Denny Zeitlin: With A Song In My Heart

     Pianist Denny Zeitlin was in grade school when his parents took him to see Oklahoma! and he was “electrified” by the music of Richard Rodgers. Zeitlin started playing jazz gigs in high school and made his first albums for Columbia in 1964. All that time, he’s been thinking about Rodgers’ music, often playing one of Rodgers’ over 900 (!) songs on gigs and on record. With A Song In My Heart offers a generous helping of Zeitlin devoting an entire program to Rodgers’ music. The first six tracks come from the 2019 edition of his solo piano appearances at Oakland’s Piedmont Piano Company, each devoted to the work of a single composer. The balance of the CD was recorded that fall in his home studio. The playing throughout is elegant in its phrasing, with the composer’s ever-lovely melodies at the forefront of Zeitlin’s inventive improvisations. While this kind of album, with so and so playing the music a particular composer, was a staple of record labels at one time, the earliest examples of the sub-genre generally have the performers staying fairly close to the song they were playing. By now, musicians feel perfectly free to reharmonize their material or give it a different feel with an unusual time signature. Thus we get a exploration of I Didn’t Know What Time It Was in 7/4, and I Have Dreamed recast as a bossa nova. Zeitlin’s carefully considered sequencing choices give the album a genuine flow. Variation in tempo from piece to piece help draw the listener along for the ride. For instance, Happy Talk really cooks, while his lengthy live exploration of Ev’rything I’ve Got simmers. The artist’s brief liner notes put each of the tunes in the context of the musicals where they first appeared, as well as pointing out musical tidbits about his arrangements. Concluding the album is a straight ahead version of the oft-played With a Song in My Heart. This exquisite rendition of this popular standard neatly sums up the session with its graceful beauty. Definitely recommended. 

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

George Cables: I Hear Echoes

     I get a lot of CDs and downloads sent to me for this blog, and I can’t usually be sure I’ll enjoy the music until I start listening. But when it’s a new recording by pianist George Cables, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it’s going to be a winner. And so it is with I Hear Echoes, his latest HighNote album, a trio date with Essiet Essiet on bass and Jerome Jennings on drums. Cables turned 80 in November 2024 and he’s had various health problems over the last few years, but he sounds really strong on the opening track, Echo of a Scream. The first of four original tunes, it’s a dazzling upbeat swinger with an insistent figure that Cables keeps up for the whole tune. Another Cables composition, Echoes, sounds like a close cousin to the opener, with a more relaxed feel but similarly constructed. The trio also takes a fresh look at some older tunes: Morning Song, a tune that dates back to the late Seventies, and Blue Nights, first recorded in 1985. Joining the originals are a few standards, including a tasty upbeat version of Cole Porter’s You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To, and jazz compositions including Duke Ellington’s timeless Prelude to a Kiss, Cedar Walton’s Clockwise, and a stirring romp through pianist Arcoiris Sandoval’s Journey to Agartha. The CD concludes with a reflective solo rendition of Horace Silver’s Peace. There’s a reason Cables has been a key member of bands led by such disparate personalities and stylists as Art Blakey and saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper. He’s also appeared on record with such critically acclaimed artists as Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, and many others. That reason is his unerring instinct for the right note at the right time and his reliable sense of swing. Until his run of trio albums for HighNote dating back to 2012's My Muse, I was more of a devotee of his ensemble work. But now, I’m eager to make room on the shelf for another of his joyously swinging trio dates. Absolutely recommended. 

HighNote HCD 7256; George Cables (p) Essiet Essiet (b) Jerome Jennings (d); NYC, January 30 & May 2, 2024; Echo of a Scream/ Echoes/ So Near So Far/ Morning Song/ Prelude to a Kiss/ Clockwise/ Like a Lover/ You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To/ Blue Nights/ Journey to Agartha/ Peace; 65:41. www.jazzdepot.com

Art Tatum: Jewels In The Treasure Box: The 1953 Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings

