Tommy Flanagan - Moodsville Volume 9

A rare date with Tommy Flanagan as leader. He's joined by an amply skilled rhythm section of be-bop veterans Tommy Potter and Roy Haynes on bass and drums respectively. The selection of ballads is excellent and sensitively played by the trio, with Flanagan playing a solo rendition of Come Sunday.

Performers: Tommy Flanagan (pi), Tommy Potter (bs), Roy Haynes (dr)

A1. In The Blue Of The Evening
A2. You Go To My Head
A3. Velvet Moon
A4. Come Sunday
B1. Born To Be Blue
B2. Jes' Fine
B3. In A Sentimental Mood

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Red Garland & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Moodsville Volume 1

Another highly excellent set of ballads from Red Garland's trio, this time with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis appearing on saxophone. Garland's sensitivity for ballads is unparalleled and, with the accompaniment of the wonderful Sam Jones and Art Taylor, it seems impossible for him to miss. On the saxophone, Davis shows how his broad, breathy tone can be stretched out, languid and melancholic; a tone dripping with nectar.

Performers: Red Garland (pi), Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (t-sx), Sam Jones (bs), Art Taylor (dr)

A1. We'll Be Together Again
A2. Stella By Starlight
A3. I Heard You Cried Last Night
A4. Softly Baby
B1. When Your Lover Has Gone
B2. Wonder Why
B3. Blue Room
B4. The Red Blues

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Sonny Stitt & Eddie Davis - The Battle Of Birdland

Another classic saxophone "battle" record, this one a little more obscure. Pits one Eddie Davis (presumably before his jaws locked) against a familiar Sonny Stitt (see our last battle below). Both have big, aggressive tones, with Davis favouring a roaring, screaming tone over Stitt's rapid fire frenzy. Shirley Hoskins Collins, who wrote the liner notes for short lived label Roost, calls the battle a "complimentary exchange": certainly the two saxophonists compliment each other excellently in this stripped down organ combo, but one can tell the label 'battle' is appropriate here. This is not a mere Sunday evening duet.

Performers: Sonny Stitt/Eddie Davis (t-sx), Doc Bagby (og), Charlie Rice (dr)

A1. Marchin'
A2. S.O.S.
A3. Jaws
A4. I Can't Get Started

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Blue Mitchell - Blue Mitchell

Excellent 1971 Mainstream Records release from Blue Mitchell. The production has a dense, dirty quality to it that perfectly compliments Walter Bishop Junior's electric piano fuzz and drummer Dug Sides' phenomenal breaks. Joining Mitchell at the front is Jimmy Forrest, a pedigree tenor saxophonist who doesn't appear enough on this type of record. The style is immensely cool: a mixture of early seventies soul jazz and post bop; experimental, 'new' and danceable but still very tight and rooted in the tradition. Forrest has, at times, a more forward-thinking jazz-funk style that works as a perfect counterpoint to Mitchell's be-bop playing. Of particular note is Forrest's incredible sax lick towards the end of "Soul Village": one in a million.

Performers: Blue Mitchell (tp), Jimmy Forrest (t-sx), Walter Bishop Jr. (e-pi/pi), Larry Gales (e-bs/bs), Doug Sides (dr)

A1. Soul Village
A2. Blues For Thelma
A3. Queen Bee
B1. Are You Real
B2. Hi Hermano

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Richie Kamuca's Charlie

Another excellent and tragically as yet un-reissued late record from Kamuca on Concord Jazz. Compared to "Drop Me Off in Harlem" on the same label (find it below), "Charlie" takes a more modern and straight ahead approach (I would guess the very original format there may have been the brainchild of Dave Frishberg). Ray Brown is a veteran bassist, but his tone here screams mid to late 70s; the effect is not unpleasant though, nor do any of the veteran musicians here sound like anything but tip-top modern straight ahead jazz performers. Blue Mitchell's soulful, sensitive trumpet playing is forever welcomed alongside Kamuca, as is veteran west coaster Jimmy Rowles' piano. Donald Bailey is a very swinging, hard-hitting drummer who completes the modern 1970s sound here. A hidden gem.

Performers: Richie Kamuca (t-sx), Blue Mitchell (tp), Jimmy Rowles (pi), Ray Brown (bs), Donald Bailey (dr)

A1. Dizzy Atmosphere
A2. If You Could See Me Now
A3. Chi Chi
A4. Barbados
B1. Confirmation
B2. Blues In B Flat
B3. Medley: Willow Weep For Me/Everything Happens To Me
B4. Hot House

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Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt & Sonny Rollins - Sonny Side Up

Dizzy Gillespie heads this famous all-star horn frontline, backed by brothers Ray and Tommy Bryant on piano and bass respectively and veteran be-bop player Charlie Persip on the drum stool. Gillespie, of course, invigorates things with a fluent energy, a sense of effortless fun that no one else but a prince regent of jazz could muster. As his chosen lieutenants grapple for position through their extended (and impeccable) solos, Gillespie is content to soar above without a care in the world, blasting out wonderful vocals that shine like the sun on the title track.

Performers: Dizzy Gillespie (tp), Sonny Stitt/Sonny Rollins (t-sx), Ray Bryant (pi), Tommy Bryant (bs), Charlie Persip (dr)

A1. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
A2. The Eternal Triangle
B1. After Hours
B2. I Know That You Know

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Nick Drake - Pink Moon

Recorded in two brief late night sesssions, this is the final album from this troubled English singer. Drake's fingerpicked guitar and muffled, sanguine voice surely veiled some spiritual desperation. At twenty-eight minutes in length, with none of the eleven songs longer than four minutes, this a very short album, but Drake packs it with colour and feeling; the same wayward, freewheeling comfort that Dylan originated on "Girl From the North Country". There is plenty of occasion for joy and comfort, as well as for pain, as we hear Drake play his own elegy.

1. Pink Moon
2. Place To Be
3. Road
4. Which Will
5. Horn
6. Things Behind The Sun
7. Know
8. Parasite
9. Ride
10. Harvest Breed
11. From The Morning

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Kevin Drumm - Jury Prize

This release from Drumm leans towards pure noise, rather than electroacoustic based noise or drone/ambient with noise sections. Its something he does very well, and this is sonically very rich and engaging. Released on Karl Schmidt Verlag as a lossless digital file, although it does not seem to be available any longer. Artwork is excellent and very intriguing, see also the back cover here.

1. Schmickedtwice (Jury Prize)

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