Mary Lou Williams Live at The Cookery

Mary Lou Williams spent a fair amount of time in Europe in the early '50s, prior to a temporary hiatus from jazz. This CD from Verve's Jazz in Paris series compiles two separate sessions from 1954; one features a trio, a quintet, and a pair of vocals by blues singer Beryl Bryden, and the other is purely a trio. All of the selections are fairly brief, with only one running over three-and-a-half minutes. The first 11 songs are a bit of a mixed bag. The strongest tracks feature Williams alone ("I Made You Love Paris" and her "Club Francais Blues") or with her trio ("Avalon," "Swingin' for the Guys," and "Memories of You"). Weaker are the four tracks with trumpeter Nelson Williams and tenor saxophonist Ray Lawrence, who aren't up to the playing level of horn players who typically worked with the pianist, though bassist Buddy Banks somewhat makes up for their shortcomings by contributing an enjoyable original ("Leg'n Lou") and a strong solo…

Really beautiful later work from the great Mary Lou Williams - and one of the key records that shows just how much she'd evolved as a player since the early days! Part of the strength of the record is the rhythm work from Buster Williams on bass and Mickey Roker on drums - slightly more contemporary players who open up with a sense of warmth that Williams can't help but address - still work on the keyboard of the piano that's very much her own, and touched with the modern elements of her early days - but wonderfully sensitive in all the right ways, a richness that's perfect for the spiritual jazz generation of the 70s.

The seven-disc Live at the Gorge 05/06 box set documents a trio of shows Pearl Jam performed at The Gorge Amphitheatre (repeatedly voted the best major outdoor concert venue in North America by the readers of Pollstar magazine) in George, WA, near the Columbia River…

Live At Alice Tully Hall - January 27, 1973 - 2nd Show captures Lou Reed’s New York City live debut as a solo artist, at the Lincoln Center venue during his Transformer tour. He was backed by The Tots, a tight, funky, twin-guitar combo whose gritty bar-band approach offered an energized accompaniment to Reed’s material, whether that was the Velvets (“Heroin,” “Sweet Jane”) or songs from his first two solo albums, Walk On The Wild Side and Vicious. Mixed from the original multi-track tapes by Matt Ross-Spring, these fourteen live tracks are available for the first time, released first on RSD Black Friday on two LPs pressed on burgundy vinyl and packaged with a new essay by Ed McCormack, rare pictures and memorabilia.