Wednesday, June 29, 2005

I covered 34 records in the latest Jazz CG. That leaves 286 records in the "done" files, of which I'll probably use 60 in future Jazz CGs (estimating 30, 20, 10 over the next three columns, 6-9 months). I also have 170 records in the "pending" file, so those will compete for the column slots too. Given this, most of what's in the "done" files might as well be flushed out of the system now. The following are my notes and preliminary drafts on the records I'm cutting now. (Presumably I can find them again once they're in the notebook.) I've gone over the criteria for how I make these decisions many times in the past, so won't repeat that here.

• Across 7 Street: Made in New York (2004, Smalls). Quintet (tenor sax-trombone-piano-bass-drums), probably led by the saxophonist, Chris Byars, but they play together, often with a loose postbop swing. This sounds unfocused to me, a diffuse vibe with none of the voices distinct or particularly interesting. B-
• Active Ingredients: Titration (2003, Delmark). Drummer Chad Taylor's band, built around his Chicago Underground Trio (Tom Abbs, Rob Mazurek) with some ringers from New York (Jemeel Moondoc, Steve Swell) thrown in. Taylor grew up on AACM shit and it shows in his writing, but the backbone here is his drumming, which is meant to drive everyone ever forward. The horns leap off from Taylor's base, sometimes explosively, as in the joyous opener "Song for Dyani," the avant-honk on "Slate," and the more melodic "Modern Mythology" -- and those are the strongest cuts here. The drums are helped out by Avreeal Ra on percussion, especially on Taylor's showcase solo. B+
• The Howard Alden-Dan Barrett Quintet: Live in '95 (1995 [2004], Arbors). The instrumental parts here are really delightful. The back cover claims that the vocals are "a definite plus"; au contraire! They break up the flow, often slowing things down. She's an OK singer, but she puts a bit of a damper on the rest. Barrett's a rather ordinary Kid Ory-influenced trombonist, which means he's a fun player in a limited repertoire. Chuck Wilson is useful on alto sax and clarinet. But the key player here is Alden, a superb guitarist, and he holds this piano-less group together. B+
• Monty Alexander: Live at the Iridium (2005, Telarc). Piano trio with some extra percussion. Alexander plays fast, especially at first. Real fast. Toward the end it does slow down a bit, which neither helps nor hurts. Nothing much to say about this, except that I've either enjoyed this every time I've played it or (more commonly) lost track of it while it was playing. Not a bad note on it. Haven't noticed the rest of the group either, except that they no doubt make it better. B
• Rashied Ali/Arthur Rhames: The Dynamic Duo: Remember Trane and Bird (1981 [2004], Ayler, 2CD). Arthur Rhames is one of those guys hardly anyone has ever heard of, but every now and then someone who knew him or saw him will spin him into a story of incredible talent. Rhames was born in Brooklyn in 1957; played guitar, piano, and saxophone, by most accounts with equal poise and power; died at age 32 in 1989, without any records under his name. Jan Ström snapped a picture of Rhames playing alto sax on the street with an unknown drummer in 1980, and that planted the thought for scrounging up this 1981 live tape. Rashied Ali played with Rhames from the late '70s, and brought him to Willisau as the other half of the Dynamic Duo. Ali and Rhames had connected through their devotion to John Coltrane -- Ali is most famous for having played with Coltrane on his final albums -- and this program is a slashing fast excursion through Trane's songbook, including an abridged version of A Love Supreme. Rhames plays tenor sax and piano (no guitar), and is lightning fast and fullsome on both. Coltrane's last music felt not just unfinished but like the start of a new search, and I've never been sure that Ali was up to it -- although by 1991's Touchin' on Trane, with Charles Gayle, he had made up plenty of lost ground. So this feels less like a recapitulation than an attempt to solve the puzzle. They don't, and the improvs on their own two "Extra, Extra" pieces strike me as the best things here. Bird pops up for the encore, a medley, almost an afterthought. B+
• Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965 [2005], Shout! Factory). An album of food songs, more famous for Dolores Erickson's cover pose 'neath a mountain of shaving cream than for the tune that got mashed up with Public Enemy for my favorite bootleg of 2003. B
• Art Ensemble of Chicago: AEC With Fontella Bass (1970 [2005], Free America/Verve). The gospel singer was meant to pump up the Great Black Music collective with the fear of God. Her appearance does indeed hit hard at the start, but soon enough the group's usual Africanized black power moves take over, and the music flies off at odd tangents. B+
• Art Ensemble of Chicago: Certain Blacks (1970 [2005], Free America/Verve). Chicago Beau crashes the party as Exhibit A to "Certain Blacks (Do What They Wanna)" and throws the gang off their game. But they bounce right back with an 11:38 Sonny Boy Williamson jam. B
• William Ash Trio: The Phoenix (2004, Smalls). Very nice guitar trio; boppish material, but not single-line hornlike improvs. Not brilliant; just well done. B+
• Roni Ben-Hur: Anna's Dance (2000 [2002], Reservoir). Ben-Hur plays guitar in a subtle mainstream groove, an elegant variation of a style similar to Jimmy Raney and Kenny Burrell. This is a lovely, unassuming record, with no one risking a flashy performance, least of all tenor saxophonist Charles Davis. B+
• Paul Bley: Improvisie (1971, Free America/Verve) Bley sloughs off his strong suit by limiting himself to electric keybs, and then-wife Annette Peacock adds to the synthetic estrangement by doubling on electronics and singing a bit. Still, it's interesting in its own right, and Han Bennink's percussions are remarkable. B+
• Ruby Braff Trio and Quintet: You Brought a New Kind of Love (2001 [2005], Arbors). One more time, and why not? He finally got old enough he wasn't too young for his old-fashioned tastes. B+
• Anthony Braxton: Donna Lee (1972 [2005], Free America/Verve). Starts with slurred speed-bop. Then a patient, open-ended abstract exploration. Then two takes on "You Go to My Head." Then another original. An early quartet with Michael Smith on piano, a major talent working out fragments of his kit. B+
• Anthony Braxton: Saxophone Improvisations Series F (1972 [2005], Free America/Verve, 2CD). Solo alto saxophone, many series of practice runs work out almost minimalist variations, for the most part lighter and less intense than his For Alto breakout from 1968. B+
