Laurie Pepper continues to keep the sound and vision of alto sax legend Art Pepper alive. She’s dug up a plethora of wonderful concert recordings the past years, and now she’s written the liner notes for these two delicious 1980-era…
Category: Ringer of the Week
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****THIS IS A TENOR SAX 101… Jeff Rupert & Richard Drexler: Imagination
Once in awhile, and album comes out that reminds everyone how a tenor sax is supposed to sound. This album of duets between Jeff Rupert and pianist Richard Drexler is a perfect example of what the standard of sound should…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Bobby Previte: Mass
The first thing you need to be reminded about an album that is given the Ringer of the Week award is that it sticks out above all the others that have been heard during that time. This album,if nothing else,…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****SUI GENERIS x2…Art Pepper & Warne Marsh: Unreleased Art Volume 9
This is Volume 9 of the continuing series of previously unreleased recordings of the legendary Art Pepper culled from the storage depot of his faithful wife Laurie. For my money, this is the best one yet for a couple of…
REVENGE OF THE SESSION MEN…Dennis Coffey: Hot Coffey In The D
Usually known for mining the vaults of jazz Hall of Famers like Wes Montgomery and Bill Evans, Resonance Records producers Zev Feldman, Kevin Goins and George Klabin occasionally throw us material by an artist undeservedly overlooked over the years. This…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Carol Robbins: Taylor Street
Most of the time you think of a harp in the jazz scene, you either think of contrived bop lines that try too hard to fit in, or wild strums by the likes of Alice Coltrane. Carol Robbins is the…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Harry Allen’s All Star Saxophone Band: The Candy Men
It’s music like this that got me hooked on jazz. Swinging saxes, melding together, delivering hip solos and getting out in time before you lose attention. Warm toned tenor saxist Harry Allen gives a tribute to the Four Brothers Band…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Yelena Eckemoff Quintet: Blooming Tall Phlox
Pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff delivers a charming two disc album that delivers sonic pictures of summer and winter. The band of her with Verneri Pohjola/tp-fh, Panu Savolainen/vib, Antti Lotjonen/b and Olavi Louhivuori/dr-perc create audible impressions of various seasonal associations. For instance,…
BE-BOP SPOKEN HERE…Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, JJ Johnson, Fats Navarro, etc: Classic Savoy Be-Bop Sessions 1945-49
Not too long ago, record labels had certain identities. Blue Note was best known for hard bop, Columbia for big named mainstream, etc. After WWII, Be-bop was in the air, and a tiny label named Savoy was one of labels…
VOCAL PERFECTION REMASTERED…Ella Fitzgerald: Sings the Cole Porter Songbook
In the same vein that you cannot give informative opinion to movies if you have not seen Casablanca or Citizen Kane, or cannot discuss philosophy or religion if you haven’t read the Bible, it is impossible to give an opinion…