  One day while working for Fantasy Inc., I was entrusted with compiling The Best Of The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces of the great pianist Art Tatum, selecting from a 7-CD boxed set. A more pleasant task is hard to imagine. Listening intently to that much music made me even more of a life-long Tatum fanatic. Although he is often thought of a solo performer, Tatum led two very successful trios during his career. His second trio, with Everett Barksdale on guitar and Slam Stewart on bass, lasted from 1951 until Tatum’s death in 1956. A new multi-disc package, titled Jewels In The Treasure Box: The 1953 Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings, captures this under-recorded unit at roughly the mid-point of its lifespan. With thirty-nine tracks recorded at a Chicago night spot in the summer of 1953, all previously unreleased, we’re privileged to hear these 70 year old performances that somehow manage to sound as fresh as the day they were made. Tatum, who can barely stop soloing at all times, is ably accompanied by Barksdale, a fine, if underrated, electric guitarist, and Stewart, a rock-solid bassist and a pioneer of humming along with his arco solos. The trio swings like mad as they offer a survey of the Great American Songbook. Dip in anywhere to be carried away on waves of excitement that are flowing from the stage. As a special treat, we get to hear Tatum’s resonant speaking voice several times, introducing songs and thanking the audience in a relaxed and friendly manner. It’s easy to be dazzled by the sheer virtuosity of Tatum’s playing. Many pianists, hearing him on record for the first time, have been convinced that it wasn’t possible for one person to play that much piano. But it was, and from a man who drank copious amounts of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer while he performed. Brent Hayes Edwards contributes a general outline of Tatum’s life and career in the booklet, making valuable observations about Tatum’s piano mentors and conceptional framework. The booklet also includes appreciations by Sonny Rollins, Terry Gibbs, pianists Ahmad Jamal, Michael Weiss, Spike Wilner, Monty Alexander, ELEW, and Johnny O’Neal, plus photos and memorabilia from the club. Like all of producer Zev Feldman’s projects, this collection is fully authorized. This one originated with the family of Frank Holzfeind, who operated the Blue Note in Chicago for fifteen years. These tapes come from his personal collection, which makes me wonder about what else is in that vault. While we’re waiting, there’s nearly three hours of Art Tatum to treasure and hear again and again. Absolutely recommended. 

Resonance HCD-2064 [CD; also on vinyl]; Art Tatum (p) Everett Barksdale (g) Slam Stewart (b); Chicago, IL, August 16, 21* & 28#; Disc 1 (53:41) : Night and Day/ Where or When/ On the Sunny Side of the Street/ Don’t Blame Me/ Soft Winds/ These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)/ Flying Home/ Memories of You/ What Does it Take/ Tenderly/ Crazy Rhythm/ The Man I Love/ Tea For Two. Disc 2 (59:21) : I Cover the Waterfront/ Body and Soul/ Laura/ Humoresque/ Begin the Beguine/ Medley: There Will Never Be Another You; September Song/ Just One of Those Things*/ Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams*/ St. Louis Blues*/ After You’ve Gone*/ Someone to Watch Over Me*/ Elegy*. Disc 3 (60:31) : Sweet Lorraine*/ (Back Home Again in) Indiana#/ Tabu#/ Judy#/ Lover#/ Dark Eyes#/ Stompin’ at the Savoy#/ If#/ Out of Nowhere#/ Would You Like to Take a Walk?#/ Stardust#/ Air Mail Special#/ I’ve Got the World on a String#/ The Kerry Dance. www.resonancerecords.org

