JUNE 11

              LENNIE TRISTANO
        Featuring Lee Konitz


             New York, Sing Song Room
                  June 11, 1955 tk 9-11

             Personnel:
                  Lennie Tristano  P
                  Lee Konitz:        AS
                  Gene Ramey:     B
                  Art Taylor:         D

             1960-62, New York  tk 1-8
                  Lennie Tristano   P 





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One of several Lennie Tristano retrospectives issued in 1998 by the Giants of Jazz label, this compilation is somewhat misleadingly subtitled "Featuring Lee Konitz." To be sure, alto saxophonist Konitz is heard in live performance with Tristano, bassist Gene Ramey and drummer Art Taylor in the cozy confines of the Sing Song Room deep within the Confucius Restaurant in New York on June 11, 1955. But this material only occupies the last three tracks, which amount to 21 out of 60 minutes of jazz. The rest of the music heard here -- tracks one through eight -- are piano solos recorded at Tristano's home studio (located at "317 East 32nd") during a time period extending from 1960 to 1962. The quartet recordings are as magnificent as the solo works are fascinating. This wonderful music improves with age, and one suspects that it will sound even better in the distant future. Listeners who fall in love with these sounds may wish to obtain more Lennie Tristano recordings. Some will need to hear them all and then will wish for more.

JUNE 10

                    JAVON JACKSON
                   Good People

            
                  Recording Date:
                       June 2-10, 1997

                  Personnel:
                       Cyro Baptista       Per
                       Billy Drummond    D
                       Fareed Haque       G
                       Javon Jackson      TS
                       John Medeski       O
                       Vernon Reid         G
                       Peter Washington B






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Reviewby Scott Yanow

Javon Jackson is best known as a hard bop tenor saxophonist inspired by Joe Henderson. On this CD, however, he really stretches himself and shows that he is continuing to develop an increasingly personal voice. In addition to two challenging originals and a blues, Jackson performs a Brazilian piece (which has a verbal introduction in Portuguese by percussionist Cyro Baptista) and songs by John Coltrane ("Exotica"), Carlos Santana and Tony Williams ("Emergency," from his Lifetime fusion period). With the assistance of a core group that includes acoustic guitarist Fareed Haque, funky organist John Medeski (from Medeski, Martin & Wood), bassist Peter Washington and drummer Billy Drummond (plus two guest appearances from the fiery rock guitarist Vernon Reid), Jackson plays some of the most adventurous solos of his career. Intriguing music.

JUNE 9

                   SONNY STITT
               Last Stitt Sessions

                    Recording Date:
                        June 9, 1982

                    Personnel:
                         Walter Davis       P
                         Bill Hardman       TP
                         Sonny Stitt       AS,TS
                         Jimmy Cobb        D
                         George Duvivier  B
                         Walter Davis, Jr. P
                         Junior Mance       P





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Review
It is difficult to believe after listening to this two-CD set, that Sonny Stitt only had six weeks left in his life; he already had cancer but did not know it. Switching between tenor and alto, Stitt on the first disc is heard in top form with pianist Junior Mance, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer Jimmy Cobb while the second CD (recorded the following day) adds trumpeter Bill Hardman and has Walter Davis in Mance's place. As was typical of Stitt's career, the music throughout is high-quality bebop with the saxophonist stretching out creatively over common chord changes. This double CD (a straight reissue of two single LPs) shows that Sonny Stitt went out on top. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/last-stitt-sessions-vols-1-2#ixzz1AxFA9grj

JUNE 8

                       SIDNEY BECHET
               Dear Old Southland
      
                     Recording Date:
                          June 8, 1939

                     Personnel:
                          Sidney Bechet     SS
                          Meade  Lewis      P
                          Teddy Bunn         G
                          Johnny Williams   B
                          Sidney Catlett      D







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Review by arwulf arwulf
Sidney Bechet's first Blue Note period was tapped for this Definitive Classics compilation released in the year 2000. Summertime was not only Bechet's first Blue Note record — it was among the first Blue Note recordings ever made by anybody. This album is a solid core sample of Bechet's best Blue Note sessions, recorded between June 1939 and February 1946. Apparently Bechet's 1949 Blue Notes were deemed unworthy of inclusion here. The magnificent lineup of musicians who did find their way onto this compilation includes trumpeters Sidney de Paris, Max Kaminsky and Bunk Johnson; trombonists Vic Dickenson and George Lugg; clarinetist Albert Nicholas; bassists Pops Foster and Wilson Myers; guitarist Teddy Bunn; pianists Art Hodes and Meade "Lux" Lewis; drummers Danny Alvin, Manzie Johnson and Sid Catlett, and singing guitarist Josh White. True to their name, Definitive Classics has given the world an excellent introduction to the music of Sidney Bechet and traditional jazz in general. 

