Jazz Reviews

Hank Mobley – Soul Station

( Blue Note Records, 1960 )

Hank Mobley had been underrated for so long that he now stands almost overrated in the subsequent acclaim he has achieved following the more recent reappraisals of his work . Setting that aside is difficult as Mobley has always been difficult to peg. He definitely didn’t fit the hard bop mold he was cast in during his career. This led to a devaluing of his playing that was more than unfair (Miles Davis’s unkind words didn’t help things). But the craze to rehabilitate Mobley has also led certain segments to hail him on a level with Rollins and Coltrane as if the shadows they had cast over him never existed. This too is unfair. Mobley is not a titanic talent in the way that Rollins and Coltrane are.  He broke no boundaries. His playing is firmly rooted in the tradition of hard bop and swing. Tonally, he’s Lester Young with a dash of Don Byas and his playing reflects and respects their advancements without adding any of his own. That said, Mobley knew his way around the tenor and could play beautifully, especially during his most productive years (1955-1957, 1960-1963). And, as I said on the main page, Soul Station is a definitive jazz classic. The one album were all of Mobley’s abilities are on heightened display. Two things are important here. One, Mobley is the only horn. Too often he was overshadowed by the pyrotechnical displays of his sidemen, particularly Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. Their bombast overwhelms the cool melodicism of Mobley’s playing. Second, the rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey are totally in tune with what Mobley’s doing. They play deep in the pocket, staying mostly out of the way. Blakey had a way of sometimes cluttering and dominating but he lays way back here, accentuating where necessary, but mostly just delivering an infernal swing. Which Mobley jumps all over. His playing is so strong, so heartfelt, so simple yet emotional that it just overpowers you at some points. Literally moments where I have to backtrack and say “wow, Hank Mobley!” In trendy 1960, with hard bop near decline and free jazz ascending, this album must have sounded musty and old-fashioned but time has rendered all trends obsolete. All that is left is the music. And what wonderful music it is.

Best Cuts: Soul Station, If I Should Lose You

Ahmad Jamal – Standard Eyes

( Cadet Records, 1961 )

Ahmad Jamal knows how to take a standard and actually interpret it. This is an underrated ability. Many people can play a standard, even play it well. But few know how to actually make it their own, to discover new things in it, to take it beyond the rote mechanics of theme and melody and harmony in order to discover things like space, silence, color, tonal irregularity, rhythmic oddity — how to take something familiar and invert it, like a Möbius Strip. Jamal knows how to do this in an almost simplistic way that belies his great talent. It takes a deeper listen to hear what’s going on. Given just a surface appreciation, one can miss the surgical precision with which Jamal takes apart and reconstructs a song. The best examples of this are on his earlier Okeh recordings, the ones that caught Miles Davis’s ear back when Jamal was being easily dismissed as a “cocktail pianist” — clearly those critics weren’t listening carefully. Ahmad plays with a wide palette. His interpretations are like an impressionist painting, sparse to the point of being spare but imbued with a resonance that lingers beyond what’s readily apparent. This live selection of some of Jamal’s earliest interpretations post-Okeh suffers from poor sound (Cadet’s lack of decent recording equipment results in the percussion sounding muddy, the piano tinny, and the bass just right) but the ideas contained therein are worth a listen. This isn’t an absolute classic live date (for that check-out Jamal’s masterpiece At The Pershing) but Jamal fans need to check it out because everything of Jamal’s is worth hearing.

Best Cuts: The Breeze and I, So My Heart Beats For You

Bud Powell/Don Byas – A Tribute To Cannonball

( Columbia Records, 1961 )

Don Byas is a monster on this. Conventional wisdom is that by the early 60’s both he and Powell were all washed-up. Totally wrong! At least for this album, whose title is a misnomer as Adderley only supervised the recording (he plays on one-cut, the alternate take of “Cherokee”). I don’t know exactly when this was issued — it was recorded in Paris in 1961 — but it should have done more to rehabilitate both men’s reputations. Powell here plays exceedingly well given his medical limitations, but it’s all about Byas. His performance is Olympian, a complete synthesis of the historical vision of jazz up to that point: blues, swing, bop, soul — it’s all in his sound and his sound is huge! Anchored by the Three Bosses Trio of Powell, Kenny Clarke, and Pierre Michelot, Byas goes on his best post-40’s studio run. Charlie Parker once said that Byas could play everything there was to play. This album proves it.