• Peter Brötzmann Tentet: Images (2002-03 [2004], Okka Disk). Despite my initial huge misgivings, this is getting to be a rather fun group. The album lists two long pieces, but the CD is broken up into 7 sections. Section 6, in particular, really moves along. B+
• Maurice Brown: Hip to Bop (2004, Brown). Something of a hard bopper, although he's probably more versatile than that. Bright trumpet voice, upbeat, seems like a talented guy. Enjoyable. None too deep. B+
• Build an Ark: Peace With Every Step (2004, Plug Research). It's hard to just sing about peace, let alone peace and love, without sounding silly, and it's probably harder still for jazz singers, since their typical affectations border on the silly anyway. Here we find "Peace With Every Step," "Peace and Love," "Love Is Our Nationality," "You've Gotta Have Freedom," and so on. The names I recognize on this ambitious and hopeful project are Adam Randolph and Phil Ranelin. Rudolph's hand drums are a delight. Ranelin's contribution is more limited: a piece called "Vibes From the Tribe," but that's a crucial historical reference. The instrumentals are intriguing -- often just drums and the odd flute, tribal sounds. The vocals sounds like they had fun. Let's leave it at that. B
• Billy Butterfield Joins Andy Bartha: Take Me to the Land of Jazz (1969 [2005], Delmark). Ten cuts with the ex-Bobcats trumpeter, cornetist Bartha, and a crack trad jazz band from sometime in the early '70s, plus five more with Bartha (but not Butterfield) leading a similar band. The standards are standards -- if you've never heard "Basin Street Blues" or "Millenberg Joys" you're in for a treat, but most likely you've heard them hundreds of times, many better -- but the band isn't much above average in a strictly normative genre, and the vocals are unprepossessing. B
• Ann Hampton Callaway: Slow (2004, Shanachie). Slow, right. All of the arrangements run slow -- even the irrepressible "Moondance" comes off a bit sluggish. Callaway's voice -- high, sometimes ethereal, with a metallic shimmer and bright shine to it -- might grow on you, but it could just as well turn into a serious annoyance. But given the music's lack of swing or jump or jive or dynamics of any sort, it's unlikely that anyone will sit still long enough to figure her out. C+
• James Chance: Sax Education (1978-88, Tiger Style, 2CD). The combination of Chance's thin, skronky alto sax with August Darnell's disco beats sounds like state-of-the-art jazztronica but dates from a quarter of a century ago. At the time, Chance's idea was to follow CBGB new wave with something weirder -- a James Brown beat damaged in the larceny; sharp, whiney, yelping proto-punk vocals; toy keybs, guitar drone, girlie choruses. Not sure if it was meant as comedy, but it is: a lot funnier in reality than the idea of Albert Ayler playing disco-punk fusion. First disc contains "the hits"; second is a concert, so he gets to play the hits again. A-
• Charming Hostess: Sarajevo Blues (2004, Tzadik). The three singers are much earthier than those mysterious Bulgarians, although they do have less of a crowd to lose themselves in. Much of this is just the singers with drums. Most of it is a cycle of songs or screeds set in Sarajevo under siege. The harshness is unsettling, but the critique is crude. In one called "Open Dialogue" one voice asks, "So then what kind of Muslim are you?" to which another answers "white." I don't find this charming at all. Evidently the text comes from Bosnian poet Sem Mehmedinovic, which puts this into the bag of orchestrated poesy, where the music is force fit to the poetry. B-
• The Nels Cline Singers: Instrumentals (2002, Cryptogramophone). First of all, the Singers don't actually sing, even on albums that aren't called Instrumentals. Cline is an electric guitarist, a significant talent with a lot of tricks up his sleeve, including a dash of heavy metal. B+
• Johnny Coles: Little Johnny C (1963 [2005], Blue Note). Extra horns in the front line limit this as a showcase for the leader's trumpet, but it's buoyant hard bop smartly done, and Duke Pearson's piano has a gospel ring to it. B+
• The Contemporary Jazz Quintet: Actions (1966-67 [2005], Atavistic). One of the earliest prime examples of new thing in Europe, influenced by Ayler but with Hugh Steinmetz's trumpet piled thick on top of Franz Beckerlee's alto sax it is denser and richly brassy. B+
• Billy Crystal Presents: The Milt Gabler Story (1938-64 [2005], Verve). Gabler was Crystal's uncle, but he's better known as the founder of Commodore Records, the producer of Billie Holiday's anti-lynching lament "Strange Fruit," and his long hit-making tenure at Decca. At Commodore he specialized in hot jazz, only lightly sampled here in tracks by Eddie Condon and Wild Bill Davison. Commodore was a small independent, but at Decca he worked with stars like Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, Louis Jordan and Louis Armstrong, while cultivating Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and launching two key songs that paved the way for rock and roll: Lionel Hampton's (aka Illinois Jacquet's) "Flying Home" and Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock." With so much to choose from, Crystal selected a rich and wildly disparate schmeer of mostly '50s pazz and jop. Irresistible: "The Glow Worm"; marvelous: "Little Things Mean a Lot"; de trop: "Three Coins in the Fountain"; perfect closer snuck in on a technicality, Nat King Cole's "L-O-V-E." A
• Billie Crystal Remembers Billie Holiday (1939-50 [2005], Verve). Crystal predictably picks from the Commodore and Decca recordings his uncle produced -- not her best-known work, not least because Gabler never gave her the all-star bands that Teddy Wilson (early) and Norman Granz (later) came up with; but if the point is just to hear her sing she has rarely been more gripping, especially on the strings-backed "God Bless the Child." A-
• Alexis Cuadrado Sextet: Visual (2004, Fresh Sound). That this is the bassist's album shows through in several spots, most pleasurably in his overdubbed bass-only "Te Recuerio Amanda." Otherwise, working with three horns, guitar and drums, there is a lot going on. Probably the best of this batch of Fresh Sound New Talent releases. B+
