Sunnyside SSC 1781; Denny Zeitlin (p); Oakland, CA, December 13, 2019* or Kentfield, CA, November & December 2019; Falling in Love With Love*/ I Didn’t Know What Time It Was*/ He Was Too Good to Me*/ Johnny One Note*/ Wait till You See Her*/ Ev’rything I’ve Got*/ This Nearly Was Mine/ Have You Met Miss Jones?/ I Have Dreamed/ Happy Talk/ With a Song in My Heart; 77:36.
sunnysiderecords.com

Stuart Kremsky was the San Francisco “Short Takes” correspondent for Cadence magazine from 1979-2007. His reviews have appeared in Option, Sound Choice, Cadence, and the IAJRC Journal. He was a sound man at the fabled Keystone Korner and for over ten years was the tape archivist for Fantasy Records, where his production credits include boxed sets of Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, the Modern Jazz Quartet and the Grammy-nominated Sam Cooke With the Soul Stirrers. Email skremsky1 (at) gmail.com
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Denny Zeitlin: With A Song In My Heart
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Andy Biskin: Reed Basket
I’ll admit that when Reed Basket arrived in my inbox, I was a bit apprehensively about the virtues of a clarinet quartet. But I needn’t have worried. Clarinet wizard Andy Biskin and Reed Basket, with fellow clarinetists Peter Hess, Mike McGinnis, and Sam Sadigursky, uncork a relatively broad range of sound generated by five different members of the clarinet family. Biskin composed every one of the odd numbered tracks, which alternate in the program with an astonishing range of covers by composers including Franz Schubert (Moment Musicaux #3), Horace Silver (Blue Silver), Jelly Roll Morton (Wolverine Blues), and the biggest surprise, Lou Reed (Walk on the Wild Side). The carefully detailed arrangements are brought to vibrant life by musicians that are marvelously attuned to the nuances of each other’s sound. And Biskin’s smart sequencing of the program provides an engaging flow to the project. If I were impelled to pick a favorite piece from this baker’s dozens of delicious performances, today it might be the group’s dissection of fellow clarinetist Pee Wee Russell’s Wailin' D.A. Blues. Tomorrow, Biskin’s own Yasmina, with it’s A-section of rapturous melody and stately mien and the B-section that gives it some lift, might just hit the spot, and the day after that, it could be the easy groove of the Horace Silver piece or the winsome and lively arrangement of the Lou Reed song, or ... You get the idea: not a wasted moment in over an hour of charming and captivating sounds, beautifully recorded and mixed by Marc Urselli. Improvised music is full of surprises; I like it when an album I was hesitant about knocks me out in the listening. Very happily recommended.
Self-produced; Andy Biskin (Bb, bcl) Peter Hess (Bb, Eb, alto clarinet, bcl, contra-alto clarinet) Mike McGinnis (Bb, alto clarinet, bcl)/ Sam Sadigursky (Bb, Eb, bcl); NYC, May 17, 2024; 1.Easy Chair/ 2.Camelot/3. Yasmina/ 4. Moment Musicaux #3/ 5. New Fangle/ 6. Wailin' D.A. Blues/ 7. Old Self/ 8. Blue Silver/ 9. So Forth/ 10. Walk on the Wild Side / 11. If Time Allows/ 12. Wolverine Blues/ 13. Minotaur; 62:10. andybiskin.com
A pair of guitar duos: Joe Morris & Elliott Sharp/Eyal Maoz & Eugene Chadbourne
ESP-Disk’ ESP5084; Joe Morris (g, effects) Elliott Sharp (g, electronics); Brooklyn, NY, July 17, 2023; Shapes Mentioned/ Neither Odd Nor Even/ Light Asking/ Freezing in Hell/ Soft Version/ Arrokoth; 64:40. espdisk.com
Another guitar duo, Eyal Maoz & Eugene Chadbourne, has a big batch of fun on The Coincidence Masters. Freely improvised music needs surprising coincidences to result in more than a random jumble of noise, and veteran weirdo Dr. Chad along with Maoz are more than ready to create the right conditions for those surprises to erupt. Where the Morris/Sharp duo is prone to big noises with lots of electronic effects, Maoz and Chadbourne take a calmer approach to their interactions. Chadbourne’s many projects over the years have nearly always had a humorous edge to them, and The Coincidence Masters is no exception. It comes through in the quietly subversive back and forth that the pair engages in, as well as the titles they’ve given for their improvised encounters. Song titles like And Now, All Is Left Is The Titles Search and The Last Track point directly at their playful attitudes in the recording studio. But in the end, They are no less serious about their music than the more raucous Morris/Sharp duo. Listened all the way through, the CD feels like a kind of suite, with track times running from the thirty-eight seconds of Eager for the Ad-Lib to a pair of lengthy excursions in Unexpected, Also For Us, clocking in at just over ten minutes, and the longer Naming Comforts People. The Coincidence Masters is a delightfully entertaining showcase of improvisation, mastered by none other than Elliott Sharp!