Best Cuts: Cherokee, Just One Of Those Things

Tiny Grimes – Callin’ The Blues

( Prestige Records, 1958 )

Delta by way of 52nd Street, nothing too fancy here just hard blues feelin’ and some great up numbers that swing harder than a free love hippie.  Everyone breathes fire but Higgenbotham, who sounds more like a gutbucket drunk with attitude… all you could ask for really. Put this on in a bar after midnight and I guarantee there’d be a fight before morning.

Best Cuts: Callin’ The Blues, Blue Tiny

Duke Ellington – Live At The Whitney

( Impulse! Records, 1972)

Live At The Whitney features Duke Ellington in a mostly solo setting with occasional accompaniment by his then rhythm section of bassist Joe Benjamin and drummer Rufus Jones, but the magic is in hearing Ellington alone. So often, Duke took the backseat as a musician, choosing to highlight his orchestra over himself. As a bandleader, this is perfectly natural –  though it led to a common misconception that Ellington himself was not a master piano player. Late career documents such as this one indicate that this was certainly not the case. To hear Ellington alone on some of the standards that made him famous is thrilling. Several of the tunes are straight improv or medleys as Ellington, having come to the Whitney on the off-night of a grueling tour (Duke was 73 at the time), didn’t have a particular program prepared. This freedom leads to all sorts of spontaneity once Duke gets his hands warmed up (the opening medley sounds slightly stilted). Of particular interest is “Soda Fountain Rag,” a stride style number that Ellington claims was his first composition. If so, this is his only recording of it. The song is super busy and about two minutes into it, Duke’s hands give out and he laughs and the audience laughs and it is wonderful to hear a man of Duke’s stature so joyful, so humble. There is a clear rapport throughout the concert between Duke and his audience. He encourages them to sing-along with “I’m Beginning To See The Light” and snap their fingers during certain portions of “Dancers In Love.” The Whitney was an intimate space and everyone involved clearly reveled in that intimacy. We should all be grateful to Impulse! for keeping this lovely late Ellington era document in print.

Best Cuts: New World A-Comin’, A Mural From Two Perspectives

Don Byas – En Ce Temps-Lá

( Gitanes/Verve International, 2002 )

This Gitanes/Verve International compilation collects every Don Byas 78 studio recording for the Big Star label between 1947 and 1952. These sides capture Byas at the height of his powers, summoning forth his unique vision of a bluesy be-bop/swing hybrid.  He is well-supported by a rotating cast of local Paris talent, none of whom can match their fiery, fearless leader in terms of overall panache, but to whom comes an almost effortless knack for  easy American swing. They put Byas at his ease as he puts the music through its paces, delivering rousing solos on such thunderous stompers as “Riffin and Jivin” and “Blues For Panassié.” It is on the ballads, however, that Byas truly shines, particularly on the somber title track, a song that perfectly captures the romantic vision of a drizzily Paris afternoon in springtime.

Best Cuts: Blues For Panassié, En Ce Temps-Lá

The Randy Weston-Vishnu Wood Duo – Perspective

( Denon Records, 1976 )

This is one of those lovely, obscure finds that you can’t help but cherish and be thankful for.There is very little information out there about this session so the music pretty much has to speak for itself, and it does. The album features pianist Randy Weston, known more for his massive pan-African big band arrangements, in a quiet beautiful dialogue with bassist Vishnu Wood. The duo tackle two standards, lovely readings of “Blues To Be There” and “Body and Soul,” coupled with a popular Weston original in “African Cookbook” and a solo performance apiece. “Khadesha,” Vishnu Wood’s haunting, Middle Eastern inflected solo bass number in particular makes me wish that he had been recorded more often. Highly recommended to Weston fans looking for something a little different from him; as well as to a general jazz audience, this is an album with broad appeal.

