After a long absence from recording Andy Bey returned to the studio for his HighNote debut in 2013 and the result, The World According to Andy Bey won a prestigious Academie Charles Cros Coups de Coeur Jazz Award and was a Grammy finalist. Insiders have always known about Andy Bey. Given his limited output of studio recordings, live performances were the source of Bey's reputation. Aretha Franklin has recalled the nights when Andy worked the Village in New York: Soon as I finished my gig I'd run over to hear him. Andy never got the recognition he deserved.

In 1968, at a Washington D.C. gig, Etta Jones teamed up with tenor saxophonist, Houston Person and his trio and decided to from a partnership that lasted over 30 years. Together they set a new gold standard by which all subsequent instrumental / vocal duos were judged. Etta received a Grammy nomination in 1980 and again in 2001 for ETTA JONES SINGS LADY DAY. Etta left US that year but through her HighNote legacy, her voice, talent and joie de vivre live on. This notable live recording finds her together with Houston and his organ trio in concert at NY's one-time jazz Mecca, Salt Peanuts. It contains a cache of previously unavailable treasures - vocals of course, but their is a liberal sprinkling of instrumentals by Houston and the organ trio as well. No one in the legion of Houston & Etta fans will want to miss this fine disc.

It has been quite a journey for Tom Harrell after commencing his professional career playing trumpet in Stan Kenton's band in 1969. He recorded his first album as a leader in 1976 and currently has 30 albums under his belt including "Moving Picture." It has been written that Tom has participated in 260 recordings but they may include arranging as well which is another (sometimes overlooked) facet of his prodigious talent. Since signing with HighNote Records in 2007 Tom has been working primarily with a quintet but kept things fresh with a quartet recording,"Trip," a two-bass sextet on "Colors Of A Dream" and the critically acclaimed "First Impresssions" which featured a nearly classical chamber ensemble playing the music of Debussy and Ravel. With "Moving Picture" Tom leads a quartet where he is the only horn, giving his legions of fans the pleasure of hearing more of his solo work backed by this venerable jazz format.

Don Braden may be best known for his work with television funnyman Bill Cosby, but his musical talents go far beyond this arena. Having replaced Branford Marsalis in Wynton's combo and having appeared with Betty Carter, Roy Haynes, Dr Lonnie Smith, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams and the Mingus Big Band it is clear that his abilities on the tenor sax are formidable. Braden is smooth and has killer chops, George Colligan plays supportive piano, and Cecil Brooks III has a propulsive style on drums which nicely compliments Joris Teepe's big robust bass sound. But the hero of the date is Braden himself. Whether lingering effortlessly on ballads or burning down the town, Braden's playing is a model of tasteful energy and disciplined brilliance.

Legendary jazz writer Nat Hentoff wrote in a lengthy article about Jeremy Pelt in the Wall Street Journal, "It is the beat of Jeremy Pelt's heart... that underscores the future of jazz." High praise indeed but Pelt lives up to it on every gig and with every new recording. FACE FORWARD, JEREMY is a multi-textured, thought provoking release which incorporates a sparing use of electronica along with unexpected acoustic instruments such as the cello and harp. The result is a wildly imaginative sonic landscape that exists in it's own time and space as defined by the artist and the leader himself.

Pianist Larry Willis has had an important and distinguished 40 year career in jazz. Since making his recording debut of Jackie McLean's landmark 1965 album RIGHT NOW!, the New York-born Willis has played everything from free jazz to fusion to rock (he was a member of Blood, Sweat and Tears in the 70's), while performing as a valued sideman with such jazz titans as Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Morgan, Cannonball Adderley, Art Blakey and Woody Shaw. That versatility is highlighted on Larry's latest HighNote recording which finds him once again in the company of bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Drummond. Also in attendance that day in the Rudy Van Gelder studio was, Eric Alexander, one of the busiest tenor men in jazz, lending his talents to the proceedings. Willis leads the group through a series of standards, originals, jazz classics and offers a new, jazz take on Gene Roddenberry's "Theme from Star Trek".

After decades in the music business, it's clear that David "Fathead" Newman has become one of the premier tenor players in a number of genres ranging from soul, funk, straight-ahead and post-bop jazz. His latest recordings for HighNote displays his formidable triple-threat skills on tenor sax, alto sax and flute. Newman's sultry tenor speaks volumes with his smooth and subtle phrasing, blowing masterfully with excellent accompaniment from keyboard great Cedar Walton and the legendary trombonist Curtis Fuller who gives the ensemble sound a pleasing new depth. Newman's playing remains at once forceful and delicate, noon-day bright and crepuscular, straight-forward and recondite and shows the many facets of both the man and the musician.

Writing about Mary Stallings the New York Times declared that perhaps the best jazz singer singing today is a woman almost everybody seems to have missed. Bay Area jazz lovers chuckled ruefully over yet another blast of East Coast parochialism, long recognizing Ms. Stallings as a singular jazz treasure. For her latest High Note outing, here is Mary Stallings, enjoying her recording resurgence, singing with such confidence, poise and authority that every tune feels like a custom-tailored garment expertly made for her fine-grained tone, relaxed phrasing and supple sense of swing.

Heralded for years as one of the rising stars in jazz, Jeremy Pelt has earned accolades for his staggering virtuosity, which has elicited comparisons to trumpet icons like Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard, as well as for his studious, cerebral approach to the music. While he's clearly the man in charge here, Soul is very much a band-focused release, with all five members of the group heard distinctively and insistently throughout.

Jeremy Pelt stands as a strikingly unique musician, his work consistently sleek and polished yet bristling with the spirit of invention flourishing in a lean, modernist language influenced by classic bebop phraseology. He delivers his lines with authority and economy, the pinpoint accuracy of his tone well-suited to the heightened elegance of his delivery. With pianist Simona Premazzi laying down the changes and Ben Allison's bass lines, Jeremy is joined by the twin drums of Billy Drummond and Victor Lewis for a session of originals, standards and music by Wayne Shorter and Clifford Jordan.