Sonny Clark: The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions

  In the mid-Eighties, Giovanni Bonandrini of Black Saint Records prodded pianist Wayne Horvitz into recording an album dedicated to the music of pianist and composer Sonny Clark. With John Zorn on alto saxophone, Ray Drummond on bass, and Bobby Previte on drums, The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet recorded seven of Clark’s distinctive originals as Voodoo. Most of them first appeared on albums that were out-of-print at the time (1987). The release somehow made Clark’s music hip for a new generation of jazz fans. Zorn, in a trio with trombonist George Lewis and guitarist Bill Frisell, went on to record News For Lulu and More News For Lulu (both on hat Art) with songs by Clark, Kenny Dorham, and Hank Mobley, among others. Now comes what seems like the ultimate accolade for the undeservedly obscure pianist, a Mosaic boxed set. The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions compiles nine albums, including a few that were first issued in Japan, as well as all the bonus tracks and alternates that have appeared on CD reissues of this material over the years. The big attraction here, besides the sheer pleasure of having it all in one place, is the phenomenal sound quality of this collection. Every session was recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, with all but the final date done at his original studio in Hackensack. (The 1961 album Leapin’ And Lopin’ was made in Englewood Cliffs.) As earlier Blue Note reissues have noted, “No multitrack recording was used and consequently no mixing was required.” In other words, the session tapes became the masters with no intermediary steps. New high-resolution transfers of the original analog tapes were mastered with 24-bit technology. The results are stunning, and since the stereo spread reproduces the actual spatial orientation of the performers, listening to these CDs puts you right into the room with the musicians. As Bob Blumenthal, tells us in his typically fine and informative liner notes, Clark arrived in New York with Dinah Washington’s group after a few years of work on the West Coast. Clark’s first appearance on Blue Note was on a Hank Mobley sextet date, recorded on June 23, 1957. An impressed Alfred Lion of Blue Note signed him to a contract, and just a month later, on July 21, Clark did his own first date as a leader for any label with Dial “S” For Sonny. While this box is devoted to Clark’s sessions as a leader, he also appeared regularly in this period as a sideman with the likes of Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Stanley Turrentine, Jackie McLean, Curtis Fuller and Dexter Gordon. He’s also been featured on previous Mosaic collections, including The Complete Recordings Of The Buddy DeFranco Quartet/Quintet With Sonny Clark and The Complete Blue Note Recordings Of Grant Green With Sonny Clark. What distinguishes Clark’s music is the “sustained level of melodic invention” (Blumenthal), his “bright, irresistible swing” (Michael Cuscuna) and his “finesse and an exceptional technique, too” (tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin).  What’s sad about it is that as busy as he was playing music, he was also, like so many of his contemporaries, a heroin addict who overdosed at the age of 32. Clark himself was quite self-aware. ''Your soul is your conception,” he said to Nat Hentoff, “and you begin to have it in your playing when the way you strike a note, the sound you get and your phrasing come out of you yourself, and no one else.'' Sonny Clark always sounded like himself, and this marvelous anthology is his enduring testament. Absolutely recommended.

Mosaic MR6-276; Disc 1 (78:28) Dial “S” For Sonny + Sonny’s Crib; Disc 2 (77:34) Sonny’s Crib concluded + My Conception; Disc 3 (49:06) Sonny Clark Trio; Disc 4 (75:26) Sonny Clark quintet + Cool Struttin’; Disc 5 (62:38) singles session + Blues In The Night; Disc 6 (55:37) Leapin’ And Lopin’. For complete discographical details, go here. Limited edition available from mosaicrecords.com

Ahmad Jamal: Emerald City Nights, Live at The Penthouse, 1966-1968

  The third and final compilation of radio broadcasts from Seattle showcasing pianist Ahmad Jamal and his trio is Emerald City Nights, Live at The Penthouse, 1966-1968, available on limited edition vinyl for Record Store Day and on CD in December. This time around, we get to hear just one of Jamal’s trios, with bassist Jamil Nasser and drummer Frank Gant, a unit that stayed together from 1966 until the mid-1970's. Jamal, with his influential block chord approach to building improvisations and the irrepressible flow of sound from his instrument, is always a pleasure to hear, especially when he’s in front of an audience. Jamal’s elaborate inventions tend to disregard most of the familiar melodies in favor of the underlying chord structures. For instance, Joseph Kosma’s Autumn Leaves, which Eugene Holley, Jr., mentions in his notes was “a mainstay in the Jamal songbook,” is delivered here “in a whirling dervish of ingenuity and taste.” Another Jamal favorite, Erroll Garner’s classic Misty, gets a similarly unusual treatment, with a lengthy piano/drum duet. Jamal’s lone solo excursion is a lovely investigation of Johnny Mandel’s Emily, a piece also favored by another extremely influential pianist, Bill Evans. As Holley reminds us, the jazz world was in a state of profound flux in the late Sixties. Jamal persevered with his trio, and he always felt at home in the Penthouse. Club owner Charlie Puzzo was a big fan, and brought a concert grand into the small club for Jamal’s frequent appearances in Seattle. Jamal, who passed away in April, 2023, was involved with this release, approving the selections, and telling Holley that “it was a great place to work.” That feeling is apparent in the ebullient performances on offer. Holley’s liner notes follow an introductory note by co-produced Zev Feldman, and are joined by excerpts from brief interviews with pianists Les McCann, Emmet Cohen, Monty Alexander and Jamal himself, plus some previously unpublished photos. Definitely recommended. 