Infrequent Seams (CD, digital album); Eyal Maoz, Eugene Chadbourne (guitars); NYC, June 10, 2022; Words Are Not Intended/ Two Guitarists/ Improvisation Enthusiasm/ On-the-Spot/ Eager for the Ad-Lib/ Unexpected, Also For Us/ And Now, All Is Left Is The Titles Search/ We Need It/ Naming Comforts People/ All Through / The Last Track; 52:05 . infrequentseams.bandcamp.com
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions
Mosaic MD6-281; Disc 1 63:21): (A) Jo Jones Trio (4/30/58) (B) Sir Charles Thompson Quartet (1/22/54). Disc 2 (70:10): ©) Sir Charles Thompson Trio (2/16/55) (D) Bobby Henderson (11/26/56). Disc 3 (61:43): (E) Mel Powell Septet (12/30/53) (F) Mel Powell Trio (8/17/54). Disc 4 (72:37): (G) Mel Powell Trio (8/24/54) (H) Mel Powell Septet/Quintet (10/19/55). Disc 5 (60:43): (I) Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo (2/17/55). Disc 6 (50:43): Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo (10/14/55). For complete discographical details, go here. Limited to 5,000 sets; available from www.mosaicrecords.com
Monday, May 19, 2025
Kenny Burrell with Art Blakey: On View At The Five Spot Café: The Complete Masters
Blue Note (2 CDs/3 Lps); Tina Brooks (ts on #) Kenny Burrell (g) Bobby Timmons or *Roland Hanna (p) Ben Tucker (b) Art Blakey (d); NYC, August 25, 1959; CD 1 (63:36): Birks’ Works#/ Hallelujah*/ Lady Be Good#/ Lover Man#/ 36-23-36/ Swingin’/ If You Could See Me Now*/ Beef Stew Blues*. CD 2 (51:22): The Next Time You See Me, Things Won’t Be the Same*/ The Take Off*/ Birks’ Works#/ Lady Be Good#/ Love Walked In/ 36-23-36 (The Theme)#. www.bluenote.com
Charles Mingus: In Argentina - The Buenos Aires Concerts
Resonance HCD- 2077 (2-CDs & 3-Lps); Jack Walrath (tpt) Ricky Ford (ts) Robert Neloms (p) Charles Mingus (b, p on *) Dannie Richmond (d); Buenos, Argentina, June 2, 1977 (disc 1) or June 3, 1977 (disc 2); Disc 1 (77:50): Introduction/ Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/ Duke Ellington’ s Sound of Love/ Noddin’ Ya Head Blues/ Three or Four Shades of Blue/ Koko; Cherokee/ For Harry Carney/ Cumbia & Jazz Fusion/ Solo Piano Improvisation*. Disc 2 (33:32) Sue’s Changes (incomplete)/ Koko; Cherokee; Band intros/ Fables of Faubus/ Solo Piano Improvisation*. resonancerecords.org
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Kenny Dorham: Blue Bossa In The Bronx & Freddie Hubbard: On Fire - Live From The Blue Morocco
Someone really ought to get to work on a biography of Sylvia Robinson. Not sure who she was? She was half of Mickey and Sylvia, with a massive hit in 1957 called Love is Strange; she had another smash hit in 1973 with Pillow Talk. And she went on to co-found Sugar Hill Records in 1979, producing the influential hip-hop songs Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang and The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. But what concerns us here is her club The Blue Morocco, a short-lived Bronx nightspot. Two excellent releases recorded at the club have just been release, one by Kenny Dorham and one by Freddie Hubbard. Both sessions were recorded by Bernard Drayton, another fascinating New York personage. When Zev Feldman, known as the Jazz Detective, was introduced to Drayton, he became aware of Drayton’s archive of tapes. Drayton is described by Feldman as “a renaissance man” who not only had a lengthy career in advertising, but was also a gifted photographer and a fine recording engineer. John Coltrane’s last public performance, released by Impulse! as The Olatunji Concert, is one of his efforts. Drayton worked with two mikes, a tiny mixer and a Revox reel-to-reel tape machine, a setup that’s pictured in both of these releases.