Best Cuts: Khadesha, Body and Soul

Curtis Counce – Carl’s Blues

( Contemporary Records, 1957 )

The Curtis Counce Group was the most important West Coast combo playing in the late 50’s and they made small group jazz of such power as to rival anything being made back east. Don’t believe me? Listen to their version of Horace Silver’s “Nica’s Dream,” an interpretation that trumps both Blakey and Silver’s versions in its skill and inventiveness. This is seminal stuff, particularly in its emphasis on the unit over the individual. Everyone shines together instead of at the expense of the other. Sadly, this was to be the group’s last album as a unit as pianist Carl Perkins passed away just before it was issued. Perkins was a unique stylist, similar to Horace Parlan, in that he invented a technique for overcoming a serious polio disability, and his playing reflects such unique commitment. As for the rest of the band, Harold Land stands among the first-rank of tenor players, his work both here and with Clifford Brown cementing his immortality on the horn. Jack Sheldon plays a brash, high energy trumpet and his presence in the group did a lot to counter the racial stereotype that white guys couldn’t swing hard. Frank Butler’s feature showcase “The Butler Did It” will tell you all you need to know about his superb skills as a drummer. Finally, leader Curtis Counce does what few leaders do, he takes the backseat, not in talent or ability, but in allowing the dictates of the song to manifest in the swing of his bass. He doesn’t take many solos but he keeps a bouncing, flexible time.

And a final word about the sound, I don’t know what it is about Contemporary Records but everything they recorded in the mid to late 50’s sounds awesome, room filling, yet intimate. Every instrument has crystal clear separation yet it all swings together. This is one of the best sounding records I own.

Best Cuts: Nica’s Dream, Pink Lady

Alice Coltrane – Ptah, the El Daoud

( Impulse! Records, 1970 )

It’s hard to write about Alice Coltrane without getting embroiled in the twin controversies over her role in the dissolution of her husband’s classic quartet and her later pursuance of extremely spiritual and orchestral musics. Neither of which have any relevance here. This is a jazz album, albeit a far-reaching one. The title track is a memorable modal vamp with strong tenor work from Joe Henderson and Pharoah Sanders and the second track is beautiful piano trio blues, one of the most beautiful I’ve ever heard.  On the strength of those two tracks alone, this is a great album, one of her best. That the other two tracks don’t quite live up to the initial promise laid down is, in part, what makes Alice so unique. “Blue Nile,” with its cascading harp lines and tremolo flute playing lacks a cohesive underbelly on which hang a hook, it is intriguing but ultimately unmemorable. “Mantra” is disjointed, an interesting idea that runs ten minutes too long. Though I hardly ever flip the record over to hear those two songs, I’m glad they’re there. Alice Coltrane was a dazzling risk-taker, working out on record, the forward movements she’d achieve with her later Impulse! work. Ptah, the El Daoud is an interesting, thought-provoking record with two of Alice’s greatest works contained on its A-Side. And, for those of you often put off by Pharoah Sanders, there’s not a screech or scronk to be heard in the bunch.

Best Cuts: Turiya and Ramakrishna, Ptah the El Daoud

Tina Brooks – Minor Move

( Blue Note Records, 1958 )

Life is often unfair, cruel even. Such it was for Tina Brooks. A man whose name should ring out in the annals of jazz as one of its great masters. Instead, as just happened now when someone asked me who I was listening to, most just shrug and say ‘who?’ because his name is so unfamiliar. Sadly, its not surprising: all but one of Tina’s recordings went unreleased in his lifetime, including this one. Neglect in jazz is all too common and the reason is clear: an overabundance of talent competing for a limited market of records and gigs coupled with the erratic track records created by the addictions of many of jazz’s finest creators. There’s no doubting that Tina Brooks was a major drug user who Blue Note felt was too unreliable to effectively push and promote and thus his career died before it had really begun. When Mosaic Records released The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Tina Brooks in 1983, the jazz world was abuzz. Who was Tina Brooks? And why did he deserve this preferential box set treatment over dozens of other, more well-respected, names? The answer was in the music. Minor Move was just one of the four albums in that set seeing light of day for the first time but its music is emphatic. You can’t help but listen addictively for Brooks plays with a lyricism that is sharp and sincere yet acid enough to not be cloying. One listen to his treatment of the ballad “Everything Happens To Me” will drop the scales from the ears and eyes of any remaining doubters and confirm that Tina Brooks was a master of the jazz saxophone. As for the other players,  Lee Morgan fires on all pistons, further demonstrating his early promise on the trumpet, while the rhythm section of Sonny Clark, Doug Watkins, and Art Blakey swing away with grace and precision. This is a great record. In these starving times, it will feed your soul.