Jazz Detective DDJD-006 (also on vinyl); Ahmad Jamal (p) Jamil Nasser (b) Frank Gant (d); Seattle, WA, dates as noted; Disc 1 (45:13): September 29, 1966: Gloria/ Fantastic Vehicle/ Misty. August 24, 1967: Mr. Lucky/ Autumn Leaves. Disc 2 (48:37): August 31, 1967: Corcovado (Quiet Night of Quiet Stars)/ Where is Love/ Dance to the Lady. April 26, 1968:Naked City Theme/ Emily (solo)/ Alfie. www.thejazzdetective.com

Mal Waldron: Searching In Grenoble: The 1978 Solo Piano Concert

  Mal Waldron is one of my favorite pianists. In the first part of his career, he was the “house pianist” for Prestige from 1956-1958 and accompanied Billie Holiday from April 1957 until her death in 1959. After a mental breakdown in 1963, Waldron slowly reacquainted himself with the piano, developing a different style with a more obsessive focus than he’d displayed in the Fifties. Perhaps making up for lost time, he proceeded to record prolifically starting in the late Sixties, as a solo pianist, as a bandleader, and frequently with soprano saxophone specialist Steve Lacy. I had the good fortune to be around Keystone Korner in the late Seventies, and one of my fondest memories of that time is a magnificently transfixing hour solo by Waldron as part of an evening of solo and trio performances by Waldron and Jaki Byard. To say that I’m thrilled to welcome Searching In Grenoble: The 1978 Solo Piano Concert into my record library is to state the obvious. Waldron is in top form, and the quality of the tapes, professionally recorded by the French INA (Institut national de l'audiovisuel). is superb. Waldron starts out with a vigorous 23-minute medley of his original compositions Mistral Breeze and Sieg Haile. For the rest of this beautifully paced program, Waldron performs a few standards and looks back to the Fifties with explorations of his well-known compositions like Fire Waltz, All Alone, and Soul Eyes. Also on offer are newer pieces like Snake Out (first recorded in 1973) and Russian Melody (1974), plus two other previously unrecorded originals, Here, There and Everywhere and Petite Gémeaux. This Tompkins Square release is yet another production of the apparently indefatigable Zev Feldman. The booklet, well-illustrated as usual with his projects, includes remarks from the pianist’s daughter Mala Waldron, Parisian journalist Pascal Rozat on the Grenoble jazz scene, and liner notes on the music by Adam Schatz. Best of all are the brief interviews Feldman conducted with two pianists of different generations, Ran Blake and Matthew Shipp. Blake first heard Waldron when he has “a waiter at the Jazz Gallery and every night for six weeks, [and] we heard Straight Ahead and the Freedom Now Suite” by Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln. Blake later studied briefly with him. What he wants the world to remember about Waldron is his “great kindness. And his brilliance.” Matthew Shipp, who says “I just love his overall sound world,” also makes note of the “very spiritual, full, Black sound in his playing.” Adam Shatz appraises this recording as “jazz, and art music, of the highest order.” I couldn’t agree more. Absolutely recommended. 

Tompkins Square TSQ5906 (cd, vinyl); Mal Waldron (p); Grenoble, France, March 23, 1978; Disc 1 (65:34): Medley: Mistral Breeze; Sieg Haile/ Here, There and Everywhere/ Russian Melody/ Petite Gémeaux/ Fire Waltz/ You Don’t Know What Love Is/ Soul Eyes. Disc 2 (37:50): It Could Happen to You/ Russian Melody/ I Thought About You/ Snake Out/ All Alone. www.tompkinssquare.com

