12 songs recorded in 1942 by Gene Williams for the Jazz Information label, which was part of Commodore at the time, plus two very different takes of Big Chief Battle Axe and Franklin Street Blues that were recorded for Purist Records in England. Some of the finest work this New Orleans jazz legend ever did!
Gunter Baby Sommer is at the height of his musical career. After 'Song for Kommeno' and his Solo masterpiece 'Dedications' he presents at his 75th birthday a duo recording with German trumpet player Till Bronner. The listeners will notice quite quickly how relaxed Till Bronner and Baby Sommer correspond throughout the chosen musical material. We experience the meeting of two musicians who have found a common language despite their personal distinctness; who do not need to prove anything to anybody. That is why their very first ever recording is fed by a basic calmness. Had Baby's Party not been chosen to become this album's title, the last piece - the Duke's 'In a Sentimental Mood' - would have made an equally well fitting title. Not in the sense of a yearning retrospection but - according to the two musicians' natural disposition - in the sense of an invincible preview of what is ahead of them.
It was only during Ken Vandermark's residency at the Jazz club The Stone in January 2016 that Vandermark found himself in the same vicinity as Nate Wooley, Sylvie Courvoisier and Tom Rainey. A year later they went into the studio with nine compositions - three each by Courvoisier, Vandermark and Wooley. These four musicians have well-documented, distinct personalities which, in this context, results in performances full of surprises, rich contrasts and shared responsibilities. The music sounds thoughtful, but never over-wrought. They play by intuition, yet retain a vivid complexity. Their composing is transparent and uncliched; their improvising provided with a remarkable coherence and openness. And perhaps it is exactly this - a fresh collective unity that keeps their respective personalities and idiosyncrasies intact - that brings them success in this bold and collaborative performance. Art needs to pique and renew your interest, take you on inspiring and surprising journeys and sometimes even confront your own biases. Creating, not reviving as a way to evolve and to keep going forward in all directions.
Black Magic Man is arguably the pivotal Joe McPhee release. It bridged the span between the regional and the international, bypassing the national altogether. Recorded in the same sessions that produced Nation Time, Black Magic Man consists of music not chosen for that LP. Like it's much-feted sister, technically it falls under the domain of CjR, Craig Johnson's herculean effort in support of McPhee. An erstwhile painter, Johnson became a self-taught audio engineer, acquiring equipment expressly to document McPhee's music. In December 1970, five years after Johnson and McPhee had met, they recorded two days of activity -a concert followed by an additional day of recordings-at Vassar College where McPhee was teaching in the Black Studies department. About half of the material was used to make Nation Time. While they had planned to issue a follow-up, the money wasn't there, so the tapes sat dormant. "Fast-forward five years-Werner X. Uehlinger, a Swiss businessman who worked for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, contacted Johnson while on a trip to the US, and over dinner with McPhee, they discussed putting out some of the unused tracks from the Nation Time sessions. With this casual encounter in 1975, Hat Hut Records was inaugurated. The new label's maiden release was Black Magic Man, dubbed Hat Hut A, the first in what would become Hat Hut's letter series. Along the way, the series would feature seven Joe McPhee records, including the first four in a row." -John Corbett (excerpt from the liner notes)
Playing jazz is a lot like love itself. It is as much about poignancy as it is about joy. It is Jeremy Pelt's understanding of this dichotomy of passion and restraint that makes this album so compelling. The set list is as all-encompassing as a love affair - from the straight-ahead feeling of "I Can't Escape from You" to the breathless stillness of his muted trumpet on "There'll Be Other Times." His sly, half-valve effects on "Blues in Sophistication" show an impish delight while Henry Mancini's "Slow Hot Wind" throbs with an ever so discreet Latin feel. This may be considered a "with strings" record but Pelt does not let this descend into a vibrato-laden string sound. There is an unusually classical feel to this album with the string quartet supporting, reinforcing and commenting on Pelt's playing rather than sugar-coating it. Buddy Rich once said, "Jazz should be treated the same as classical music." He was right. He "got it" and, as evidenced herein, so does Jeremy Pelt.
