Captain Coe’s Famous Racearound showcases the work of saxophonist Tony Coe, the first non-American to receive the jazz world's ultimate accolade - the Jazzpar Prize, occasionally known as the 'Jazz Nobel', which he was awarded in 1995. All tracks on this album were recorded during the JAZZPAR award concerts with both The Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bob Brookmeyer and the 1995 Jazzpar Combo. This remastered edition features redesigned artwork by the Danish star graphic artist Finn Nygaard, new liner notes by Brian Priestley and photos by Jan Persson.

Tony Coe wrote a substantial new work for the JAZZPAR award concerts and the complex “Captain Coe’s Famous Racearound”, according to its composer, was completed within a few days “in an atmosphere of white heat. The smallgroup set with the JAZZPAR Combo also includes a Coe composition featuring the excellent solo work of Bob Brookmeyer. “Edmundo” (formerly recorded as “Lagos” on Canterbury Song) was dedicated to the Latin-American bandleader Edmundo Ros, who was the drummer on Fats Waller’s London recordings but remembered by Tony for his “exhilarating and romantic Latin music and his warm personality coming over the air during my [World War II] childhood, when there was much stress and hardship in Britain”. Also heard are two pieces by London- and Paris based drummer Steve Argüelles. The first has Argüelles playing a musical box against which Tony builds a free improvisation, while “Antonia” is a ballad showcasing his warm soprano saxophone tone.

William Thomas Dupree was born in 1909 in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father was from the Belgian Congo and his mother was part African-American, part Cherokee. His parents ran a grocery store in the Irish Channel neighborhood and the family lived upstairs. When he was about one year old, the house was set on fire by the Ku Klux Klan and both his parents were killed. He grew up in the Colored Waifs Home in New Orleans where he received no schooling, but learned about music, cooking and fighting. When he came out of the orphans home, he learned to play barrelhouse piano, especially from a pianist called Willie Drive 'Em Down Hall. He made his living playing piano and fighting in the street for bets. He returned to Chicago in 1939 and joined a circle of recording artists including Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red, who introduced him to record producer Lester Melrose. After WWII he moved to New York, where he made multiple recordings for many labels, including his legendary 1958 album for Atlantic Records, Blues from the Gutter.

This album is made up of selected live and radio broadcasts with the Danish Radio Big Band and Swedish, British and Danish/American small groups during 1964-71. As the title indicates only ballads are included on the album, and, for the first time on a Ben Webster ballad album, there is no string-section accompaniment. Three of the ten numbers were previously unreleased before the original issue of this album. The art of ballad-playing was all-important to Ben Webster. He once said "Remember, there are only three tempi in jazz - slow, medium and slow!" While all the tunes are ballads, the wide variety and constellations give a wonderful, multi-faceted sound-picture of Ben Webster.

Jens Søndergaard, who received the Ben Webster award in 2017, is one of the most important saxophonists in Danish Jazz. His duo collaboration with Kenny Werner stands as a milestone and as an example that Jens Søndergaard's sound on the alto saxophone also inspires American stars. Jens Søndergaard has always had a large and faithful audience. There is a good reason why he has always had a tightly packed calendar. The audience loves the warm radiance of Søndergaard and the beautiful and melodic play on the saxophone. Now he has recorded The Brubeck-Desmond songbook, which is a return to the music that has gotten so many into the Jazz. Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond are two of the most iconic composers in the history of Jazz. When you hear Jens Søndergaard interpret their repertoire with his regular quartet, it is difficult not to just sit back and enjoy how simple and elegant it can be done. But of course it must be like this when Ole Kock Hansen is involved as an organizer, no one can do better than him on our latitudes. Kock Hansen is a great organizer and an equally great pianist. If you listen, you can clearly hear that this is an even very mixed rhythm group with a steady Aage Tanggaard on drums and Swedish Lars Lundström on bass. It is performed with an elegance it shines through that none of the players need to prove anything.

What we have here is the welcome memento of the Duke Ellington’s 1959 European tour. Berlin’s Sportpalast is not a concert hall and during the cursed Nazi reign often was the site of speeches by Hitler and his fellow criminals, but the hall can perhaps be said to have been purified by sounds of jazz by the time of this concert. The music starts with the Ellington Medley, by then a standard concert opener in varied embodiments. Critics often chided Duke for (in their opinion) overdoing this staple, but in fact it was not only a clever way of dealing with what undoubtedly would have been audience requests for beloved Ducal standards, but also a way of celebrating the continued life of his musical heritage. The concert has been remastered to modern standards, and is a must own for any Ellington fan.

REVIEWS:

Storyville Records has released Duke Ellington & His Orchestra: Berlin 1959, a terrific live album with great sound and luxurious music. Partially released in past years on shabby bootlegs, this album gives us this concert with pristine sound. Don't cherry-pick songs when listening. The only way to enjoy this album is by listening from start to finish. Only then can you absorb the depth of the Ellington band's full spectrum of moods and the Duke's piano. Be aware that tracks 17 to 27 are part of an Ellington medley and aren't full songs. As a result, each song is short.

