Bassist Moppa Elliot is clearly fond of Ornette Coleman's music, and this second quartet date with his unctuously titled band Most Other People Do the Killing, or MOPDTK for short, expands on that influence. Free swing and funk with a piquant edge, a taste for harmelodics, ragged rhythm, and approximate note phrases identify their sound. Trumpeter Peter Evans and alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon, two notable rising star jazz improvisers, create the tension-and-release elements that spark this music, backed by Elliott's playful and bold basslines and the loose, craggy drumming of Kevin Shea.
THE COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE is an 18-disc, 269-track box set featuring every track that Bill Evans recorded for Verve between 1962 and 1969, including 98 previously-unreleased tracks. It includes a 160-page, full-color book. THE COMPLETE BILL EVANS ON VERVE was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package - Boxed and for Best Historical Album. The 18 CDs in this exhaustive set provide a comprehensive picture of Bill Evans from 1962 to 1969, a period when the pianist was both consolidating his fame and sometimes taking his music into untested waters, from unaccompanied piano to symphony orchestra. His work with multitracked solo piano, originally released as Conversations with Myself and the later Further Conversations with Myself, was the most remarkable new format for his introspective music. It gave Evans a way to be all the pianists he could be at once–combining densely chordal, harmonically oblique parts with surprising, rhythmic punctuation and darting, exploratory runs.
Buddy Rich and his Band - The Lost West Side Story Tapes Recorded in 1985, the master tapes were thought to have been lost in a fire. They were discovered in 2000, along with the original 'surround sound' digital master, and extensive work was done to bring you this state-of-the-art audio mix. The concert includes Buddy Rich standards 'Cottontail', 'Mexicali Nose', and the unforgettable classic 'West Side Story Medley'.
Jazz fans of a certain age who remember McCoy Tyner’s great 1973 album Enlightenment may have wondered what became of Azar Lawrence. He dropped off jazz radar for most of three decades, but he is back. The Seeker is his fifth record since 2007. He also plays in drummer-composer Franklin Kiermyer’s quartet on Further. Lawrence has been compared to John Coltrane his whole working life, but he is not a replica. He plays Coltrane’s instruments but not his licks and patterns. Even Lawrence’s sound is a variant. On soprano saxophone he is somewhat more rounded, and has slightly more vibrato on tenor. What he shares with Coltrane is an intensity of passion that overwhelms everything in its path.
Looking at the art work on Dom Um Romão's Lake of Perseverance, one immediately thinks of CTI's famous LP covers of the '70s. Back then, CTI's album covers had an instantly recognizable style, and a very CTI-minded look graces the front and back covers of Lake of Perseverance. But this diverse CD is not a CTI album from the '70s. Lake of Perseverance, an Italian release, wasn't recorded until 2000, and it was not produced by CTI founder Creed Taylor – the producer is Brazilian percussionist/arranger Arnaldo DeSouteiro. Lake of Perseverance does not fit neatly into one particular category. Some of the material is post-bop jazz.