Ahmad Jamal: Emerald City Nights

  Piano stylist supreme Ahmad Jamal is the star of the first releases by the new Jazz Detective label. A pair of complementary double-CD sets, Emerald City Nights: Live At The Penthouse 1963-1964 and Emerald City Nights: Live At The Penthouse 1965-1966 document parts of his sets that were broadcast and recorded by the club. Over the past few years, the Penthouse tape collection has yielded a number of impressive releases, including such stars as Johnny Griffin & Eddie Lockjaw Davis in 1962, Cannonball Adderley in 1966 and 1967, Bill Evans in 1966 and Wynton Kelly with Wes Montgomery in 1966. Zev Feldman has been instrumental in bringing this material, and a lot more, out of the vaults and into the world. This new joint venture with Spain’s Elemental Music label takes its name from his nickname of the Jazz Detective. For this project, he consulted the 92-year old Jamal. The Ahmad Jamal trio stunned the music world with the massive success of the 1958 Argo album Live At The Pershing: But Not For Me. By 1994, this piano trio date had sold over a million copies. Jamal and his groups were quite popular at Seattle’s Penthouse nightspot, and this pair of releases presents music from seven different broadcasts from 1963-1965. (There’s another compilation of Jamal at The Penthouse in preparation.) Each set gets the usual Feldman treatment. The booklets each include period photos, an introduction by the producer, remarks by Jamal extracted from recent interviews, brief notes by Jim Wilke, the on-air host for KING-FM, and Charlie Puzzo, Jr., son of the club owner, and charming recollections by Marshall Chess of Chess Records. Argo was Chess Records’ jazz imprint, and Live At The Pershing was, he says “a viral hit” for the company when a 16-year old Marshall Chess first met Jamal. Eugene Holley, Jr. contributes liner notes for each volume, discussing both the songs and the backgrounds of the bassists (Richard Evans and Jamil Nasser) and drummers (Chuck Lampkin, Vernel Fournier, and Frank Gant). Finally, a batch of pianists weigh in on Jamal’s powerful influence. We hear from Jon Batiste, Kenny Barron, and Aaron Diehl in the 1963-1964 booklet. The 1965-1966 compilation features reminiscences by the late Ramsey Lewis and Hiromi Uehara. As both Uehara and Barron note, active participation in the music by the bass and drums make the band sound, in Uehara’s words, “like one cohesive unit.” Spending some time with these discs provides an opportunity to listen to how the music is ever so slightly altered with different bandmates. But the best thing about these broadcasts is the sheer pleasure of Jamal’s magnificent improvisations on (mostly) popular songs, and his unfailingly à propos rhythmic shadings. Absolutely recommended. I can’t wait to hear what else Jazz Detective has in store for the future. On a personal note, this former tape archivist really appreciates the photographs of tape boxes! 

Jazz Detective DJDD-004; Disc 1 (34:23) Ahmad Jamal (p) Richard Evans (b) Chuck Lampkin (d); Seattle, WA [all tracks], June 20, 1963; Johnny One Note/ Minor Adjustments/ All Of You/ Squatty Roo. Disc 2 (56:27) Ahmad Jamal (p) Jamil Nasser (b) Chuck Lampkin (d); March 26, 1964; Bogota/ Lollipops & Roses/ Tangerine. Same trio; April 2, 1964; Keep On Keeping On/ Minor Moods/ But Not For Me. 

Jazz Detective DJDD-005; Disc 1 (40:29) Ahmad Jamal (p) Jamil Nasser (b) Chuck Lampkin (d); March 18, 1965; I Didn’t Know What Time It Was/ Who Can I Turn To?. Same trio; March 25, 1965; My First Love Song/ Feeling Good. Disc 2 (37:42): Ahmad Jamal (p) Jamil Nasser (b) Vernel Fournier (d); October 28, 1965; Concern/ Like Someone In Love. Ahmad Jamal (p) Jamil Nasser (b) Frank Gant (d); September 22, 1966; Invitation/ Poinciana/ Whisper Not. www.deepdigsmusic.com