 

JUNE 6

          CHARLIE PARKER
               Bird N Diz

               Recording Date:
                     June 6, 1950

               Personnel:
                    Dizzy Gillespie    TP
                    Charlie Parker     AS
                    Thelonious Monk  P
                    Curly Russell        B
                    Buddy Rich          D

             






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Review by Rick Anderson

This collection of 78 rpm singles, all recorded on June 6, 1950, was originally issued in album format in 1956. Several things distinguish this from numerous other quintet recordings featuring these two bebop pioneers. It was recorded during the period that Parker was working under the aegis of producer Norman Granz, whose preference for large and unusual ensembles was notorious. The end result in this case is a date that sounds very much like those that Parker and Gillespie recorded for Savoy and Dial, except with top-of-the-line production quality. Even more interesting, though, is Parker's choice of Thelonious Monk as pianist. Unfortunately, Monk is buried in the mix and gets very little solo space, so his highly idiosyncratic genius doesn't get much exposure here. Still, this is an outstanding album -- there are fine versions of Parker standards like "Leap Frog," "Mohawk," and "Relaxin' with Lee," as well as a burning performance of "Bloomdido" and an interesting (if not entirely thrilling) rendition of the chestnut "My Melancholy Baby." [The CD reissue adds three alternate takes to make what was originally a very skimpy program slightly more generous.]

JUNE 5

                      MILES DAVIS
          'Round About Midnight

                Recording Date:
                    October 26, 1955  tk ,7
                    June 5, 1956   tk4-6
                    September 10, 1956   tk3

                Personnel:
                    Miles Davis          TP 
                    John Coltrane      TS
                    Red Garland         P
                    Paul Chambers      B
                    Philly Joe Jones    D





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Review by Thom Jurek
Given that Round About Midnight was Miles Davis' debut Columbia recording, it was both a beginning and an ending. Certainly the beginning of his recording career with the label that issued most if not all of his important recordings; and the recording debut of an exciting new band that had within its ranks Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, pianist Red Garland, and an all but unknown tenor player named John Coltrane. The title track was chosen because of its unique rendition with a muted trumpet, debuted at the Newport Jazz Festival the summer before to a thunderous reception. The date was also an ending of sorts because by the time of the album's release, Davis had already broken up the band, which re-formed with Cannonball Adderley a year later as a sextet, but it was a tense year. Musically, this sound is as unusual and as beautiful as it was when issued in 1956. Davis had already led the charge through two changes in jazz — both cool jazz and hard bop — and was beginning to move in another direction here that wouldn't be defined for another two years. Besides the obvious lyrical and harmonic beauty of "Round About Midnight" that is arguably its definitive version even over Monk's own, there are the edges of Charlie Parker's "Au Leu-Cha" with its Bluesology leaping from every chord change in Red Garland's left hand. Coltrane's solo here too is notable for its stark contrast to Davis' own: he chooses an angular tack where he finds the heart of the mode and plays a melody in harmonic counterpoint to the changes but never sounds outside. Cole Porter's "All of You" has Davis quoting from Louis Armstrong's "Basin Street Blues" in his solo that takes out the tune, and Coltrane has never respected a melody so much. But it's in "Bye-Bye Blackbird" that we get to hear the band gel as a unit, beginning with Davis playing through the melody, muted and sweet, slightly flatted out until he reaches the harmony on the refrain and begins his solo on a high note. Garland is doing more than comping in the background; he's slipping chord shapes into those interval cracks and shifting them as the rhythm section keeps "soft time." When Coltrane moves in for his break, rather than Davis' spare method, he smatters notes quickly all though the melodic body of the tune and Garland has to compensate harmonically, moving the mode and tempo up a notch until his own solo can bring it back down again. Which he does with a gorgeous all-blues read of the tune utilizing first one hand and then both hands to create fat harmonic chords to bring Davis back in to close it out. It's breathtaking how seamless it all is. There's little else to say except that Round About Midnight is among the most essential of Davis' Columbia recordings.

JUNE 4

               DONALD BYRD
                   Mustang!
            
                  Recording Date:
                       June 4, 1966

                  Personnel:
                      Walter Booker    B 
                      Donald Byrd        TP 
                      Joe Chambers     D 
                      Jimmy Heath      TS 
                      Hank Mobley       TS 
                      Sonny Red           AS 
                      McCoy Tyner       P 
                      Fred Waits          D 




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Review by Scott Yanow
Donald Byrd, a talented hard bop trumpeter during his prime (although rarely reaching the technical heights of Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard), performs a varied repertoire on Mustang!. "Dixie Lee" has dated rhythms, and "Mustang" was an attempt to achieve a hit on the level of Morgan's "The Sidewinder." However, Byrd sounds fine on those numbers; he digs into the complex chord changes of "Fly Little Bird Fly," is sensitive on "I Got It Bad," swings on his "I'm So Excited by You," and performs his memorable countermelody to "On the Trail," which had been recorded earlier by several other musicians. Teamed with a typically impressive Blue Note crew (altoist Sonny Red, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Freddie Waits), Byrd performs high-quality straight-ahead jazz that fits the modern mainstream of the era. Also on the CD reissue are a pair of selections ("Gingerbread Boy" and "I'm So Excited by You") from an earlier quintet date (with tenorman Jimmy Heath, Tyner, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Joe Chambers) that, despite being excellent, went unissued until 1997.