--AllAboutJazz.com (Marc Myers)

There can never be too many Duke Ellington albums. Heard here is Storyville’s recently released two-CD set titled Berlin 1959, a previously unreleased concert. The Duke Ellington Orchestra was well documented in the late 1950s following their major success at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, and the live concerts that have been released from this period can be a little predictable. Just as with the Louis Armstrong All-Stars, there are some routines that do not differ that much from month to month although they eventually evolved. But, as with Armstrong, there are occasional surprises that make each concert well worth hearing.

Overall, everything works well during this fine concert. There may not have been an excess of surprises, but the results are fun.

--The Syncopated Times (Scott Yanow)

The scene is... 311 West 57 Street, New York, Mediasounds Studio A...the date...Friday, August 25th, 1972. Duke Ellington was having an engagement with a smaller group at The Rainbow Grill, as he had several times before, finishing the gig on the following night. But on the 25th, he chose also to go to the recording studio, just himself at the piano together with his two band singers, Anita Moore and Tony Watkins, to record some pieces which were not played so often. The recordings remained in his "stockpile" until now, this being the first commercial issue of these beautiful pieces. The late Sjef Hoefsmit wrote about the session when he heard it back in 1994: "It is difficult to understand why these magnificent recordings never have been issued". Well, here they are at last - for all to enjoy! Among the gems, listeners will find tracks such as two takes of the Billy Strayhorn composition "Lotus Blossom", the Duke's own "Le Sucrier Velours" and his emotional "My Mother, My Father and Love." The latter was often performed with the Duke himself as a vocalist, reciting his own lyrics. No doubt the words meant a great deal to him, both personally and as part of his positive stories about the black communities in the USA.

Cool Sweetness could be a nice cold and tasty cocktail…or maybe an irresistible ice cream… But actually, it is the name of Danish trombonist Anders Jacobsen’s jazz sextet. “Cool” because the main inspiration comes from the cool jazz as they played it on the American West Coast in the fifties. “Sweetness” because that is how the sextet members really are. Six nice, good-natured and humorous men who love to play good jazz. The music on their new album “Shoehorn Shuffle” is primarily composed and arranged by Jacobsen and the album features a strong line-up of the coolest players on the Danish jazz scene, including Thomas Fryland (trumpet), Jens Søndergaard (sax), Pelle von Bülow (guitar), Ole Skipper (bass) and Aage Tanggaard (drums).

‘The music on this fine recording is quite simply - just wonderful! The beauty and spirit of quality is always evident. The writing, execution, soli, and recorded sound are a joy to experience! The sense of swing and great groove puts a big smile on my face. many thanks to Anders for his terrific writing and assembling all these superb musicians!’ (Jiggs Whigham)

REVIEW:

The group have all the right attributes, good sound, calm execution, and the correct solo power to place them alongside the iconic cool jazz players of yesteryear.

-- Jazzwise (UK)

Only time can tell if a musical composition will be considered a “classical” piece by future audiences, but as Danish music critic Søren Schauser has predicted: “In a couple of years we will see pieces by an Ellington or a Peterson in regular concert programs in entirely classical contexts.” With “The Touch” Søren Kristiansen and Thomas Fonnesbæk present their take on a classical piece of jazz, playing the music of Oscar Peterson and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen - classical but improvised! OP and NHØP gave us something unique and unforgettable, just as the classical composers did and still do. Being the world’s greatest virtuosos on piano and double bass respectively, their immense technique and ‘Touch’ made them unique. Their collaboration was likewise special because they were equals. For instance, Oscar Peterson’s arrangement for “On The Trail” (Great Connection, 1971) was presumably written because he had found a bassist that could keep up both musically and technically. OP & NHØP gave us something extraordinary and unforgettable, exactly like the great classical composers did and continue doing - and now Kristiansen and Fonnesbæk share their idea of how it could be played today.

REVIEW:

One of the swingingest pianists in jazz history, Oscar Peterson, is given tribute with one of his best bassists, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen ( better known as NHOP) on this concert of duets between Soren Kristiansen/p and Thomas Fonnesbaek/b. The May, 2021 recordings in Copenhagen mix originals by the two as well as a handful of standards, and the two converse and bounce like the original string trio with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis.

Kristiansen provides classy chords on the hip “Soft Winds” while Fonnesbaek delivers a rich bass line on “Nigerian Marketplace”. Peterson’s feel is captured well on “The Trail”, with bopping unison lines and a nifty left hand. Dark and dramatic moods are created for “On Danish Shore” with pretty melodies bouncing on “Wheatland”. Fonnesbaek is stately on the intro and lad on the uptown “There Is No Greater  Love”, and steps out for Kristiansen to give a heartfelt aria on the solemn “Hymn To Freedom”. Classy conversations.

-- JazzWeekly.com (George W. Harris)