• Miles Davis: 'Round About Midnight: The Legacy Edition (1955-56 [2005], Columbia/Legacy, 2CD). This was the first album Davis delivered to Columbia. When Prestige found out they forced Davis back to the studio where he knocked out four albums in two days to satisfy his contract there. They turned out to be the best, and most famous, albums Davis ever cut for Prestige (Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', Steamin') but this one, playing on Miles' reputation as the coolest cat in bebop, was a mid-tempo marvel: it occupies comfortable middle ground between the east coast drive of hard bop and the west coast elegance of cool jazz, still very much rooted in bebop but not interested in burning down the house. The extra disc is a short live set for Gene Norman plus a Newport take of the title cut with various all-stars. It is inessential -- reminds me a bit of Charlie Parker's Roost recordings, except without Parker. The most memorable moment is when Norman introduces the saxophonist as Johnny Coltrane. B+
• Miles Davis: Seven Steps to Heaven (1963 [2005], Columbia/Legacy). A restart after a dead spot in Miles' career, with Ron Carter the first tentative step toward a second great quintet. Tentative is the word, with tinny ballads predominating. B
• Miles Davis: Miles Davis in Europe (1963 [2005], Columbia/Legacy). Herbie Hancock and 17-year-old Tony Williams add two more pieces and get to show their wares, with the whole band cohering on older pieces like "Milestones"; just another good show. B+
• Miles Davis: "Four" and More (1964 [2005], Columbia/Legacy). Six months later, half of a New York Philharmonic concert that also yielded My Funny Valentine. A much tighter group, practicing state of the art hard bop. A-
• Miles Davis: Miles in Tokyo (1964 [2005], Columbia/Legacy). George Coleman gave way to Wayne Shorter, but for this one trip Sam Rivers took over the tenor sax slot, giving Davis an experience with a much freer player, an intriguing path not taken; Rivers is on his best behavior, coming up with an attractive performance. A-
• Miles Davis: Miles in Berlin (1964 [2005], Columbia/Legacy). The arrival of Wayne Shorter marked the emergence of Miles' second great quintet, which went on to produce major albums for the rest of the decade. The band meshes elegantly on the usual songbook here, the chemistry of the rhythm section fully formed, with Miles in particularly fine form. A-
• Miles Davis: The Best of Seven Steps: The Complete Recordings of Miles Davis 1963-1964 ([2005], Columbia/Legacy). The inevitable sampler for the 6-CD box set, now (less a couple of alternate takes) also available separately. This was a period of transition when Miles returned to the road from a hiatus and assembled his famous late '60s quintet -- Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, all stars not least due to their association with Miles and each other. The box is a detail study, much of its interest historical, although the music holds up fine, and there's nothing wrong with the sampler except, perhaps, that it blurs the transitions. A-
• Joey DeFrancesco With Jimmy Smith: Legacy (2005, Concord). DeFrancesco's piano is something of a shock when it first appears on top of Smith's usual organ -- not just a sharper, more percussive instrument, it's played in a grand style. He uses it on three cuts, a synth on another; the rest of the album consists of organ duos, often peppered with guitar and/or extra percussion, once with James Moody's sax. I find the whole thing rather unsettling, though not without pleasure. I'm tempted to cut the late master some slack, even when he sings "I've Got My Mojo Workin'," but I'm less entranced by the heir apparent. B+
• Stefano di Battista: Parker's Mood (2004 [2005], Blue Note). Four remakes of Charlie Parker songs; six more of songs that were in Parker's songbook, counting two by Dizzy Gillespie and one by Thelonious Monk. The point of the old bebop warhorses escapes me; di Battista plays them well enough, but so did Parker, who added a certain wrecklessness that isn't evident here. The ballads come off much better. Parker's ballads never struck me as distinctive, but di Battista gets a richer tone out of his alto sax and Kenny Barron is one of the finest pianists around for this repertoire, so they shine through with surpassing loveliness. So much so that it's impossible to dislike this record, even if it seems pointless. B+
• The Best of Eric Dolphy (1960-61 [2004], Prestige). Started late, died young, giving him a carrer span of five years; played bass clarinet or flute as often as alto sax; most famous as a sideman for Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, with few albums under his own name (especially if you weed out the concerts uncovered after his death), but universally recognized as a major figure; this early selection leans to his bop roots, with half the cuts featuring ill-fated trumpeter Booker Little. A-
• Dave Douglas: Mountain Passages (2004 [2005], Greenleaf Music/Koch). Douglas is still working with Peggy Lee and Dylan van der Schyff, but this time he replaces Louis Sclavis with Michael Moore and Marcus Rojas (tuba), which has two immediate effects: the hornpower increases, and the record has a much less European folk feel. Also contributing to this change is that here Douglas writes all the pieces, whereas on Bow River Falls everyone had a hand -- especially Sclavis. Douglas has a tendency to overwrite and overarrange, and most of the horn parts here are played together, whereas with Sclavis they functioned separately -- which gave Douglas a lot more room to show off his considerable chops. This is still impressive work, just less pleasing, perhaps because it is less surprising. B+
• Dr. John: The Best of the Parlophone Years (1998-2004 [2005], Blue Note). After his 15 minutes of fame back in the '60s he went back to basics to show us that he had always been a studio pro, earning the right to dabble, to mess around, to coast even, and here to condense four recent records into one about as good as any. B+
• Harris Eisenstadt Quintet: Jalolu (2004, CIMP). Interesting grouping: the drummer plus baritone sax and three trumpets (counting Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet). Eisenstadt is a Canadian drummer just back from a pilgrimage to the Gambia. His drumming doesn't sound African; rather, he forms the free base from which the trumpets (Roy Campbell, Paul Smoker) shoot off their avant-fireworks. B+
• Eldar (2005, Sony Classical). The youngster from Kirghizstan (surname: Djangirov) can play. And despite the label name, this is a pretty respectable jazz album. He plays a couple of standards, including an upbeat "Sweet Georgia Brown" and the usual "'Round Midnight." He lets bassist John Patitucci have a solo, and guest saxophonist Michael Brecker (who also gets a production credit) makes a contribution. I'm impressed, but I can't get excited. This is the third foreign piano prodigy I've run across in the last year. This guy is a lot better than the kid from New Guinea, Andrew Choulai, but this record doesn't have the unique sweep of Maksim Mrvica's strafing of the classics. It's just a jazz album, with a pianist out to make an impression, which he does by overplaying. Sure, he might be major someday. More likely, he might be the next Adam Makowicz. But we tend to overrate prodigies, then pay for it later. B
