A soul survivor in every sense of the term, this alto saxophonist is one of the few remaining jazz artists who made a major impact on the jazz community via an extensive run with producer Alfred Lion and the Blue Note label (Horace Silver being another Blue Note legend that comes to mind). From his first recordings for the label with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, it was clear that Lou Donaldson put melody and sound at a premium, coming up with an amalgam that combined the creamy smoothness of Johnny Hodges with the quicksilver bop inflections of Charlie Parker.
Chiplandschaften (2005). More than two and a half years of work have been invested into this debut and a great deal of this time, producer Harald Karla has put into the breathtaking production technique of his music: all tracks are based on 8-bit sounds only which the computer fetishist has exclusively created with an Commodore Amiga 1200. Step by step, the Amiga sounds then have been recorded manually with an Yamaha A5000 sampler and in another step have been further worked on. In this very rangy kind of work process, Jonson has produced all thirteen tracks plus two bonus tracks of his debut. Not surprisingly, the album shows an incredibly unique sound. On "Chiplandschaften", quiet, harmonic tracks are being mixed with subtle grooving beats ("Autumnbits"), weightless worlds of sound ("Tiefszene", "R.E.S.A.M.P.L.E.", "Prozessordenken") invite you to float thoughtlessly…
Oliver Nelson was one of the more distinctive arrangers to be active in jazz, the studios, and popular music of the '60s. While most Nelson reissues focus on his always-excellent saxophone playing (whether on tenor or alto), this six-CD set, Argo, Verve and Impulse Big Band Studio Sessions, focuses on Oliver Nelson the arranger-composer-bandleader. He does take solos on some of these dates on tenor, alto,and soprano (his only recorded solos on that instrument), but it his writing that takes center stage.
EKSEPTION is a Dutch band that was famous during the late sixties/early seventies for the way it combined themes from classical composers with contemporary rock and jazz in a blend of dominating, virtuoso keys and trumpet plus sax(es). The story of EKSEPTION as we know it begins when they won the first prize at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival in 1968, and they were rewarded with a record contract with Philips.