Lennie Tristano: Personal Recordings 1946-1970

  Personal Recordings 1946-1970 by pianist, composer, and teacher Lennie Tristano is a 6 CD co-production of Mosaic Records and Dot Time Records. Assembled by Tristano’s daughter Carol Tristano and tenor saxophonist Lenny Popkin, this collection, virtually all previously unissued, is a fascinating tribute to one of the most controversial figures in modern jazz. (Two sextet pieces, recorded at Carnegie Hall on Christmas Eve, 1949, first appeared on an lp issued by the IAJRC.) While prominent musicians as disparate as Charlie Parker, Bill Evans, and Keith Jarrett have praised his work, Tristano never achieved the popularity or critical acclaim that his innovations should have garnered. While this set might help to rectify that attitude by compiling a variety of live material and sessions recorded at Tristano’s home and studio, his legacy probably would have been better served by a more critical producer who might have weeded out some of the more problematic recordings. As it is, the sound quality on disc one, taken from wire recordings between 1946 and 1948, is abysmal. While there’s some great playing in these trios with guitarist Billy Bauer and a variety of bassists, it’s so hard to hear that I can’t imagine revisiting these tracks very often. I think it would have been better to put these selections on the last disc of the set rather than at the beginning, and started the collection with the solo selections on disc two, most of which were reasonably well taped in 1961 at Tristano’s home studio in Queens. Sound quality is a vast improvement over the first disc, and fans of The New Tristano, his 1961 Atlantic album, will be happy to hear several variations of some of the tunes. We’re back to wire recordings for part of disc three, recorded at a club date in Manhattan in 1950. Things are a little murky, but saxophonists Lee Konitz, on alto, and Warne Marsh, on tenor, are in fine form and it’s nice to hear them at this formative stage in their careers. Marsh and Konitz are certainly the best known musicians associated with Tristano, and we’ll hear from them again in this compilation. The fourth disc in the set is devoted to trio sessions with Peter Ind on bass and either Tom Wayburn or Al Levitt on drums. The eleven pieces were recorded in the mid-Fifties at Tristano’s East 32nd Street studio. Highlights include the relaxed lope of Lennie’s Lines, the effervescent version of There Will Never Be Another You, and the effortless flow of Movin’ Along. Disc 5 is devoted to Tristano in duo and trio settings with bassist Sonny Dallas, who seemed to fit this music like he was born to it. To these ears, the six duets, recorded in the mid-Sixties in the same Midtown Manhattan studio, offer some of the best music in the collection. There’s a feeling of intense creativity at work as the musicians feed off one another’s ideas with playful empathy in the best jazz tradition. Drummer Nick Stabulas, who frequently worked alongside Dallas, appears on two tracks. He’s fairly subdued with brushwork on I Should Care, while his cymbal beat enlivens Lennie’s Groove. Our immersion in Tristano’s archives concludes on disc 6, split between a 1948 session with Konitz, Marsh, and Bauer, a 1962 club date at the Half Note with Dallas and Stabulas, and a single track with the trio joined by Konitz and Zoot Sims on tenor. The earlier pieces, in decent sound, are relatively brief and freely improvised. There are more than a few passages of serendipitous beauty in the 20 minutes presented here. The club material swings hard, and features the trio stretching out for any audience. The final track, a ten-minute excursion into How Deep is the Ocean with Konitz and Sims, is really special. While Konitz was always identified with Tristano, it’s both surprising and somehow gratifying to hear how the magnificent playing of Zoot Sims fits so well with Tristano’s conception of this Irving Berlin standard. Tristano was a frequently brilliant pianist, and his music is always worth exploring. So I heartily recommend this set, with the caveat that the first disc is very hard to listen to. Start with disc 2, and you’ll be amply rewarded. 

Mosaic/Dot Time MD6-272; Lennie Tristano (p) on all selections. Disc 1 (59:33): Trio with Billy Bauer, Live Performances; Disc 2 (56:08): Solo Piano; Disc 3 (58:13): Sextet - Live Performances; Disc 4 (63:34): Trio Sessions; Disc 5 (57:46): Duos & Trios with Sonny Dallas; Disc 6 (61:42): 1948 Free Session & Live at the Half Note. For complete discographical information and ordering details, go here 