Come early 2009, Tina Brooks’s entire discography, small and malnourished as it is, will once again go out-of-print. Get some while you still can.

Best Cuts: Everything Happens To Me, Nutville

Coleman Hawkins – Night Hawk

( Prestige/Swingville, 1960 )

This is greasy, two-in-the-morning, bleary eyed diner music, a place that could appropriately be called “The Night Hawk,” a place where you could hear jazz like this on the radio or jukebox. Coleman Hawkins, founder of modern jazz tenor, rules the roost on these kind of late-night sprawling jams. It was the main style in which he recorded from the decline of swing in the mid 50’s right on up until his death in the late 60’s. If you dig slow blues jams, standards, and dueling tenors (Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis sits in), you’ll love this record, and pretty much anything else Hawkins recorded for Prestige in this era. Here Hawk and Jaws trade licks, each trying to best the other, but in a friendly way. This is no cutting session. So where Jaws has the youthful fire, Hawk has the ideas and calm of an elder. And buoyed by each others presence, their enjoyment of the material is palpable. A note too that Tommy Flanagan is unflappable in his accompaniment, refusing to allow the two tenors histrionics to effect his consummate musicianship. One of the essential big-tenor records, this is a great album for sipping whiskey and wishing the world away.

Best Cuts: Night Hawk, Don’t Take Your Love From Me

John Coltrane – Coltrane’s Sound

( Atlantic Records, 1960 )

Don’t let the garish cover art put you off (Coltrane himself was said to have hated it), this is a great record, one of Trane’s best on Atlantic or any other label. It would be more well-known if it had actually been released at the time it was recorded (1960 versus 1964). By the time it appeared, Trane was off on his “new thing” and this record got lost in the shuffle of his more extreme recordings. Which is a shame because its better than Giant Steps and his other more highly regarded “middle period” recordings. ‘The Night Has A Thousand Eyes’ is heart-achingly gorgeous; ‘Equinox’ hums and crackles with life; ‘Satellite’ gets things cooking to such intensity that one can gleam strong hints of things to come. This is Trane at his bluesiest and most modal, but also at the point where such constraints are starting to wear thin. His tenor is constantly probing the outer reaches, his mind clearly moving toward the power and experimentation of his Impulse! recordings. This is among McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones’s earliest recordings with Trane but they already comprise a solid, searching rhythm section with bassist Steve Davis more than holding his own (he’d be replaced by Jimmy Garrison shortly hereafter, forming the core ‘Classic Quintet’). This is an outstanding record. Every track is so exciting and dynamic that I find myself returning to it constantly.

Best Cuts: Equinox, Satellite

Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus

( Prestige Records, 1956 )

An immense jazz album about which there is very little left to say, but I will have my say none the less. At the 38 second mark on “Strode Rode” when Max Roach and Tommy Flanagan drop out leaving Sonny to solo alone over the beautiful bass playing of Doug Watkins, the result is sublime magic, a crystalline distillation of what jazz improvisation is all about: the interplay of musicians in service of a song. Rollins solo reaches great heights on the back of Watkins thoughtful counterpoint. I could listen to those same 50 seconds over and over again. The same can be said of Max Roach’s drum solo on “St. Thomas.” It’s a monster, pushing the boundaries of time and space, and the band, acknowledging it, roars back into the tune at a much brisker pace than the one they started at. That solo throws down the gauntlet and the band accepts it. Their cohesiveness as a unit borders on telepathic. From ballads to burners to the blues, every track is great, confirming what many have been saying for decades, that Saxophone Colossus is a timeless classic worthy of its every accolade.

