Johnny Coles – Little Johnny C Lp (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series)
Trumpeter Johnny Coles was performing with the Gil Evans Orchestra at Birdland in 1959 when he unknowingly made a fan who would open an important door for him a few years later. That fan was pianist Duke Pearson, who was enthralled by the trumpeter’s solo spotlight that night, and after hearing him again the next year as a featured soloist in James Moody’s band, Pearson and Coles formed their own musical relationship and began performing together frequently.
Johnny Hodges – Blues A Plenty Analogue Productions 200g 45RPM Vinyl
One of the giants of the alto saxophone, Johnny Hodges was perhaps the most important soloist and sideman in Duke Ellington’s orchestra from 1928 up to Hodges’ death in 1970. The self-taught player made many solo forays during his long career – one of his ’50s outfits included a young John Coltrane – but history remembers Hodges for his virtuosic sidemanship, particularly his sensitive rendering of ballads.
Joseph Bonner – Impressions Of Copenhagen – Pure Pleasure Records 180g Vinyl LP
Originally released by Theresa in 1992, this frequently exquisite set features the McCoy Tyner-inspired piano of Joe Bonner on four originals, Cal Massey’s Quiet Dawn, and Lush Life.
Bonner and a rhythm section are joined by a string quartet, trumpet, trombone, and flutist Holly Hofmann (the leader provided the arrangements) for music that is both lyrical and often passionate.
Bonner is an underrated talent, and this is one of his finest recordings
Kenny Burrell – Guitar Forms – Acoustic Sounds Verve 180g Vinyl Gatefold Sleeve
1966 Grammy nominee for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance — Large Group or Soloist with Large Group, and Best Album Cover — Photography.
A cornerstone of any jazz library. Kenny Burrell's concept for this album was to demonstrate a variety of jazz guitar styles. And he does so, masterfully. Of particular interest "Moon and Sand" by Burrell and the Gil Evans Orchestra showcases an engaging guitar performance with a Latin combo.
Kenny Burrell – K.B. Blues – Blue Note Tone Poet Series 180g Vinyl
Recorded in 1957, Kenny Burrell’s third session as a leader for Blue Note presented the guitarist’s signature stylings with a crack team of hard boppers featuring Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins, and Louis Hayes. Previously only issued on vinyl in Japan this swinging set is given a new shine with this mono Tone Poet Vinyl Edition.
Kenny Burrell and Jackie McLean – Inta Somethin’ – Blue Note Tone Poet 180g Vinyl
Kenny Dorham added stellar entries to the catalogs of Blue Note, Riverside, and New Jazz throughout the 1950s as he solidified his reputation as a leading trumpeter and composer on the jazz scene. He began 1961 in the studio for Blue Note recording his excellent album Whistle Stop and later that year cut his first date for Pacific Jazz, Inta Somethin', a spirited live recording that captured Dorham leading a quintet with alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, pianist Walter Bishop Jr., bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Art Taylor at The Jazz Workshop in San Francisco.
The band is firing on all cylinders throughout this set of four standards bookended by the Dorham originals "Us" and "San Francisco Beat." A buoyant version of "It Could Happen To You" is performed quartet as a Dorham showcase, while the trumpeter lays out on "Let's Face The Music And Dance" and "Lover Man" to give the spotlight to McLean.
Kenny Dorham – Matador Impex Records Hybrid Stereo SACD
Kenny Dorham – Matador Numbered Limited Edition HQ-180g Vinyl LP
• Numbered, Limited Edition
• Limited To 5000 Pressings
• Audiophile 180g Vinyl LP
• 33rpm
• Available on all-analog LP for the first time in nearly 50 years
• First time ever on HQ-180
• Mastered by Chris Bellman from the original analog master tapes
• Original single disc jacket with ribbed paper tip-on over heavy-board stock
• Pressed at RTI
Kirsten Edkins – Shapes & Sound – Cohearent Sound 180g Vinyl
Shapes and Sound by jazz composer/saxophonist Kirsten Edkins
Shapes and Sound from jazz saxophonist Kirsten Edkins is the debut LP release from Cohearent Records — the new record label companion to famed mastering engineer Kevin Gray's latest enterprise, an all-valve (vacuum tube) recording studio (Cohearent Recording) adjoining his home-based mastering facility in California.
"It's the 'essence of an era' we are trying to recapture with today's musicians, not the sound of specific spaces, engineers or recordings," Gray told music reviewer Michael Fremer.
Larry Coryell, Badi Assad, John Abercrombie – Three Guitars – Chesky Records – SACD
Lee Morgan – Infinity LP (Blue Note Tone Poet Series) – Blue Note Vinyl
Just two months after recording his exceptional sextet date Cornbread, the prolific trumpeter Lee Morgan was back in Van Gelder Studio in November 1965 with a slightly slimmed down—but no less robust—quintet line-up to record his next session Infinity, which wouldn’t be first released until 1981. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and drummer Billy Higgins—both of whom were featured on Cornbread—were at Morgan’s side once again along with pianist Larry Willisand bassist Reggie Workman for a five-song set that ventured to the far reaches of the hard bop tradition and beyond. Four compelling Morgan originals and McLean’s engaging ballad “Portrait of Doll” cover a wide expanse of musical terrain including the probing title track, the laid-back 6/8 groove of “Miss Nettie B,” the intricate interlaced lines of “Growing Pains,” and the hard-charging closer “Zip Code.”
