Music » Vinyl Record Jazz Music

2005 Japanese re-issue of his 1960 album that has been long out-of-print in the US. 24 Digitally Remastered. Limited pressing. Blue Note. Standard jewel case.

While Chet Baker was famous for his almost evanescent singing voice and was strongly associated with West Coast jazz, this all-instrumental, all-ballad album recorded with some of New York's finest musicians may have been his most beautiful recording. These 1958-59 sessions place Baker in groups ranging from quartet to sextet, and his trumpet playing is strong, secure, and clear, capable of the subtlest inflections. The settings simply couldn't be better. Pianist Bill Evans was in the midst of redefining the piano ballad, and he's masterful at creating fresh harmonic underpinnings for Baker from the opening chords of "Alone Together," here reminiscent of "Blue in Green." Guitarist Kenny Burrell adds comparable support on a wistful treatment of "September Song," while Pepper Adams's baritone saxophone, present on seven tracks, is a craggy, rough-hewn complement to Baker's smoothly melodic trumpet. Herbie Mann contributes flute and arrangements to several sextet tracks, while the rhythm section, with Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones and Connie Kay sharing the drumming, is resilient and lightly propulsive. The concluding "Early Morning Mood" is a long, slow Baker blues that's a nice addition to the well-chosen set of standards. The 20-bit K2 super coding system results in excellent sound, capturing every drum detail and particularly enhancing Adams's broad, overtone-rich sound. --Stuart Broomer

Kenny Drew brings a pure bop angularity to this 1956 session, with driving single-note lines that clamber over one another to get at a new rhythmic detail, along with splashing chords that find the joy in the blues. He's joined by a rhythm section that virtually defined the mid-1950s ethos: bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, Miles Davis regulars and a frequent tandem on sessions of the day. Chambers provides his own significant solo input as well as superb bass lines, while Jones adds untold vitality here, furiously knitting a polyrhythmic backdrop that seems to collide and expand on Drew's lines at every point of contact. No pianist could ask for more (though some might ask for less), and it's apparent why Jones was a favorite of pianists from Bill Evans to Elmo Hope. Drew's boppish, Powell-inspired playing shines on Ellington's "Caravan," while he's close to the essence of Monk on "Ruby, My Dear." It's a classic session by a pianist whose long European residence meant that he was unjustly neglected at home. --Stuart Broomer

Bill Evans had recorded only sparsely with horn players when this session was cut in 1962. His performance on Miles Davis's Kind of Blue had portended a certain minimal presence when playing with horns, but Interplay defies the earlier recording's hints with particularly strong playing. He's perhaps egged on by Philly Joe Jones, who seemed always able to throw Evans into overdrive (just listen to the Secret Sessions for plentiful confirmation of this). Here, you have Jones pushing Evans, and guitarist Jim Hall adding harmonic depth and brittle latticework around the edges while trumpeter Freddie Hubbard joins in the fray. The instrument mix is odd, but Hubbard plays lyrically enough that he sounds snug in Evans's ever-surprising chord voicings. As for Hall, he sounds genteel and then engaged and then snapping as the band pushes hard on several standards. --Andrew Bartlett

Array

When Red Garland was a member of Miles Davis's band in the late '50s, Davis would regularly depart the stage to feature Garland in a trio format. He was a complete jazz pianist, able to find ideal chordal extensions to prod a soloist, to swing aggressively with block chords, and to string together single note lines with buoyant energy and a bright articulation. He was capable of real delicacy, but his playing never descended to the decorative. His regular trio featured bassist Paul Chambers, his gifted partner from the Davis quintet, and drummer Art Taylor, a rock-solid timekeeper whose balance of subtlety and drive also made him Bud Powell's drummer of choice. Garland mated his harmonic sophistication to elements that communicated directly, his tunefulness, his rhythmic drive, and his vigorous roots in Texas and the Southwest blues traditions. They're evident everywhere here, from the medium-tempo swing of Ellington minimalist masterpiece "C-Jam Blues" to the deep, melancholic blues that infuse "Willow Weep for Me." Garland's Prestige recordings of the late '50s are models for the piano trio in modern jazz, and Groovy is among the best of them. --Stuart Broomer

Like Money Jungle, the later collaboration between Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach, this collection of Ellingtonia showed how much a modernist the Duke really was. Without a doubt, Ellington is more clearly recalled as an architect of the Swing Era, but in Monk's hands, Ellington's tunes sound as pregnant with post-swing potential as anything in the bebop canal. Monk recorded these tunes at the request of Riverside Records founder Orrin Keepnews, who knew how idiosyncratic the pianist was, and rather than produce literal transcriptions, Monk went all over the map. Stride shades drop in amid the off-center melody statements. And shot throughout all the tunes is Monk's persistently interstitial approach, whereby he spots seams and creases in every phrase and then fills, comments on, and dances around them. As the first chapter, if you will, in the Complete Riverside box set, this makes a great platform for viewing Monk's ascent into unbridled genius. --Andrew Bartlett

(Vinyl LP) Reissue of original 1956 release by pianist Thelonious Monk with with bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Art Blakey.

Among Thelonious Monk's long stays at New York's legendary Five Spot was a six-month period in 1957 with possibly his most brilliant band, with John Coltrane finding fuel in Monk's music for his harmonic explorations. The quartet only recorded three studio tracks: a sublime reading of Monk's ballad "Ruby, My Dear"; a loping version of "Nutty"; and a stunning version of "Trinkle Tinkle" on which Trane's tenor mirrors Monk's piano part. The CD is completed with outtakes from an octet session that joined Coltrane and Coleman Hawkins and an extended solo version of "Functional." --Stuart Broomer

Thelonious Monk created some of his most innovative music during the period in the early '50s when he recorded for Prestige, and Sonny Rollins was in the forefront of the few musicians who could respond to Monk's challenging compositions and sharp-angled, dissonant comping. It's apparent in the way the two transform the standards "The Way You Look Tonight" and "I Want to Be Happy," Rollins soaring through the former and bringing wry wit to the latter. Monk's "Friday the 13th" is heard in an extended performance with Rollins and French-horn player Julius Watkins--challenging, probing music. --Stuart Broomer