Best Cuts: Strode Rode, St. Thomas

Billie Holiday – At Storyville

( Black Lion Records, 1953 )

Two separate gigs from the Storyville Club in Boston are documented on this hard-to-find album on Black Lion Records. Both were apparently broadcast over the radio as there is an announcer between sets discussing both the music and the venue. The first set from 1951 is a joy, finding Billie in a relaxed setting singing her usual repertoire of hits like “Them There Eyes” and a magnificent take of “I Cover The Waterfront.” The house trio behind her here is workmanlike and not too exciting, but then Billie never demanded pyrotechnics and this trio’s comping is hushed and easy, leaving all the music to Billie, whose voice sounds marvelous and strong given the time period. The second set is from 1953 with Stan Getz sitting in. The song selection is more varied and outside Billie’s usual choices. Getz glides all over the music with his smooth, West Coast sound, recalling Billie’s great recordings with Lester Young and Ben Webster. It’s a shame these two didn’t record together more. The trio is different from 1951 but with the same modus operandi: comp quietly and efficiently, stay out of Billie’s way. This set is just as effective as the first one despite a slightly more noticable deterioration in Billie’s singing. Not enough to put anyone off. This is a great album worth discovering!

Best Cuts: I Cover The Waterfront, Billie’s Blues

Louis Smith – Smithville

( Blue Note Records, 1958 )

What a gem! I’d never even heard of Louis Smith and — wham! — this album knocks me out. There are so many great little jazz albums like this: obscure and outstanding. It certainly helps to have the backing Smith does: Charlie Rouse, Sonny Clark, Paul Chambers, Art Taylor– that’s a great band! There was just so much talent around at this time that a small pick-up session like this ends up being a minor masterpiece. Louis Smith, clearly inspired by the company he keeps, shines his way to the top of each track with a clear, strong tone and inventive soloing. Makes one wonder why we didn’t hear more of him. Everyone else is their usual self (ie. excellent) with Rouse turning in one barn-burning solo after another, even the ballads can’t escape his fiery tones and unusual phrasing. And when their horns lock together, Rouse and Smith sound like a match made in heaven, especially on the slow blues title track. This album, recently re-released, is passionate and proud– bebop at its finest.

Best Cuts: Smithville, Embraceable You

Stanley Turrentine – Jubilee Shout

( Blue Note Records, 1962 )

Stanley Turrentine’s Jubilee Shout is a buoyant, joyous album with the uplifting gospel vamp of the title track signalling an elevation of the material above the routine blowing sessions of the day. Each man responds accordingly with delicious, well-thought out solos and treatments of theme. The Turrentine brothers are always better together and their empathy as players is palpable here. Tommy Turrentine is a great, underrated player and he hangs with his brother as both men cook red-hot. Kenny Burrell and Sonny Clark also deliver wonderful turns, especially on the ballads. This is a great record, long out-of-print, though available as part of Mosaic Records Turrentine box set. Samples of which, including the title track, are available here:

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/prodinfo.asp?number=212-MD-CD

Best Cuts: Jubilee Shout, My Ship

Wes Montgomery – Full House

( Riverside Records, 1962 )

Recorded live at Tsubo in Berkeley, California on June 25, 1962, this smokin’ live set demonstrates the complete jazz mastery of Wes Montgomery. Whether it’s ballads, standards, burners, or blues, Wes Montgomery makes clear that, despite an all-star line -up, he is the star of the show. And an all-star line-up it is too! The Wynton Kelly trio was in town supporting Miles Davis and agreed to the one-off gig, followed quickly on the heels of Johnny Griffin who had flown in for another occasion. It seemed that serendipity was in the air as all five men hooked up and, with very little rehearsal time, knocked out this masterpiece of powerful live jazz. What I wouldn’t give to have been in Tsubo that night. You had Wes Montgomery at the top of his game, reveling in the great acoustics and great company; Johnny Griffin, a proverbial firestorm lacing each track with his excoriating style; Wynton Kelly comping behind in his low-key melodic way, always accentuating, drawing the attention away from himself and towards the others in the group; Paul Chambers, the greatest bassist of his generation (some would say of all-time) holding it down and walking it out; and, Jimmy Cobb swinging quietly but powerfully in the background. You’d be hard pressed to form a better band.