Trumpeter Kenny Dorham was, by all accounts, a cultured and respectful man. The booklet included with Blue Bossa In The Bronx - Live From The Blue Morocco, includes an excerpt from an interview with the late Dan Morgenstern. Back when he was the editor of Downbeat, Morgenstern worked closely with Dorham when the trumpeter was briefly writing record reviews for the magazine. The insightful Morgenstern describes Dorham as “an extraordinarily intelligent person ... a guy who thought about the music and its history...” The single CD or double Lp issue of this quintet date offers what sounds like a complete set from the Bronx club. Kicking things off with Dorham’s best-known composition, Blue Bossa, the stellar unit features Sonny Red on alto along with a marvelous rhythm section of Cedar Walton on piano, the ubiquitous Paul Chambers on bass, and Denis Charles on drums. Charles is usually associated with the likes of Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy, but remember that he also worked with Gil Evans, Sonny Rollins, and Sandy Bull. His low-key but insistent presence on the drums gives the band a firm foundation for the excellent solo work of Dorham and Walton. Sonny Red plays fluidly, but he doesn’t often sound especially inspired on this night. The typically varied program includes nods to K.D.’s bop roots, with expansive versions of Charlie Parker’s Confirmation and Milt Jackson’s Bags’ Groove, and a pair of standards. Memories of You is a feature for Sonny Red, whose convincingly bluesy approach shows him at his best. The music then slides directly into Dorham’s disarmingly relaxed look at My One and Only Love. We also get to hear Blue Friday, a Dorham original that debuted on his exquisite 1959 album Quiet Kenny, and the set closes, in the bop tradition, with The Theme. Dorham is a classic example of the “musician’s musician.” While he didn’t get a ton of recognition from the public, he was highly thought of by his peers, as well as the many trumpeters who followed in his footsteps. Eddie Henderson, Steven Bernstein, Charles Tolliver, and Jeremy Pelt all offer their praise from different angles in statements included in the booklet. Bassist Reggie Workman also offers his perspective, noting Dorham’s “unique sound and approach” and emphasizing that he also a vocalist, making him especially “able to relate to the lyrics of a song.” The booklet also features liner notes by Bob Blumenthal, short statements from Dorham’s children, and a fascinating remembrance of the night by Bernard Drayton. Frankly, I’ve never heard a Dorham recording that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy, and Blue Bossa In The Bronx is no exception. Happily recommended. Resonance HCD–2072 (CD & 2-lp set); Kenny Dorham (tpt) Sonny Red (as) Cedar Walton (p) Paul Chambers (b) Denis Charles (d); The Bronx, NY, 1967; Blue Bossa/ Confirmation/ Memories of You/ My One and Only Love/ Bags’ Groove/ Blue Friday/ The Theme; 73:35.When the masterly trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was really feeling it, it was obvious from the first note. One night in The Bronx, Hubbard was in fabulous form, as the recently issued On Fire - Live From The Blue Morocco proves. Hubbard at that point in 1967 was signed to Atlantic Records, after a long association with Blue Note. His formidably swinging quintet at the time consisted of Bennie Maupin on tenor saxophone, Kenny Barron on piano, Herbie Lewis on bass, and Freddie Waits on drums. This Resonance set, on two CDs or three Lps, is the second of Bernard Drayton’s recordings to appear on the label. Considering the recording setup he used, he managed to get a well-balanced result. The wildly exciting program features original compositions by Hubbard (Crisis, Up Jumped Spring, True Colors, and Breaking Point), along with Bob Cunningham’s Echoes of Blue, and a pair of standards in the second set. Bye Bye Blackbird and Summertime each are explored at length, with superb solo work by Hubbard, Maupin, and Barron. Freddie Waits could drive a small group with finesse and unstoppable propulsion, and he’s totally on his game on this night. In what has become the standard for Resonance releases, and producer Zev Feldman’s projects in general, there’s a copiously illustrated booklet. This one includes Feldman’s introduction, a short piece by Freddie’s son Duane Hubbard, liner notes by John Koenig, memories of performing with Hubbard by Kenny Barron and Bennie Maupin, an essay by Bernard Drayton about the gig, plus appreciations by fellow trumpeters Charles Tolliver, Eddie Henderson, Steven Bernstein (“This recording is insane!”), and Jeremy Pelt. On Fire is a valuable addition to the legacy of the great Freddie Hubbard, and is heartily recommended. Resonance HCD-2073; Freddie Hubbard (tpt) Bennie Maupin (ts) Kenny Barron (p) Herbie Lewis (b) Freddie Waits (d); The Bronx, NY, April 10, 1967; Disc 1 (65:18) Crisis/ Up Jumped Spring/ Echoes of Blue/ True Colors; Breaking Point. Disc 2 (47:56) Bye Bye Blackbird/ Summertime/ Breaking Point. resonancerecords.org