In this day of Spotify or other apps telling you what you should be listening to, it’s easy to overlook valuable artists that are just under the radar. That is a niche that Fresh Sound records has filled, proving itself with these two recent releases.
Luis Rivera played his organ in the R&Bish feel of Wild Bill Davis, swinging hard on these two albums from 1957 and 61, both recorded in LA. The 1957 outing hs him with some heavy company in Willie Smith/as, Carey Visor/ts, Larry Bunker/vib, barney Kessel-Irving Ashby/g and Gene Gammage/dr, with Smith in glorious form on “All Of Me” and Visor tapping into his inner Ben Webster on “Chelsea Bridge”. Bunker bounces on the Kansas City’d “Luis Salutes The Count” and is buoyant on “Our Love Is Here To Stay”. Four years later, with Anthony Ortega/as-fl, Lorenzo Holden/ts, Herb Ellis/g, Wilfred Middlebrooks/b and Johnny Kirkwood/dr he sounds a bit more swampy as on “Mona’s Groove”, and the ceiling is low for the smoke filled room of “Blues For Sylvia” and “Blues For Terry”. The joint was jumpin’!
The Prestige Jazz Quartet was a kind of answer to the Modern Jazz Quartet, featuring Teddy Charles/vib, Mal Waldron/p, Addison Farmer/b and Jerry Segal/dr for a pair of hip hard bopping albums. Famed producer Teo Macero brings in his tenor sax for the April 1957 session, and blows mellow smoke rings on “Ghost Story” and a relaxed “Star Eyes” while waxing eloquence on his own pretty “Just Spring”. Charles and Waldron chime well together, particularly on Waldron’s own “What’s Not” . Without Macero, the team reunites in June for an upbeat “ Route 4”, a pair of Waldron tunes that deserve more attention in “Dear Elaine” and “Meta-Waltz” and a take of Thelonious Monk’s “Friday The Thirteenth” that has Waldron in a colorful mood. Hip happenings.
https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/luis-rivera-albums/57469-filet-of-soul-las-vegas-2-lp-on-1-cd.html