson's most impassioned and bluesy playing. With the addition of a drummer, he was liberated from rhythm duties to become the trio's dominant solo voice. Producer Norman Granz, who frequently featured Peterson in his Jazz at the Philharmonic all-star tours of the 1950s, had the musicians work out the arrangements in the studio with a minimum of rehearsal. That freshness of conception can still be sensed today.

Tomes are available annotating the importance of this recording. The musical and social impact of Miles Davis, his collaborative efforts with Gil Evans, and in particular their reinvention of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess are indeed profound. However, the most efficient method of extricating the rhetoric and opining is to experience the recording. Few other musical teams would have had the ability to remain true to the undiluted spirit and multifaceted nuance of this epic work. However, no other musical teams were Miles Davis and Gil Evans. It was Evans' intimate knowledge of the composition as well as the performer that allowed him to so definitively capture the essence of both…