Johnny Coles

Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain (1960) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition, Analog Collection, SICP 1207}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 255 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 100 Mb | Full Artwork
© 1960, 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1207 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Cool / Third Stream / Orchestral Jazz / Trumpet

A beautiful collaboration between Miles Davis and the great Gil Evans – and perhaps the most perfectly realized of all their projects! The album's got a wonderfully unified feel – as it begins with long compositions that have a distinct Spanish-tinge (and not a Latin-tinge, which is an important distinction to the way the album progresses.) Evans' arrangements have a majesty that takes the songs to the next level – working them as lush, lively backings for Davis' equally majestic trumpet solos, some of the finest he ever recorded with large group backing. Wonderful all the way through – and with the tracks "Concierto De Aranjuez", "Saeta", "The Pan Piper", and "Solea".

Like two of his other three albums, Tina Brooks' final session as a leader (in March 1961) was sequenced and prepared for release, but remained on the shelves until well after the tenor's tragically early death. That's why the title of The Waiting Game is not only apt, but sadly poignant. Despite Blue Note's reservations at the time, Brooks' output for the label was uniformly strong, demonstrating his skills as a smooth, graceful soloist and a composer of considerable dexterity within the hard bop idiom. Swinging and bluesy, yet sophisticated and refined, The Waiting Game upholds the high standard Brooks set with his previous sessions. Brooks is especially fine on his minor-key compositions, such as "Talkin' About" and "Dhyana," which allow his streak of melancholy romanticism to emerge (as does the lone cover here, the Tony Bennett hit "Stranger in Paradise")…

This CD reissue dates from Thad Jones' single year of leadership of the Count Basie Orchestra before his health began to fail. Caterina Valente (best known as a pop singer) has a warm voice and sounds comfortable singing in a jazz-influenced middle-of-the-road style. There is little improvisation on the date and Thad Jones' arrangements leave surprisingly little space for solos; his only appearance on cornet is on "Solitude."

Miles Davis & John Coltrane - Live In New York (1957~63) {Bandstand Japan, 32JDB-133, Early Press}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 158 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 96 Mb
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© 1957-63, 1987 Bandstand / Tokuma Japan | 32JDB-133
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Trumpet / Saxophone

First the caveats (and I am providing them for historical accuracy, so please do not take them as complaints.) Coltrane is only on half of the tracks (Four, Walkin' and So What). One of the tracks, So What, while technically a live performance was actually a canned performance that was broadcast from CBS-TV Studio 61, New York City on April 2, 1959. This was from a recently discovered video of a broadcast for a series titled The Robert Herridge Theater.

Happy Frame of Mind finds Horace Parlan breaking away from the soul-inflected hard bop that had become his trademark, moving his music into more adventurous, post-bop territory. Aided by a first-rate quintet - trumpeter Johnny Coles, tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin, guitarist Grant Green, bassist Butch Warren, drummer Billy Higgins - Parlan produces a provocative set that is grounded in soul and blues but stretches out into challenging improvisations. None of the musicians completely embrace the avant-garde, but there are shifting tonal textures and unpredictable turns in the solos which have been previously unheard in Parlan's music. Perhaps that's the reason why Happy Frame of Mind sat unissued in Blue Note's vaults until 1976, when it was released as part of a double-record Booker Ervin set, but the fact of the matter is, it's one of Parlan's most successful efforts, finding the perfect middle ground between accessible, entertaining jazz and more adventurous music.