Avid Jazz here presents four classic and some hard to find or expensive Tommy Flanagan albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD.
Never the most high profile or highly regarded jazz pianist, possibly because of his undynamic approach, self effacement and modesty, Tommy Flanagan is however highly regarded amongst his fellow musicians. He has been the pianist of choice for many classic jazz albums including Coltranes “Giant Steps” and Sonny Rollins’ “Saxophone Colossus”.
“For Jazz… It’s Magic”, recorded in 1957 when Tommy was just 27 years old he is joined by a fine group of up and coming musicians. Curtis Fuller on trombone, Sonny Redd on alto, George Tucker on bass and Louis Hayes on drums…
Interplay, Prestige Records' new 5-CD set, containing early collaborative recordings of the peerless tenor saxophonist and visionary John Coltrane, serves two distinct purposes. The first is to offer an extraordinary collection of music that provides an excellent overview of the modern jazz scene during the fertile 1956-1958 period. The other - and arguably more important purpose to the legions of Coltrane faithful - is its rich delineation of the evolutionary process behind one of the most profoundly important and emotionally compelling artists this planet has ever seen.
During Vladimir Jurowski’s tenure as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Stravinsky’s music was often a focus of his concert programming. This culminated in a year-long festival, ‘Changing Faces’, in 2018, which traced Stravinsky’s metamorphosis as a composer progressively evolving his musical language, making him a key figure in 20th-century music. Pulcinella marked the beginning of the composer’s middle ‘neoclassical’ period and, like the Symphony in C, demonstrated his playful updating of Classical forms. Jurowski takes listeners on Stravinsky’s exploration of serialism, to his last substantial work, the Requiem Canticles: sometimes spare in texture and austere in expression, yet a movingly sincere restatement of Stravinsky’s Christian faith.