• Kahil El'Zabar & David Murray: We Is: Live at the Bop Shop (2000 [2004], Delmark). El'Zabar is an important conceptualizer of pan-Africanist world jazz, but he can get to be annoying. He takes two long drum solos here, lots of banging and thrashing, but they never quite come through with whatever it is that drum solos are supposed to deliver. Worse are his chants, grunts, and vocalizations, which only make sense on "One World Family." On the other hand, Murray transcends all that. Give him space to blow and he generates wonders. His tenor sax intros to "Groove Allure" and "Blues Affirmation" are clear, concise, and breathtaking. His plays bass clarinet on "One World Family" and he's simply the all-time master of the instrument. Murray's recorded a number of duos, and the one thing they all have in common is a lot of great Murray. This is his third record with El'Zabar. One World Family (CIMP) came from the same year, covers much the same ground, and has pluses and minuses to this one: the sound here is better, much warmer, at least for Murray -- El'Zabar's vocals are clearer on the CIMP; this one has live crowd noise and a lot more drum solo. I rate the CIMP a tad higher, but they're very close. Better than either is the trio with bassist Fred Hopkins, recorded in 1997 but unreleased until 2002, Love Outside of Dreams (Delmark). B+
• Emergency: Homage to Peace (1970 [2005], Free America/Verve). Pianist Takashi Kako gets a rare quiet spot on "Kako Tune." Otherwise he pounds chords to keep up with Glenn Spearman's saxophone squall and Boulou Ferret's Hendrix-inspired electric guitar. B+
• Exuberance: Live at Vision Festival (2003 [2004], Ayler). Pretty much the usual avant-screech, with sax and trumpet up front, bass and drums in the back. I like it just fine. Not sure I'd recommend it, but it's growing on me. Reminds me that Morton and/or Cook once claimed that their idea of easy listening music was Ascension. It's not mine, but this might be. What fun. B+
• Fast 'N' Bulbous: Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind (2005, Cuneiform). Captain Beefheart's music is itself so quirky that it's a puzzle how one can jazz it up. This project by Gary Lucas (guitar) and Philip Johnston (alto sax) doesn't exactly try. Rather, it arranges the pieces for a seven-piece band with four horns, muscling it up with brass where Beefheart himself tended to be ascetic, letting the music speak for itself. So it sounds first like an instrumental soundtrack to Beefheart, then like a big band blow-up. I doubt that it's meant to be either. Rather, it's mean to be fun, and mostly is. Maybe if this group develops, e.g. like its labelmate Yo Miles, this will seem like a firm foundation. But then history isn't ever resolved until it's too late. B+
• Mongezi Feza: Free Jam (1972 [2004], Ayler, 2CD). Feza played trumpet in Chris McGregor's Blue Notes, the integrated (i.e., McGregor is white) South African jazz band that went into exile as soon as they started to get noticed, hanging around the avant-fringe of Europe. Like Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani, and Louis Moholo, Feza made a name for himself weaving his ancestral township jive into the worldwide stream of post-bop and free jazz, but he didn't make much of a name -- and he died young, in sad shape. I first ran across him on Robert Wyatt's Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard, which featured one of his songs as well as his trumpet, and I've been intrigued by him ever since. But very little of his work is available -- an album called Music for Xaba with Dyani and Turkish percussionist Okay Temiz is the only thing I've run across, aside from his work with McGregor and/or Pukwana and sideman appearances with Wyatt, Henry Cow, Gary Windo, and (of all people) Robert Palmer. Still, he's probably better known here than the leader of the quartet he joins here, Bernt Rosengren. That's another shame: Rosengren is one of the finest saxophonists Europe has produced. This belated album helps, albeit mostly to bring these names back into some sort of spotlight. It isn't very typical of either artist -- especially Rosengren, who elsewhere is a remarkably measured and articulate player. But that's mostly becaue the record earns its title: this was hacked out on the spot, with titles like "Theme of the Day" (twice) and "Group Notes" (four times) added after the fact. This tends to get by on energy and good cheer, which it delivers in spades. B+
• Ella Fitzgerald: Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook (1963 [2005], Verve). Great singer, pretty good songs, a perfectly adequate orchestra led by the dependable Nelson Riddle; this came late in the songbooks series and is something of a mop-up operation. B+
• Yves François: Blues for Hawk (1981-82 [2005], Delmark). Easy-going blues-drenched sessions with Chicago legends Franz Jackson and Eddie Johnson joining the then-young trad jazz trumpeter-leader. B+
• Fred Fried: When Winter Comes (2002 [2004], Ballet Tree). Richard DeRosa's string orchestratation isn't awful, although it starts out in that direction. When the strings back off the trio of Fried (acoustic 7-string guitar) and established pros Steve LaSpina (bass) and Billy Drummond (drums) can be very engaging, and even fun when they pick up the pace. As much as I dislike the strings, it's possible that they frame the trio in some way that enhances them. B
• Full House: Champagne Taste (2002 [2005], Nagel Heyer). Not sure what this is: part hard bop, part soul jazz, part something else, more rockish, I guess. David Hazeltine plays Fender Rhodes and Hammond B3; he's a hard bop guy, but the electric keyboards slow him down a bit, and cost him some sharpness, so his role is more rhythmic. Greg Skaff plays guitar, but I can't make out a consistent style. The horn is Jim Rotondi's trumpet; not a soul jazz instrument, but that makes for a distinctive touch. The sound is immediate and forceful, caught in a live setting where they made an impression. Rotondi is the interesting player in this context -- the guy who gets to run with the ball. B
• Curtis Fuller: Keep It Simple (2003 [2005], Savant). Most of what's notable here comes not from the veteran trombonist but from Javon Jackson -- especially a long, lovely solon on Jackson's own "Diane" with Fuller laying out. Still, it's good to hear Fuller chime in after a Jackson solo, and the cuts without Jackson hold up nicely anyway. B+
