Will Gadd

For several years, decades in fact, a lost gem issued originally not just in the US but in the UK as well (and our vinyl pressings were always much better than their US counterparts), on Chrysalis records who, for a while, had some very good material in this genre, for example the two Auracle albums (and wouldn't lots of us like to get those on CD). But finally it's now reappeared on CD and how very nice it is to be reacquainted with it in that format. Anyway, this album ~ his second, as far as I know ~ features a host of jazz luminaries of the day (Hancock, Erskine, Pastorius, Carlton, Ritenour, Gadd, etc.) and its only failing is its mildly raw upper registers, though thankfully there are no vocals to pollute the proceedings and Jaco Pastorius' electric bass work is of truly sterling calibre. On this album, if anywhere, you can hear why he was held in such very high esteem by his contemporaries.

Eddie Gomez is a brilliant bassist whose flexibility and quick reflexes make him an ideal accompanist (although his own albums tend to be a bit erratic jazz-wise). He grew up in New York and was with the Newport Festival Youth Band during 1959-1961. After studying at Juilliard, Gomez played with Rufus Jones' sextet, Marian McPartland (1964), Paul Bley (1964-1965), Giuseppe Logan, Gerry Mulligan, and Gary McFarland, among others. Gomez came to fame during his long period with the Bill Evans Trio (1966-1977).

Philip Bailey, the legendary falsetto voice, Grammy Award winner and co-founder of Earth, Wind & Fire has announced his upcoming solo album, Love Will Find A Way, via Verve Records on 21 June. The album is trailed by first single ‘Billy Jack,’ which Bailey co-produced with Robert Glasper.