Rikshaw Man 1958

Avid Jazz presents four classic Carmen McRae albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. “Torchy”; “After Glow”; “Mad About The Man” and “Birds Of A Feather”. By way of introduction to the release by our latest female artist, Carmen McRae, here is a quote from the original liner notes from “After Glow” the third selection in our four album, 2CD set. “Every so often the public is treated to an entertainer who is in some way special-not merely talented, but delightfully unusual. Lovely Carmen McRea is just such an entertainer. A vocal paradox, Carmen’s extraordinary voice is at once strong and confident, yet soft and tender”.Across these four releases you will witness not only the superb singing of the wonderful Ms. McRae but also her instrumental artistry. All four albums have been digitally re-mastered.

Although he plays guitar exclusively on two of the eight selections included on this CD reissue, it is Toots Thielemans' harmonica playing that is most unique. He holds his own on a hard bop blowing date with baritonist Pepper Adams, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Wilbur Ware and drummer Art Taylor, jamming on such songs as "East of the Sun," "Struttin' with Some Barbeque" and "Isn't It Romantic." Even four decades later, no jazz harmonica player has dethroned the great Toots.

Originally released in 1958 by the budget-priced Crown label, The Blues collected a dozen sides B.B. King cut for RPM and Kent between 1951 and 1958…

Chris Craft is a great one here - beautifully simple and straightforward jazz vocals, served up at a level that few other singers can match! The album's one of our favorites from Connor's classic years with Atlantic - as it's got a mellow, moody approach that's filled with the darker tones that first caught our ears on Chris' earliest recordings for Bethlehem. Instrumentation here is mostly small combo - arranged by Stan Free, and featuring Free on piano, Bobby Jaspar on flute, Mundell Lowe on guitar, George Duvivier on bass, and Ed Shaughnessy on drums.

The Mitchell-Ruff Duo decided upon a different approach for this 1958 session for Roulette, adding a string session and brass, along with veteran bassist Milt Hinton, and a young drummer, Elvin Jones (prior to his joining John Coltrane)…

Musicians like to observe that for all his notoriety as the wellspring of bebop, Charlie "Bird" Parker's music was loaded with the blues. Swedish Schnapps is as good a place as any to make that connection with Parker's music, including as it does two of his most enduring bop heads based on the blues, "Au Privave" and "Blues For Alice." While you wouldn't mistake either composition for a Muddy Waters tune, both relate Bird's off-kilter accents and serpentine melodicism at walking tempos that let you hear what's actually going by, instead of leaving you astonished but bemused. To really drive the point home, there's "K.C. Blues," which finds the altoist at his hollerin' best, and "Lover Man," certainly one of the bluesiest 32-bar standards around.