• Leo Genovese: Haikus II (2004, Fresh Sound). Authoritative piano trio plus occasional horns, Genovese plays fast and thick, rich feel, lot of action, good touch. One of the better albums in this vein. B+
• Dizzy Gillespie: Dizzy: The Music of John Birks Gillespie (1950-63 [2005], Verve). Two problems with this compilation: one is that it is a tie-in with Donald L. Maggin's biography of Gillespie, but it only covers one chunk of Gillespie's career, leaving out his breakthrough (and most famous) records on Musicraft, Savoy and RCA, the live concerts on Vogue, the later sessions for Pablo; the other is that it slices the Verve recordings so thin that it never develops any flow. Any attempt to cover Gillespie's breadth would run into the latter problem. We tend to think of bebop, hence Gillespie, as a small group aesthetic -- as an explosion of individualist virtuosity opposed to the previous big band era. Gillespie, of course, could do that, but he grew up in big bands, invented bebop in big bands, and continued to expand the horizons of big bands into the '60s -- indeed, the most scintillating music here is with his big band. If this comp becomes your first encounter, you will be amazed. But be aware that the two poles of his Verve recordings -- the big band on Gillespiana and the jousts on Sonny Side Up are more satisfactory and more amazing as separate discs. And that he was even greater earlier on. B+
• Dexter Gordon: Mosaic Select 14 (1978-79 [2004], Mosaic, 3CD). Long Tall Dexter was a major voice on the tenor saxophone as far back as the late '40s. John Coltrane, whose legacy has dominated jazz saxophone ever since his death, started out as a Gordon disciple. Gordon's Blue Note recordings from 1961-65 are his best known: they're all in print, individually as well as boxed, with a fine 2-CD sampler for dabblers. In the early '60s, Gordon left the U.S. for Scandinavia, not returning until the late '70s, when he was greeted as a living legend. At first, Mosaic's 3-CD Select series collected works by relatively obscure Blue Note artists who didn't quite fit their larger box set program: Paul Chambers, Benny Green, Carmell Jones, Dizzy Reece, etc. But for Gordon they stayed clear of his '60s work, settling on these late '70s live sets that Blue Note had released, and soon deleted, as Nights at the Keystone. There are many live Gordon dates in print these days, especially on Denmark's Steeplechase label, and this is very typical -- his magisterial tone, his penchant for quirky quotes, the ever-accommodating and often magical George Cables on piano. A-
• Onaje Allan Gumbs: Remember Their Innocence (2004, Ejano Music). I can't pin down the piano style -- fluid, but a little sweet. Three songs have vocals, the third dragging a bit. Most of the rest have sax or trumpet, adding a voice without having to carry the lyrics. One solo piano piece is relatively clumsy. B+
• Iro Haarla & Ulf Krokfors: Heart of a Bird (2003, TUM). This is a slow, meditative album. Krokfors, a bassist who shows up on Finnish jazz records with considerable frequency, wrote most of the pieces. He gives himself ample space, and isn't crowded out by Haarla's piano. Both are thoughtful players; neither is exciting. But what kicks this up a notch is guest saxophonistRasmus Korsström, who joins in for four exceptionally lovely cuts. B+
• Iro Haarla/Ulf Krokfors/Loco Motife: Penguin Beguine (2005, TUM). Haarla and Krokfors did a nice duo album last year. Loco Motife seems to be a big band built around their songwriting. The band opens up various options, which they exploit with such relish that by the end the record looks to me like a giant springworks blown asunder. Anders Bergcrantz's trumpet makes the first big impression. Mikko Iivanainen gets to show off some Hendrix-isms on guitar. Johanna Iivanainen sings two pieces. Any of these might be interesting directions to pursue, but not all at once. B
• Scott Hamilton & Harry Allen: Heavy Juice (2004, Concord). Too nice. Even more gentlemanly than Zoot Sims and Al Cohn. Of course, it's also too lovely to hate. B+
• Tardo Hammer: Tardo's Tempo (2004, Sharp Nine). Hammer only offers one original in this piano trio recording, the balance almost evenly split between standards and pieces out of the bebop legacy. On first approximation, that marks this as one of so many mainstream trio works, but it has more edge than that. He works to add something distinctive to every piece he touches, and more often than not he succeeds. The point, I suspect, isn't to step out from the bop tradition so much as to find the residual radicalism hidden deep within the orthodoxy. In this he reminds one a bit of Lennie Tristano, who is often cited as a forebear. Sharply recorded. B+
• Richie Hart: Blues in the Alley (2004, Zoho). Nice, somewhat bluesy guitar record. No big deal, but nothing to sneeze at either. Especially "Well You Needn't," the Monk piece that opens it. B+
• Alex Heitlinger Sextet: Green Light (2004, Synergy Music). Similar to the hard bop lineups of the '60s, with three horns (sax, trumpet, the leader's trombone) up front, piano, bass and drums out back. Like its prototype, it works best when everyone is loose and the leads rotate their shots. It drags a bit when they get in unison, and loses the appeal of the individual instruments. Nothing much wrong with it, but nothing especially interesting either. B
• Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez: Italuba (2004, Pimienta). One of the major Cuban drummers, Hernandez played on over 300 albums in Cuba before he emigrated first to Italy then to the U.S. This is his first release as a leader, and he remembers his period in Italy both with the title (a bridge from Italy to Cuba) and by reworking a famous Dizzy Gillespie piece as "A Night in Torino." But everything else is deeply Cuban: the typical high speed piano, piercing trumpet, driving bass. But more than anything else this is a showcase for the drummer. B+
• The Fred Hess Quartet: The Long and Short of It (2003 [2004], Tapestry). Hess is a tenor saxophonist, based in Colorado, where he founded the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble, and continues to reside as some sort of eminence grise (now age 60) in a relatively unknown local scene. His AMG entry tries to draw comparisons between Hess and damn near every saxophonist from Lester Young to Charles Gayle, but he sounds pretty distinctive to me. For this quartet session, he's joined by Ron Miles (trumpet), Ken Filiano (bass), and Matt Wilson (drums). I've been finding sax/trumpet front lines to be a particular source of annoyance recently, but here they sound distinct and sufficient, and when they do play at the same time they often take off on interesting tangents. Miles' most effective leads come in splotchy discrete notes against a chug-a-lug rhythm, making for a comically impressionist effect. Filiano impresses with bass solos that are beautifully thought out and recorded clearly enough that they don't drop out of the music. Solid, interesting work. B+
