I am a great Ben Webster fan and he is strongly performing on this album recorded in Barcelona. But on this album, he is « outperformed » by pianist Tete Montoliu … what a great listen !! The “SteepleChase” album series by Tete are all very nice. Example below
Iver
The latest from Matthew Whitaker, just released on Tidal. He has some big names along on some tracks (Jon Batiste, Regina Carter), with his own spin on some Jazz standards. Sounding good so far.
Enjoying some live Charlie Byrd this evening. His tribute to Jobim at the 26th Concord Jazz Festival has Charlie and a great band play some Jobim favourites. Great evening listening.
When the conversation turns to contemporary jazz pianists, the name of Fred Hersch is apt to be left out. Not because he’s unknown – far from it – but because his constant, undemonstrative presence is too often taken for granted. His best work has been as a soloist or with his piano trio, performing his own shapely, lyrical compositions. He is also a much-praised accompanist to singers. If all this seems a little bland, I suggest you listen to a track here, entitled Out Someplace, subtitled Blues for Matthew Shepard, in memory of a gay man murdered in Wyoming in 1998. A more angry and disturbing piece it’s difficult to imagine, made positively terrifying by the orchestration of Vince Mendoza.
Indeed all nine of Hersch’s compositions here, some already well known, gain in colour from Mendoza’s arrangements, not to mention the playing of the Cologne-based WDR band. The sheer brilliance of some European radio bands ensures a regular flow of top US musicians, eager to make use of their talents. The same was true of our own BBC Big Band, but things seem to have gone suspiciously quiet there lately.
Enjoy
Dave
Fans of vocalist José James have hardly had time to catch their breath in 2010. His new-school R&B album Blackmagic (a sophomore effort released in March 2010 on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood imprint) was still being fired by DJs in clubs and on European and Japanese radio, while garnering acclaim globally. Barely two months later, James popped this set out in May. For All We Know is a duet recording with Belgian jazz pianist Jef Neve. It’s James’ first album to be released in the United States – his home country – and the first of newly recorded material on Impulse! Records in six years. Musically, this set couldn’t be more different from his two preceding offerings. There are no star productions by Flying Lotus, Nicola Conte, Moodymann, or Jazzanova this time out. This intimate nine-track collection of standards from the Great American Songbook was produced by the duo who made it. All but one cut was recorded in a single six-hour session, and the majority of these performances are first takes. This is a “pure” jazz recording. James and Neve pull out heavy hitters from the repertoire, “Autumn in New York,” the Gershwins’ “Embraceable You,” “Body and Soul,” and Duke Ellington’s “Just Squeeze Me” among them. James – who studied and played with jazz greats Chico Hamilton and Junior Mance – is not overly reverent, but he is disciplined as well as innovative. Neve’s pianism pushes that envelope a little further still. His light touch, elegant harmonics, and subtly innovative fills and solos give James all the support and room he needs. Listen to this version of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life.” At over seven minutes, its graceful melody is taken deeply inside his rich, warm, sometimes arid baritone (the same way John Coltrane took it inside his horn – this tune is a tribute to him) and brought out again as a compact universe of mystery, imagination, and marvelously diverse ethereal textures with Neve creating enough intuitive space around it to make it possible. The duo’s reading of “When I Fall in Love” is downright moving. It holds no trace of the nostalgia usually associated with its many interpretations. James is able to express the deep yearning in the lyric and melody without over-emoting. For jazz fans who’ve not heard him, this album is a very new turn on some well-worn music by a major talent. For James’ fans – who all knew he could sing like this – For All We Know adds a different kind of depth and dimension to his established recorded oeuvre thus far.
Enjoy
Dave
Bit of horse and lp trading with JazzHouse allowed me to purchase the Tal Farlow. Mint,European edition. Recommended by Dynaudio.
A Pres and vice Pres from the always reasonable Jazz Messengers in Barcelona.
N
And three from Discogs for under £9.00 delivered.
Stocking up for winter.
Much of the Concord label is not well represented on Qobuz.
My ears also prefer the sound of the CD player to the NDX.
N
Jazz Messengers are the dog’s b*llocks !
Tal Farlow Mosaic - nice !
Great album.
He could also put his hand to less adventurous but no less musical work. Just for me.
This has been in my collection for years.
Individual reedy tone. Fournier’s drums well captured.
On Qobuz.
N
Very nice. Just been listening on Tidal.
Hey @jazzman22 the “José James & Jef Neve” album is wonderful. Jef Neve is from my country and I have been lucky enough hear!ng him play live.
Iver
Not heard the second recommendation but if it’s as good as the first then worth a listen.
