Fans of Alison Wonderland rejoice – we finally have a release date for her new album! After months and months of pouring her heart and soul into this album, Alison Wonderland has finally announced that AWAKE is finished and be in our hands on April 6. With fourteen tracks and collaborations with industry giants such as The Weeknd, Lorde, Party Favor, and Lido, this album is sure to be a force to be reckoned with.
Features material from The Connection, Shades Of Redd, and an Unissued Session! Available in a box set as either three LPs or two CDs, this limited-edition release has all of the music recorded at pianist Freddie Redd's three Blue Note sessions. In addition to the selections originally included on the LPs Music From the Connection and Shades of Redd, there is a completely unissued date that adds to the fairly slim Freddie Redd discography. Altoist Jackie McLean (who is on all three sets) and tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks (a key soloist on two) co-star with the pianist; trumpeter Benny Bailey is also heard from the later date. The music is comprised mostly of Redd's originals (including seven songs written for the stage play The Connection) and fits into the style of the mainstream hard bop of the day, although with a few personal touches. Straight-ahead fans and Blue Note collectors can consider this set to be essential.
In an all too small discography, Freddie Redd's Shades of Redd is without a doubt his crowning achievement. Completed after a successful stint composing music for the stage play The Connection, Redd wrote music specifically geared for his two formidable front line saxophonists – emerging alto giant Jackie McLean and the unsung hero of the tenor, Tina Brooks. Redd, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Louis Hayes, fresh out of the Detroit scene, took New York City by storm playing clubs and working with Redd when he was not doing production music.
These excellent, rare 1956 Stockholm studio sessions feature pianist Freddie Redd in a trio setting with bassist Tommy Potter and Joe Harris, drums. They had been chosen by Swedish trumpeter Rolf Ericson, who was commissioned to find US jazz musicians for a tour. This release includes the complete LP Freddie Redd in Sweden plus, as bonus tracks, the pianists first US trio session in 1955 with John Ore and Ron Jefferson; and the only two recorded live tracks from this Swedish tour.