• John Heward Trio: Let Them Pass (Laissez-Passer) (2002 [2004], Drimala). The same title is recycled seven times, essentially the same piece improvised seven different ways. Joe Giardullo builds a layer cake here, playing tenor sax on the odd-numbered pieces, other instruments on the even numbers. But it's the drummer's album, and it pays to concentrate on him. B+
• Andrew Hill: Dance With Death (1968 [2004], Blue Note). This is not the revelation of Hill's nascent arranging that the previously unreleased Passing Ships was. Rather, this was a relatively late (for Hill at Blue Note) small group session with an interesting front line -- Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Joe Farrell on tenor and soprano sax -- that sat on the shelf until 1980. A-
• Dave Holland Big Band: Overtime (2005, Dare2/Sunnyside). Holland's big band is built around his quintet, the extra muscle being a full set of saxophones and triplets of trumpet and trombone. There is no piano, and Steve Nelson occupies his customary spot on vibes. Plus, as with all bassist's albums, the bass is mixed up, providing a clear and vibrant pulse throughout. The surplus of horns gives him plenty options, but as often as not he merely uses them for luscious brass backdrops. So the most striking thing here is the simplicity of conception. Still, there's a lot of superb solos to go with the immaculate organization. A-
• ICP Orchestra: Oh, My Dog! (2001, ICP). I like the way they can string out a melodic section, but I don't quite get the rationale behind the long static bits where they just seem to be farting around. B+
• ICP Orchestra: Aan and Uit (2003, ICP). Big band led by Misha Mengelberg with various other Dutch Masters along for the ride. The good humor is undoubted, but they rarely pull it all together -- even though when they do it can be extraordinary. B+
• Ilmiliekki Quartet: March of the Alpha Males (2003, TUM). Trumpeter Verneri Pohjola puts a brassy sheen on everything he touches, very elegant. Pianist Tuomo Prattala earns his keep, too. But the most alpha of the alpha males is drummer Olavi Louhivuori, who drives things and sometimes just bangs for the hell of it. He gets a terrific array of sounds out of his kit. When the trumpet enters after a display, you wonder whether it's come to play taps. B+
• Jazz Jamaica All Stars: Massive (2001, Dune). This has its fun moments, but I don't quite get the point. Basically, it's ska orchestrated for big band, and we do mean big: nine saxes, six trumpets, seven trombone, various others including Juliet Roberts singing two songs ("My Boy Lollipop" and "Walk On By"). Old sawhorses like "Liquidator" and "Al Capone" (perversely medleyed with "[Love Theme From] The Godfather") romp as expected, but then if everything behaves as expected, like, what is the point? It's not like there are no standards for this concept -- instrumentals were a feature of Jamaican music almost from the git-go (that's where dub came from), and nothing here makes me feel like discarding the Skatalites. No doubt it's just meant to be fun. Most likely points are overrated. But that's like saying so are critics. B
• Billy Jenkins With the Blues Collective: S.A.D. (1996, Babel). Like a Brit Blood Ulmer, an avant-jazz guitarist who likes to sing gravitates to the blues. A pretty straight blues album at that -- even a horn section -- but titles like "Ain't Gonna Play No Jazz No More" and "Jazz Had a Baby (and They Called It Avant-Garde)" betray where he's coming from. Where he's going is harder to tell. The closer, a slab of slide guitar psychedelia called "Goodbye Blues," formally resembles some of his pop-music contortions. B+
• Randy Johnston: Is It You? (2005, HighNote). Half trio, half quartet with Xavier Davis on piano. Like much jazz guitar this strikes me as light, but the closing "Groovy Samba" makes the best of that, floating off into the ether. B+
• Anders Jormin: In Winds, in Light (2004, ECM). Album feels alien, out of some Euro tradition, possibly classical. Willemark's voice is static, high-pitched, arty, aloof, dominant. Nelson's "church organ" much more prominent than Crispell's piano, which continues in her slow-mo free jazz mode. Jormin plays bass, always a problem when trying to develop a lead voice. This is not without interest -- Jormin's bass playing is interesting, and Crispell gets in some licks -- it is extremely stiff for my taste: the last cut, to pick just one example, starts with a shrill scream and towering church organ, the stuff of horror films. B-
• Kalaparush and the Light: Morning Song (2003 [2004], Delmark). Maurice McIntyre goes back to the avant-garde's heyday in the '60s: an associate of Roscoe Mitchell, a founder of the AACM. His occasional records frequently invoke the creator -- cf. the piece here called "I Don't Have an Answer Unless It's God." If that reminds your of Albert Ayler, that's a good start: he's more moderate than Ayler, but both favor the simple as well as the searching. He's joined here by Jesse Dulman on tuba and Ravish Momin on drums: a tenor sax trio only with tuba subbing for bass. The tuba opens up some two-horn possibilities without undue clutter, while providing a more robust, more metallic bottom. B+
• Steve Lacy: The Gap (1972 [2005], Free America/Verve). Starts scratchy, with both Lacy and Steve Potts on soprano sax and Irene Aebi's cello added to bass and drums, but it levels out a bit with songs dedicated to Johnny Hodges and Sonny Clark. B
• Dave Liebman & Phil Markowitz: Manhattan Dialogues (2005, Zoho). I suppose this is meant to remind one of Liebman's duo recordings with Richie Bierach, maybe even to carry on from there. But it doesn't make me want to go back and revisit. This feels arbitrary and unhinged -- the two players don't connect well, and aren't especially eloquent on their own. Liebman, at least, is more coherent when he switches to tenor sax. B
• Maksim: The Piano Player (2003, MBO/EMI). Like Eldar Djangirov, another young East European whose daunting surname (Mrvica) has been suppressed by the marketeers. This one also plays piano, and is even heavier into the grandiose period of euroclassicism: Grieg, Chopin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, plus a piece of "Exodus" by Herbert Gold and a lot of Tonci Huljik that fits in seemlessly. Its jazz quotient is close to nil -- reminds me a bit of the recent Keiko Matsui, but even more so of Queen, who unlike ELP or Genesis could steal from the classics with enough good humor to be forgivable. Better than Queen, actually, because we don't have to deal with none of that opera shit. I doubt that I'll ever play it again as anything other than a grand joke, but in one spin it blew me away. That's worth noting. B+