George Cables: Too Close For Comfort

  Veteran pianist George Cables continues his stellar run of trio albums for HighNote with the sublimely beautiful Too Close For Comfort. Working with his regular bandmates, Essiet Essiet on bass and Victor Lewis on drums, Cables, who also produced the date, starts out with the rapid fire attack of the title track. It’s a song that the pianist says he “fell in love with as a young man” and it seemed like a good time to record it, with a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Covid-19 pandemic. Three Cables originals are up next. Circle Of Love is a gentle blues dedicated to his tightly knit circle of friends, supporting him through recent health problems. The perky This is My Song is a lovely expression of what Cables’ calls his “positive spirit,” while Klimo looks back to the pianist’s days in Los Angeles with a burst of Latin rhythm and a pace tailor-made for Victor Lewis. The drummer takes a rest for For All We Know, a standard that Cables remembers hearing sung by Billie Holiday. Here it’s the occasion for an intimate and prolonged duet of crisp piano and the solid and unflashy bass of Essiet. (Odd fact: the bassist once recorded this song with a vocal by Art Blakey when he was in the Blakey band in 1990!). Next is the bouncy and energetic performance of Crazy Love, a piece by pianist and friend Tadataka Unno. (Real world aside: Unno was attacked and badly injured in New York in October, 2020. If you want to help him, go to gofund.me/4ec4aca3.) His attractive tune is played as a soulful duet with Lewis, playing drums with his hands instead of sticks. The late Bobby Hutcherson recorded a number of Cables’ compositions. In a mark of respect, the trio offers their vigorous take on Hutcherson’s mid-Seventies composition Roses Poses and a cheerful version of Hutcherson’s Teddy. A delightfully upbeat rendition of Frank Loesser’s I’ve Never Been in Love Before comes between the Hutcherson songs, and the set comes to an end with a brief and charming solo piano piece that Cables calls A Valentine For You. You really can’t go wrong with a musician who was a favorite sideman for the likes of Dexter Gordon from 1977 to 1979 and Art Pepper from 1976 to 1982, so if it’s deeply felt and solidly swinging piano music that you’re craving, Too Close For Comfort is for you. 

HighNote HCD 7335; George Cables (p) Essiet Essiet (b) Victor Lewis (d); NYC, September 9, 2020; Too Close For Comfort/ Circle of Love/ This is My Song/ Klimo/ For All We Know/ Crazy Love/ Roses Poses/ I’ve Never Been in Love Before/ Teddy/ A Valentine For You; 56:19. www.jazzdepot.com

Alan Broadbent Trio: Trio In Motion

  The Alan Broadbent Trio proudly swings into Wonder Why as Trio In Motion begins. Pianist Broadbent, widely experienced as an arranger and composer who has worked with an array of artists from Charlie Haden to Natalie Cole, is joined by a pair of veteran improvisers in Harvie S on bass and Billy Mintz on drums. The program is a well-chosen set of ten relatively uncommon songs, one Broadbent original, and Moonstones, a group improvisation which ends the set. Fittingly, in Charlie Parker’s centennial year, the CD includes two of his classics, Relaxin’ at Camarillo and The Hymn. Part of the success of this outing is the juxtaposition of songs from different eras of jazz and the way the disc has been so expertly sequenced. It’s a distinct pleasure to hear, in succession, Lennie Tristano’s Lennie’s Pennies, Lil Hardin Armstrong’s Struttin’ With Some Barbecue (to a samba beat!), and Paul Desmond’s Late Lament. Another highlight is the trio’s rapturous version of John Coltrane’s Like Sonny. This listener’s delight in the trio’s instrumental interplay and their lively musical conversation within each song is enriched by the flow of the disc as a whole. Trio In Motion is happily recommended. 

Savant SCD 2188; Alan Broadbent (p) Harvie S (b) Billy Mintz (d); NYC, no dates specified; Wonder Why/ I Hear You/ Lennie’s Pennies/ Struttin’ With Some Barbecue/ Late Lament/ Relaxin’ at Camarillo/ One Morning in May/ I Love You/ Lady Bird/ Like Sonny/ The Hymn/ Moonstones; 56:01. www.jazzdepot.com

