Van Gelder

The Félix Zurstrassen Quartet brings together the brilliantly rhythmic Zurstrassen / Pierre (BEL) and the incomparable Nelson Veras (BRA) on the acoustic guitar and the prodigious Ben van Gelder (NLD) on alto saxophone. This high-flying quartet is presenting its new album NOVA, which is at the crossroads of modern and contemporary jazz. While the melodic and harmonic universe of Félix Zurstrassen’s compositions is inspired by musicians such as Brad Mehldau and Pat Metheny, the (poly-) rhythmic universe is influenced by the conceptual music of Steve Coleman and Aka Moon. This sophisticated, contemporary music really focuses on the acoustic sounds of the instruments.

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Meet You At The Jazz Corner Of The World (1960) {2CD Set Rudy Van Gelder Remaster rel 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 612 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 203 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 35 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 2002 Blue Note / Capitol | 7243 5 35565 2 5
Jazz / Hard Bop

Not to be confused with At the Jazz Corner of the World, the Messengers' 1959 Birdland recording (which featured tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley), Meet was recorded the following year at the band's favored venue with the still-rawboned tenorist Wayne Shorter joining trumpeter Lee Morgan on an explosive front line. Originally released in separate volumes but here presented as a two-CD set, the album maintains the Messengers' ties to the underappreciated Mobley via three originals that he never recorded himself. The emphasis is less on catchy tunes than full-bore blowing, with the rhythm section of Bobby Timmons, Jymie Merritt, and the unbeatable Blakey plumbing their bag of hard-bop tricks to push the music through the grooves.

John Coltrane (1926-67) was the most relentlessly exploratory musician in jazz history. He was always searching, seeking to take his music further in what he quite consciously viewed as a spiritual quest. In terms of public recognition, this quest began relatively late. The tenor saxophonist, a native of North Carolina who later moved to Philadelphia, was 28 when he joined the Miles Davis quintet in 1955, after years of paying dues in the big band and combo of Dizzy Gillespie (where he played alto before switching to tenor) and as a supporting player behind saxophonists Johnny Hodges, Eddie "Cleanhead” Vinson, and Earl Bostic. Coltrane’s anguished tone and multi-noted, rhythmically complex solos with Davis quickly elevated him to the front ranks of jazz…

Any 1950s Miles Davis recording could easily be called a “collector’s item,” but these selections have special claims to this description. The first four offer Charlie Parker in his only recordings in support of Miles, who had begun his disc career as Bird’s sideman. The last four feature a unique Davis/Mingus encounter. In between is Miles just before launching his first great Quintet, heading two groups loaded with top talent of the “post-bop” period. Recorded on January 30, 1953 (1-4) WOR Studios, New York City and March 16, 1956 (5-7) at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ.

In addition to their positions of importance in the Miles Davis quintet of the mid-fifties, John Coltrane and Red Garland a series of studio dates for Prestige in 1957 and '58. Here, as in several of the others, Paul Chambers is the bassist and Arthur Taylor is the drummer, with Donald Byrd on trumpet making it a quintet. There are only three numbers, the title song "Black Pearls", an extremely swift version of "Lover Come Back To Me", and the fast "Sweet Sapphire Blues" which begins with Garland soloing from the gitgo in a long, upbeat exploration before Trane unfurls his "sheets of sound". Byrd gets into that rapid fire mode, in and among his evenly-cadenced lines and Chambers (plucked) and Taylor (brushes into sticks)…

This was a forerunner of the Miles Davis Quintet as it was his first session with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones. Up to then his Prestige dates had been of the "all star" variety. (Oscar Pettiford fills that bill here.) By the fall, John Coltrane and Paul Chambers would come aboard to help form the first of a continuum of great Davis working groups. On "A Night in Tunisia" Philly Joe used special sticks with little cymbals riveted to the shaft. Recorded June 7, 1955 at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ. With Red Garland, Oscar Pettiford, Philly Joe Jones.

While there are only four men present for this session and arranging is certainly not stressed, Tadd’s composing is as potent as ever with such memorable items as “Mating Call,” “Soultrane,” “Gnid,” and “On a Misty Night” far above the usual “originals” that often appear on a recording date. To play these compositions, the aid of tenorman John Coltrane was enlisted. Trane’s tenor answered the mating call of Tadd’s music. Tadd’s intelligent comping, the strength of veteran John Simmons’s bass and the brightly burning power of the consistent Philly Joe Jones adds up to the solid sum that is the rhythm section. Each track has something to offer: the exotic “Mating Call,” the aptly named ballad that is “Soultrane”…