• Gui Mallon: Live at Montreux (2004, Adventure Music). Brazilian guitar, thickened by strings and percussion, with flute and sax for decoration -- weights not specified, but soprano is the most prominent. Despite initial misgivings, I'm finding this quite charming. Most of the record is filled up by "Brasil, Brazil Suite" -- a dozen or more pieces strung together. One oddment is that it even includes a rap. B+
• Joe Maneri, Barre Phillips, Mat Maneri: Angles of Repose (2002 [2004], ECM). Dense, abstract album; mostly slow stuff, with a lot of tension. I find the Maneris, especially pere, rather difficult going, so I suppose it means something that this makes for rather interesting background noise. Not fun to listen to, but you get the sense they have something going even if it's not at all clear what it is. B+
• The Best of Shelly Manne (1953-61 [2004], Contemporary). One of the few drummers to make the transitions from big band swing to bebop to Ornette without the slightest hitch, Manne's drumwork was inconspicuous but his ability to drive a band, keeping them light and fleet but together, was uncanny. With the leader in the background this sampler seems more arbitrary than most, starting points on paths worth pursuing separately, but together a quick glimpse of the diversity of the music Manne was most identified with -- west coast cool. A-
• Mike Marshall & Choro Famoso (2004, Adventure Music). Brazilian choro music for mandolin, guitar, clarinet and percussion. Sounds like a cross between bluegrass and klezmer, which is roughly the idea: lithe and bouncy. Marshall is a mandolin player from Oakland CA, with a background that covers a lot of bluegrass, but he's been on a Brazilian kick lately, recording a previous Duets album (also choro), and running the Adventure Music label, which is turning into an interesting outlet for Brazilian music. B+
• Keiko Matsui: Walls of Akendora (2005, Narada Jazz). This reminds me of classical music: not the old stuff that way back in grade school I avoided like the plague, but the stuff that snuck into my cranium through the movies when I was too ignorant to fathom what was going down. The central role of classical music in Hollywood was partly a historical accident, but the customary orchestration of drama was bound to be useful -- contemporary soundtracks follow the same ruts, even when they trade in string orchestras for synths. Matsui borrows more from Morricone than Mozart, but eschews the former's minimalism -- she likes to lay it on thick. I'm surprised it's as effective as it is. B+
• Kate McGarry: Mercy Streets (2005, Palmetto). She's a singer with a lot of technique but an unimposing, perhaps even self-deprecating, air. I can see how folks might be impressed, but she gets on my nerves. The songs are scattered widely, but the one that both convinces me and turns me off the most is "Trouble of the World" -- a piece of gospel suffering that evokes everything I detest about religion. The dainty "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" is an odd closer, almost a throwaway as if she's embarrassed to be here. This was mostly done with guitar, bass and drums, but the guest pianist on three cuts is Fred Hersch, superb as ever. B
• Chris McNulty: Dance Delicioso (2004 [2005], Elefant Dreams). A singer with a dusky voice, best matched to blues and slow torch songs, a minor thread in this album. Low point is a Brazilian beat piece which threatens to get her visa revoked, but trying to jazz up Annie Lennox isn't a much better idea. She manages to draw some good musicians -- most valuable is Gary Bartz on four tracks. But one of those is a Cole Porter standard that her voice seems too heavy for. B
• Marian McPartland & Friends: 85 Candles -- Live in New York (2005, Concord, 2CD). There is some fine music here, but the parade of guest stars makes for a very haphazard performance; especially the singers and the piano duets. McPartland plays on half of the cuts, maybe a bit more. She's a splendid hostess, of course, and she's earned the recognition. But I don't find this parade of stars very appealing. B
• Meat Beat Manifesto: At the Center (2005, Thirsty Ear). Jack Dangers' beats are splendid, and they keep coming. His "want ads" are odd, both in voice and content, which may or may not be a plus. He also has a text more/less on American imperialism which strikes me as fundamentally sound. Peter Gordon's "Flute Thang" is my favorite piece of flute since Robert Dick. Dave King and Craig Taborn help out. Jazz quotient isn't high, but it's in there somewhere. B+
• Myra Melford/The Tent: Where the Two Worlds Touch (2004, Arabesque). This is an ugly, sprawling mess. I came close to putting this on the Duds list, and even now don't like it much. Melford is one of the major pianists of our age, and you can hear some of that here. But recently she's taken to playing harmonium, an instrument that sounds somewhere between organ and accordion, and that takes all of the sharpness out of her playing. And she's joined here by Chris Speed and Cuong Vu, who work with similar textures in their Yeah No group, but Melford pushes them to extremes they never risk by themselves. The first problem the album has is in pulling together the piano and harmonium pieces, and that never happens successfully -- maybe she should overdub? But dislikable as it is, it's impossible to hate such vigorous music. B+
• Pablo Menéndez: Havana Blues Mambo (2005, Zoho). California-born guitarist -- "Cuba domiciled," whatever that means. The Afro-Cuban grooves are tasty enough, and I can't fault the guitar, but the sax and flute don't do anything for me, nor the vocal fills. Seems too cavalier as well as too complicated. Not awful; just falls below the line. B
• Jason Miles: Miles to Miles: In the Spirit of Miles Davis (2005, Narada). That Jason Miles worked with Marcus Miller and Miles Davis on the latter's late '80s albums from Tutu to Amandla is a connection, but doesn't say much about spirit. Davis' post-'70 work was built around electric bass and guitar with a live drummer, and the keybs, even with Chick Corea, were just cheese sauce. But with Jason the synth beats are central: that's what he does. And despite an impressive array of guest talent that's about all he does. B-
• Dominic Miller: Third World (2003 [2005], Alula). Mostly solo guitar, with one vocal and small bits of percussion added on a couple of tracks. Nice, in a very minor way. B
