Dinah Washington: What a difference a day makes! Produced by Clyde Otis. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. UDCD 698. Writer: Phil Brett It is a shame how underrated Dinah Washington is, especially amongst the sniffier elements of the jazz clan, because her gusty, gossip influenced voice made her songs of even a mundane standard sound quite … Read more
AQ’s Jazz editor, Phill Brett raises the spirits in these dark times from the BeBop music of Charlie Parker, with mono recordings transcending the times from the 40s to our times today. great music, like all art and culture, can bring light to darkness, raise the spirits and to give hope This August, is the … Read more
AQ special music culture report by Phil Brett Civil rights movement The perception and appreciation of music, as with any artform, can change when the time and context it is experienced changes. Of course sometimes it’s purely personal taste – one person’s challenging and invigorating free jazz, is another person’s headache-inducing pips and squeaks. (For … Read more
John Coltrane John Coltrane: The complete 1961 Village Vanguard recordings. Produced by Bob Thiele. Impulse IMPD4-232 Unquestionably John Coltrane stands as a colossus of modern music. With maybe only the exception of Lisa from The Simpsons, every major sax player has been influenced by him. Space limits forces me to forgo any discussion on Lisa … Read more
Gerard Presencer Gerard Presencer is probably best known as the young trumpeter who played on the US3 mega hit of “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”, although his debut album, “Platypus” might well change that. It is an album, which Presencer hopes will defy what he calls “dogmatic classification” and be considered as representing merely the music, which … Read more
Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Buhaina, produced by Orrin Keepnews. BGP records BGPD 1114 Originally released on Prestige in 1973, Buhaina has been re-released by BGP Records, and yes vinyl fans, released on vinyl! Buhaina was me of the four main albums Blakey cut for Prestige around his … Read more
Art Pepper: So in Love Produced by John Snyder and Laurie Pepper Analogue productions revival series. APR 3013. “So in Love by Art Pepper”: another release on the Analogue Productions Revival Series; another classy pressing. They seem to have it all to a fine art at Analogue Productions. The lacquer expertly cut by master engineer … Read more
I like jazz, but I like popular music. So I like to hear a vocal song, for example, it a melody I can hum along to. I like those things, but I like to hear the sax being shattered into 6 million atoms Over the last ten years Courtney Pine has been arguably the most … Read more
COURTNEY PINE: ANOTHER STORY VARIOUS PRODUCERS TALKIN LOUD RECORDS. 536 9281 As Courtney Pine indicated in his AQ interview, this album of remixes is less of another story and more of a continuing one. For him, it is the next step in his ongoing experimentation of fusing drum n bass with jazz. All the twelve … Read more
Miles Davies & Gil Evans Miles Davies & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings. Mosaic Records MQ11-164 Since their inception in 1982 Mosaic Records have become a byword for quality audiophile jazz releases. No detail is left forgotten or ignored in the pursuit of the Mosaic magic. There is meticulous research and thorough investigation … Read more