Mosura 1961

Unlike Mississippi Fred McDowell, who hailed from Rossville, TN, Memphis Slim was actually from Memphis, although his real name was Peter Chatman. By any name, Slim was a masterful blues pianist with a distinctive style. This satisfying drummerless two-fer was originally issued as 1960s albums Just Blues and No Strain, all songs written by the prolific pianist, recorded in the same session and re-released the year after he died in Paris in 1988. The 23-tune collection opens with "Beer Drinking Woman" (with sly Funeral March quotes), followed by one of his patented, totally believable spoken intros. Fully nine of these tracks feature just piano and voice, illustrating beyond a doubt that this bluesman was the real deal who needed no help to get his point across.

Two former LPs were reissued in full on this single CD. The earlier date features pianist Erroll Garner in typically brilliant and witty form with his 1961 trio, which also included bassist Eddie Calhoun and drummer Kelly Martin. Whether it be a sly "My Silent Love," "All of Me," or a joyful "Back In Your Own Backyard," Garner is heard throughout in his prime. The later date is a bit more unusual, for the pianist improvises on ten themes that would be used in the Paul Newman film A New Kind of Love. Joined by a big band and string orchestra conducted by Leith Stevens, Garner, who never learned to read or write music, contributed several original themes to the score (a few of which are quite catchy) in addition to jamming on such tunes as "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me," "Louise," and "Mimi"…

John Coltrane's week at the Village Vanguard in 1961 resulted in a total of 22 recorded versions of nine songs, all of which have been released in the four-CD box The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings. This 1998 single CD has the five performances that the great saxophonist had agreed to have released during his lifetime: three numbers from the original Live at the Village Vanguard LP ("Spiritual," "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise," and "Chasin' the Trane") and two songs that appeared on Impressions (the title cut and "India"). Although branded as "anti-jazz" by John S. Wilson (an attack that was seconded by Leonard Feather), the music is actually quite coherent and would even be thought of as moderately conservative today, particularly "Spiritual" and the boppish rendition of "Softly"…

When this album was recorded in February of 1961, it had been more than year since the Portrait in Jazz was issued, the disc that won the critics over. By the time of this issue, Evans had released four albums in six years, a pace unheard of during that time. Most musicians were issuing two, three, and even four records a year during the same era. Many speculate on Evans' personal problems at the time, but the truth of the matter lies in the recordings themselves, and Explorations proves that the artist was worth waiting for no matter what else was going on out there. Evans, with Paul Motian and Scott LaFaro, was onto something as a trio, exploring the undersides of melodic and rhythmic constructions that had never been considered by most…