Punch 2002

Archie Shepp & Mal Waldron - Left Alone Revisited (2002) {Enja Records ENJA CD 9141-2}
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© 2002 Enja Records | ENJA CD 9141-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Music / Saxophone / Piano

The duo of Archie Shepp and Mal Waldron come together beautifully here – in a mode that echoes some of the duets that pianist Waldron recorded with other reedmen in the 70s and 80s, but which has an especially wonderful contribution from Shepp! Archie blows both tenor and soprano sax – and the warmth of his horn in later years is really perfect here – especially as the album's sometime of an update of Waldron's earlier Left Alone classic, recorded after the death of Billie Holiday at the end of the 50s. As with that one, the tunes here include some numbers very strongly tied to Billie's legacy, but the vibe is very different, and very personal along the lines of the spirit of Shepp and Waldron.

Miles Davis - The Complete Miles Davis At Montreux (2002) {20 CD LongBox Warner 0927-41836-2 rec 1973-1991}
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© 1973-91, 2002 Warner Music Switzerland | 0927-41836-2
Jazz / Jazz Rock / Fusion / Experimental Big Band / Trumpet

Produced with loving care by Claude Nobs, founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, with no edits or overdubs, this document of Miles Davis's Montreux performances shows through never-before-released material how Miles and company transformed his music live, with their fire, invention, and interplay. The list of sidemen on these dates is a who's who of today's superstars, including saxophonist Dave Liebman, guitarists John Scofield and Robben Ford, keyboardists Adam Holzman and Kei Akagi, bassist Michael Henderson, and percussionist Mtume. Most of the music on these discs features versions of Davis's fusion "hits." The funky and R&B-ish ditty "Ife" and the bouncy "Calypso Frelimo" are rendered with more gusto than their studio versions, as are the in-the-pocket, mid-'80s tunes "Star People" and "New Blues." A package this big has more than a few surprises, however. Chaka Khan lends her powerful pipes to Davis's unique cover of the Michael Jackson sleeper, "Human Nature," and "Al Jarreau" is an upbeat (though too short) tribute to the great vocalise master.

In the liner notes of YOU CALL THIS A LIVING? Arturo Sandoval recalls the first time he heard Wayne Bergeron play. "What a hell of a lead player," Sandoval remembers thinking, and then goes on to attest to the trumpeter's continued high standard of performance, recommending the album wholeheartedly. With kudos like these from the one and only Sandoval, it's hard not to give Bergeron the benefit of the doubt. As a musician, Bergeron does not disappoint. His high, bright tone recalls Dizzy Gillespie, and his flawless articulation and phrasing serve him equally well during quick, chromatic runs or sweeping lyrical passages.

May 12th 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s passing. The most important figure of the French lyrical scene along with Meyerbeer during the second third of the 19th-century, he was so popular that his name was given very soon after his death to the main road running along the newly opened Opéra Garnier. Insomniac, Auber spent his days and nights composing, writing no less than forty-seven lyrical pieces in his lifetime, mostly irresistible comic operas.