Best Cuts: Cariba, Full House

The Art Tatum/Ben Webster Quartet

( Verve Records, 1956 )

At first it seems like a styles clash, or a dichotomy of styles: the ever-elegant, laid back Ben Webster riffing over the relentless, breakneck comping of Art Tatum. One man overplays; the other underplays. Yet somehow, it works. Webster’s warm, breathy tone layers a blanket of sound over the restless pitter-patter of Tatum’s playing. Together, they weave a hypnotic web over a host of standards that benefit greatly from the tension built by two such contrasting giants who are clearly reveling in their odd dynamic together. Webster would find success with this formula again a few years later when he collaborated with Tatum acolyte Oscar Peterson. Both records are seriously worth checking out.

Best Cuts: Gone With The Wind, Night and Day

Dave Bailey Sextet – Gettin’ Into Somethin’

( Epic Records, 1961 )

Dave Bailey assembles the finest musicians possible and then records them live in the studio: one take with an appreciative audience of friends and fellow musicians. There’s a warm, friendly vibe to the entire affair. Check the spontaneous applause during a Curtis Fuller solo! Everybody’s diggin’ everybody; and you’ll dig it too! One of the finest sessions ever cut on Epic Records.

Best Cuts: Slop Jah, Blues For J.P.

Jazz Crusaders – Freedom Sound

( Pacific Jazz, 1962 )

Anyone who criticizes jazz for being too stodgy or intellectual needs to get their head checked and hear some Jazz Crusaders. These guys are fun! And talented! This has got that mid-60’s soul stank on it too so you know it rules. Hearing these guys in their prime must have been a revelation! I imagine this just floating out of corner windows while elders sat in chairs smoking cigarettes, watching their world deteriorate around them. If I was a kid, I would’ve wanted to hear this while playing stickball in the street or running through hydrant streams. This is great jazz! Dig in…

Best Cuts: M.J.S. Funk, Freedom Sound

Blue Mitchell – Bring It Home To Me

( Blue Note Records, 1966 )

Jimmy Heath once said that trumpeter Blue Mitchell was “one of the most melodic players of his generation.” He was certainly one of the most respected, working frequently with such heavy-hitters as Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith, Horace Silver, Harold Land, and Dexter Gordon. His own output as a leader, however, remains maddingly in-and-out of print, with only a limited edition (and now unavailable) Mosaic Records box set gathering it all in one place. If any Blue Mitchell album deserves Blue Note’s RVG reissue treatment, this is it. Mitchell, along with tenor sax player Junior Cook, sparkle on the front line, while the rhythm section of Harold Mabern, Gene Taylor, and Billy Higgins lock in a cheery groove. This is upbeat, swingin’ stuff reminiscent of Lee Morgan’s The Sidewinder, only better. I can only imagine the joy that “Gingerbread Boy” would bring to the ears of any soul-jazz lover. I sincerely hope that Blue Note Records will not allow this fantastic record to remain so inexplicably out-of-print.

Best Cuts: Gingerbread Boy; Portrait Of Jenny

Dexter Gordon – The Panther!

( Prestige Records, 1970 )

Dexter Gordon sounds incredibly energized on this quartet recording for Prestige Records in 1970. Whether its from his return stateside from Europe or the high-quality companionship of Tommy Flanagan, Larry Ridley, and Alan Dawson (most likely some combination of both), Dex sounds young, vibrant, and full of life on this recording. One would never guess that he was over a quarter-century into his career at this point, or that he had spent a large part of that time battling addictions and depression. His tone is large, brash, and powerful, steamrolling a rhythm section more than willing to keep up with him. And when he slows it down, as on his masterful reading of “Body and Soul,” the warmth and depth are there to reassure you that Dexter Gordon is one of jazz’s all-time great tenor sax players.

Best Cuts: Body and Soul; The Panther

Von Freeman – The Great Divide

( Premonition Records, 2004 )

The best jazz album of 2004 comes from an 81-year-old man who can, and does, teach his juniors a thing or two about playing the tenor saxophone. Joined by Jimmy Cobb, another great jazz elder, Freeman wails through standards and originals with a fire normally reserved for the young. Freeman sounds as a lean and hungry as someone one-third his age and Cobb is right there with him, swinging away on his cymbals as if it were 1958 all over again.

