Johnny Coles

Charles Mingus & Eric Dolphy Sextet - The Complete Bremen Concert (1964) {2CD Set Jazz Lips Music JL774 rel 2010}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 296 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 259 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 109 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1964, 2010 Jazz Lips Music | JL 774
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop

Digitally remastered two CD set containing the complete legendary 1964 Bremen concert for the first time on CD. Charles Mingus and Eric Dolphy's complete long unavailable April 16, 1964 Bremen concert was originally issued only on three hard to find LPs. This splendid performance was the last complete concert featuring Johnny Coles with the group (he would collapse due to a stomach ulcer the following day while playing in Paris and had to leave the band). Includes 12-page booklet.

Centered around some soundtrack music that Herbie Hancock wrote for Bill Cosby's Fat Albert cartoon show, Fat Albert Rotunda was Hancock's first full-fledged venture into jazz-funk and his last until Head Hunters making it a prophetic release. At the same time, it was far different in sound from his later funk ventures, concentrating on a romping, late-'60s-vintage R&B-oriented sound. with frequent horn riffs and great rhythmic comping and complex solos from Hancock's Fender Rhodes electric piano. The syllables of the titles alone "Wiggle Waggle," "Fat Mama," "Oh! Oh! Here He Comes" have a rhythm and feeling that tell you exactly how this music saunters and swaggers along just like the jolly cartoon character. But there is more to this record than fatback funk. There is the haunting, harmonically sophisticated "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" (which ought to become a jazz standard), and the similarly relaxed "Jessica."

This was a beautiful bossa nova record of Astrud Gilberto's vocal stylings…All the material (32:13) here, with the exception of "Learn to Live Alone" and "Pretty Place," which were arranged by Al Cohn, were arranged by Gil Evans. With the exception of a Johnny Coles trumpet solo, the personnel was uncredited on this 1966 recording. Discographies have credited Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone), Kenny Burrell (guitar), and Grady Tate (drums), but except for a few bars of sax, there was no solo indivdualism in this large Creed Taylor-produced orchestra.

Gil Evans - Bud and Bird (1986) {Evidence ECD22003-2 rel 1992}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 398 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 18 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1986, 1992 Evidence | ECD 22003-2
Jazz / Modern Big Band / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz

Gil Evans celebrated his 75th birthday shortly before this session was issued in Japan. He was not looking back, judging from the progressive, animated quality of these numbers. They included some extensive, rollicking numbers, songs with multiple movements, and energized solos from John Clark on French horn, trumpeter Lew Soloff, bass trombonist Dave Tucker, and bassist Mark Egan. Special guest Johnny Coles chimed in on "Half Man, Half Cookie." Some critics rapped Evans' '80s orchestras for their almost chaotic sound and loose feel. But Evans wanted a sprawling sensibility, and although his bands often seemed disorganized, they always maintained discipline in the midst of what others thought sounded like musical anarchy.

The Duke Pearson Nonet - Honeybuns (1966) {Koch Jazz Remaster 1999}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 185 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 75 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 19 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1999 Koch Jazz / Atlantic | KOC-CD-8519
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Piano

This 1998 Koch CD reissues a Duke Pearson LP from 1966, containing music from the previous year. Other than "Our Love" (a familiar classical theme adapted to American pop music by Larry Clinton), all six selections are originals by the pianist. Utilizing a nonet that includes trumpeter Johnny Coles (who does his best to be soulful on "Honeybuns"), trombonist Garnett Brown, flutist Les Spann, altoist James Spaulding, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, baritonist Pepper Adams, bassist Bob Cranshaw, and drummer Mickey Roker, Pearson performs music in a style that would have fit in quite well on Blue Note.

This is Pearson in full soul-jazz mode, driven deeply by the blues, with an all-star band (not all members play on all tunes): drummer Mickey Roker; Harold Vick on soprano; James Spaulding on flute and alto; bassist Bob Cranshaw; trumpeter Johnny Coles; tenor George Coleman; guitarist Gene Bertoncini; and Pearson on piano and celeste. Most of these tunes start out delicately, almost like chamber jazz (nearly MJQ style), moving around on small melodic figures. "The Fakir" begins with a tender, gentle flute solo by Spaulding, and uproots itself by turning into a massive Latin-style groover based on the rhythmic middle of "My Favorite Things." "Prairie Dog" opens with the horns playing a slow, drawling blues that Pearson fills with his piano…

This 1966 date by Duke Pearson with an octet was originally issued by Atlantic. Reissued by Collectables, this is Pearson in full soul-jazz mode, driven deeply by the blues, with an all-star band (not all members play on all tunes): drummer Mickey Roker; Harold Vick on soprano; James Spaulding on flute and alto; bassist Bob Cranshaw; trumpeter Johnny Coles; tenor George Coleman; guitarist Gene Bertoncini; and Pearson on piano and celeste. Most of these tunes start out delicately, almost like chamber jazz (nearly MJQ style), moving around on small melodic figures. ~ AllMusic