• Miriodor: Parade + Live at Nearfest 2002 (1999-05 [2005], Cuneiform, 2CD). French instrumental rock, mostly keybs, cute at first, never quite annoying but feels less substantial as it piles up. B+
• Wes Montgomery: Smokin' at the Half Note (1965 [2005], Verve). The front cover shows this as originally credited, with the Wynton Kelly Trio on top, Montgomery on the bottom. The Kelly Trio had its start as the rhythm section of the Miles Davis Quintet, but when Miles decided not to tour in the early '60s Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb set out on their own. Montgomery had done his major work for Riverside up to 1963 before moving to Verve where he mostly cut overly slick and saccharine versions of pop hits, but this date has grown in his canon, regarded by many as one of the essential milestones in jazz guitar. That judgment strikes me as overly generous. The five cuts on the original album -- three actually recut in the studio by Creed Taylor after finding the originals somehow lacking -- were precariously balanced between Kelly and Montgomery, providing tantalizing moments of each. This new edition tilts the balance decisively toward the guitarist with six extra cuts meant for radio, most with MC intros and chatter, but most also with sterling examples of Montgomery's melodic lines. A-
• Jason Moran: Same Mother (2005, Blue Note). His usual trio, augmented by guitarist Marvin Swell, who wails like a sax on "Jump Up," strings out the Prokofiev piece, and rocks "I'll Play the Blues for You." Moran is at his most impressive in banging out chords on the opening and closing pieces, both with "Gangsterism" in the title. B+
• Mozayik: Haitian Creole Jazz (2005, Zoho). I would have expected Haitian jazz to conjure up more voodoo or ju ju or something like that, but this group leads off with "Caravan" then makes nice through eleven originals, relying mostly on guitar, bass guitar, and a pretty slick pianist named Welmyr Jean-Pierre. Drums too, subtler than you'd expect, but they come from somewhere off the beaten path. Not much, but the groove is too irresistible for me to object. B+
• Idris Muhammad: House of the Rising Sun (1976 [2004], CTI/Epic/Legacy). Creed Taylor in extremis, best if you concentrate on the percussion, which is the leader's calling, instead of the curious mix of Meters-style funk and disco that Taylor thought might sell; not that it deconstructs that cleanly, or that funk isn't its own reward. B
• Michael Musillami Octet: Spirits (2004, Playscape). Like Mario Pavone's album from the same label, this is a remembrance of Thomas Chapin, who wrote all of the songs and whose spirit hovers over the proceedings. But this is a little harder to get a grip on: the larger group spreads the music and thins the musicianship, and Musillami's guitar, which can be lovely, doesn't get much space. At various times vibes, piano, or horns come up front -- Tom Christensen's saxophones come closest to the Chapin model, unsurprisingly. B+
• Ted Nash and Odeon: La Espada de la Noche (2005, Palmetto). With violin and accordion this might sound like tango even if it didn't follow the familiar twists and turns. Along with Clark Gayton's tuba or trombone and Matt Wilson's drumming they make a fascinating backdrop for Nash's reeds -- mostly tenor sax, in a mode influenced by Lester Young, but also alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, and alto flute. A-
• Natto Quartet: Thousand Oaks (2004 [2005], 482 Music). This doesn't give you much comfort -- just two Japanese instruments (shakuhachi, koto), electronics and piano. Splotches of sound, with little connective material. Not without interest, but in the end the feel is rather hollow. Most likely their intention. B
• Negroni's Trio: Piano/Drums/Bass (2004, Universal Latino). Trio from Puerto Rico built around pianist José Negroni. Fast, percussive latin jazz, varied a bit by guest Ed Calle on soprano and tenor sax, one cut each. B+
• Steve Nelson: Fuller Nelson (1998 [2004], Sunnyside). Nelson has probably been the most successful vibes sideman in jazz over the last twenty years, but he only has half-a-dozen or so recordings under his own name. The best known, Full Nelson, came out in 1989, and this is a reprise, also with Kirk Lightsey (piano) and Ray Drummond (bass). That sort of lineup shows up often on vibes records -- piano is similar in pitch and volume, less dynamic but with a richer sound, so it complements vibes nicely without overwhelming. Lightsey is a particularly good match for Nelson. B+
• Tommy Newsom and His Octo-Pussycats (2004 [2005], Arbors). Newsom, the former bandleader on the Tonight show (following Skitch Henderson and Doc Severinsen, if memory serves), is in his mid-70s, and the rest of the band younger, but there are eight musicians, so maybe the group name has something to do with that. Nice, pleasant swing album -- perhaps a bit better than that when he plays Ellington, or when his cornet player gets some space. Cornet player: Warren Vaché. B+
• Vardan Ovsepian: Akunc (2004, Fresh Sound). Dark, subtle, mostly quiet, voice (Monica Yngvesson) a minor component added obliquely. A quote from the artist sums it up: "After layers of heavy silence each sound appeared as a harmony itself. Then, old and new truths unfolded." B+
• Afonso Pais: Terranova (2004 [2005], Clean Feed). Lovely little guitar album, in a trio with bass and drums. B+
• Rick Parker Collective: New York Gravity (2002 [2004], Fresh Sound). Good record, but having played it more than half-a-dozen times it still hasn't made the leap from good record to something better. Parker plays trombone; the Collective adds trumpet, saxophone, piano, bass and drums, for a good deal of complexity. Every piece has lots of things going on; in a smaller or more patient world I might be able to figure them out. B+
• Annette Peacock: Mama Never Taught Me How to Cook: The Aura Years (1978-82 [2004], Castle). Married first to Gary Peacock then to Paul Bley, she was more of a gadfly and joker than jazz musician, although Bley and Marilyn Crispell wound up recording whole albums of her songs. She started singing as input into the synthesizers that intrigued her and Bley, then cut several more/less rock albums in the '70s -- two collected here, plus some outtakes -- before fading away, as if she never conceived of anything as deliberate as a career. Still, her "rock shit" sounds remarkably like jazz even today. As a vocalist she's often thin and undisciplined, but she takes enormous dramatic risks with the title cut and her "Don't Be Cruel" cover. Elsewhere, as on "Survival," she lapses into softly rapped philosophizing that draws the music, a repetitive theme with improvised curlicues, up around her like a warm blanket.