Best Cuts: Chant Time; Disorder At The Border

The Cinematic Orchestra – Man With A Movie Camera

( Ninja Tune, 2003 )

The Cinematic Orchestra finally tangles with the intricacies of their moniker by tackling a film score and demonstrating that their brand of esoteric jazz can be both subtle and dynamic without any sort of studio manipulation (ala their previous album ‘Motion‘). Recorded live in one take, The Cinematic Orchestra steps into their own as a full-fledged jazz ensemble unafraid to acknowledge themselves as having the chops to perform outside the framework of their past successes.

Best Cuts: Theme De Yoyo; The Awakening Of A Woman

Miles Davis – A Tribute To Jack Johnson

( Columbia Records, 1971 )

What Miles Davis began on In A Silent Way got deep with Bitches Brew and exploded into A Tribute To Jack Johnson – a knock upside the head of stuffy jazz conservatism. By this point, 1970, legions of jazz fans had fled. Bitches Brew had scared them, and Miles, knowing they wouldn’t be returning, decided to forge on ahead without them. Assembling a sharp team of openminded jazz, funk, and rock players, Miles blazed onward. No longer tenative, A Tribute To Jack Johnson is, much like the boxer that inspired it, an energetic assault on the staid conventions of genre. This is Miles Davis playing with new found fire as John McLaughlin unleashes crazy power chords and dynamic riffing over Michael Henderson’s Motown low-end bass grooves. The results are extraordinary: two tracks, fifty-two minutes, genius.

Best Cuts: Right Off, Yesternow

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings @ El Salon / Montreal, QC
Date Attended: April 28th, 2005

Opening with a funky instrumental set, the Dap-Kings had bodies moving to their grip-tight buggalo, priming the audience for their four-foot, eleven inch soul dynamo front-woman; and when she took the stage the place exploded. Sharon can sing, she can dance, and she can connect with the fans – bringing them on stage to sing-along and dance, telling them stories about ‘back in the day’ and how each song came about. Sharon Jones is a performer in the true and versatile sense of the word. And she is a star.

With her band on fire, Sharon ran through a good mix of new and old tunes as well as two sexed up, funk intensive covers of songs far removed from the genre: Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and Janet Jackson’s “What Have You Done For Me Lately?”. By the time they dug into their encore of “Lay It In The Cut,” from their debut album Dap-Dipping, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings had the crowd thoroughly exhausted and thoroughly pleased. In the span of just two short hours, they managed to tear the house down, rebuild it, torch it, and dance on its ashes.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Naturally

( Daptone Records, 2005 )

There is something decidedly vintage about Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, a sound out of synch with the times in which it has been produced. Maybe it is the cover-art, with it’s saturated colors and stylized font size, or the fact that the chair, the lamp, even Sharon’s hair is clearly throwback – a product of its immediate past. That is not to say that Sharon and co. are content to retread old ground or peddle a product mined from the ore of others. Oh no… they are too good and clever a band to do that. From the opening moments of “How Do You Let A Good Man Down,” it is clear that although this is a record steeped in the funk and soul of the late 60’s and early 70’s, it also has a life of its own – one that is entirely modern and designed to catch the ears of those unversed in the lore of James Brown and Sly Stone.

Sharon Jones also has one hell of a voice, akin to that of an Etta James or Roberta Flack. Those are some heavy hitters, and Sharon, even more so live than on record, deserves to stand among them. And what sets her apart from such modern contemporaries as Jill Scott and Erykah Badu is her dedication not just to her craft as a singer but to that of the band that’s behind her.

Although the name reads Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, they – the Dap-Kings – are every bit as important as Sharon herself, effortlessly lending support to one of the greatest voices to be found on two sides of a vinyl lp or one side of a cd. This should come as no surprise when one considers that The Dap-Kings comprise of several (current and former) members of Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra and The Sugarman 3 & Co. That is one hell of a pedigree. This is one hell of record. Get it now…

Best Cuts: How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?, All Over Again

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Here’s a link to the CJLO online magazine article I wrote on Jimmy Smith when he passed away in 2005:

http://www.cjlo.com/magazine/features.php?ID=53 (Smith obit)

Also, Jo Ann Daugherty added a review I wrote of her latest album to her site as well (scroll all the way down to see it — it’s mine even if my last name is spelled wrong):

http://www.joanndaugherty.com/Reviews

More album reviews and essays coming soon!

Note: All Reviews Written By Christopher Bussmann (Unless Otherwise Noted)