Piano Trios: Jerry Granelli, Denny Zeitlin, Micah Thomas

Pianist Vince Guaraldi had a huge hit single in 1962 on Fantasy Records with Cast Your Fate to the Wind and went on to compose some much-loved music in a collaboration with the Peanuts comic strip franchise. Mose Allison, pianist and songwriter, had his “hit” when The Who blasted his Young Man Blues on their Live At Leeds album. One other thing they have in common is having led trios with Jerry Granelli on drums. Granelli, who played with Earl Hines (!) in 1961, was with Guaraldi on most of his Fantasy recordings, and played with Allison starting in the mid-Seventies. Other recorded associations along the way include Denny Zeitlin in the Sixties, Ralph Towner, Gary Peacock, and Jay Clayton in the Eighties, and Jane Ira Bloom and Charlie Mariano in the Nineties. Starting in 1988, he’s also recorded frequently as a leader. Pianist Jamie Saft was a member of his Badlands ensemble that made a couple of CD’s for the Songlines label in the late Nineties, and he joins him in the Jerry Granelli Trio for the admirable new release, Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison. On bass is Bradley Christopher Jones, a stalwart of the New York scene. Together, the trio tackles a batch of some of the better-known tunes by Guaraldi and Allison and has a ball with them. Kicking off the proceedings is a fairly straight-forward reading of Cast Your Fate to the Wind, and it’s apparent from the start that this is a formidable trio that’s having a grand time with this material. Allison’s Parchman Farm rolls right along, featuring an extended break by Saft. At 8:04, it’s the longest piece of the date. A pair of bass and drum improvisations (Mind Preludes 1 & 2), fit nicely into this program of songs from the Guaraldi and Allison songbooks. Guaraldi’s Star Song is the most obscure number, taken from an album the pianist made with guitarist Bola Sete in 1963. Tunes like Allison’s Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy or Guaraldi’s Christmas Time is Here are so pretty that they hardly need any embellishment, and Granelli’s crew is happy to play them just that way. The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison is an unexpected release, to be sure, and one of the better surprises in a year that’s had way too many unhappy ones. Listening to this music will absolutely improve your day, so don’t miss it. 

RareNoise RNR120 (CD)/RNR120LP (violet vinyl); Jamie Saft (p) Bradley Christopher Jones (b) Jerry Granelli (d); Brooklyn, NY, no dates indicated; Cast Your Fate to the Wind/ Parchman Farm/ Baby Please Don’t Go/ Mind Prelude 1/ Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy/ Star Song/ Young Man Blues/ Mind Prelude 2/ Your Mind is on Vacation/ Christmas Time is Here; 50:08. www.rarenoiserecords.com

Pianist Denny Zeitlin made his first recordings in 1964 in a trio format. While he has performed in a variety of contexts since that debut, he always comes back to the standard acoustic piano, bass, and drums lineup. His latest is Live At Mezzrow, an intimate New York club, in the company of bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson. Zeitlin delights in stretching familiar themes every which way, and he needs musical co-conspirators that are on the same wavelength. After 18 years of playing with Zeitlin, the absolutely reliable Williams and the exuberant Wilson are right there with him at all times, and the music just flows and flows. Selections include the Monk-Hawkins composition I Mean You (great trades between Wilson and Zeitlin), Gershwin’s The Man I Love, a fresh look at Arthur Schwartz’ 1931 Dancing in the Dark, Wayne Shorter’s Paraphernalia, and a pair of Zeitlin’s original compositions, Echo of a Kiss, a waltz first played as a duet with bassist David Friesen 1994, and the challenging 10 Bar Tune with what the composer describes as its “circular structure.” Zeitlin has a special affinity for the music of Billy Strayhorn, and the thoughtfully sequenced program includes three pieces from the pen of one of the masters of jazz writing. The Star-Crossed Lovers is played with cool restraint. The inimitable Isfahan, as Zeitlin notes, “lends itself to many approaches.” The trio styles it as a slow bossa nova, with a gentle piano introduction and graceful drumming from Wilson as Zeitlin explores the melody in typically incisive fashion. Strayhorn’s The Intimacy of the Blues was originally a vehicle for an Ellington octet in 1967. Here it becomes the occasion for some upbeat and tasty swinging. The finale is the Shorter tune, introduced on Miles Davis’ 1968 album Miles In The Sky, and a Zeitlin favorite for decades. The trio gives it a free interpretation, with the pianist’s brooding introduction setting the tone for the group’s exploration. Matt Wilson’s drive and forceful but understated playing is especially impressive on this number. Indeed, his playing is a total joy throughout. His playing, in conjunction with Williams’ sensitive bass work and Zeitlin’s deeply probing piano, will keep me coming back to this date again and again. Happily recommended. 

Sunnyside SSC 1582; Denny Zeitlin (p) Buster Williams (b) Matt Wilson (d); NYC, May 3-4, 2019; The Man I Love/ Echo of a Kiss/ I Mean You/ The Star-Crossed Lovers/ 10 Bar Tune/ Dancing in the Dark/ Isfahan/ Intimacy of the Blues/ Paraphernalia; 71:56. sunnysiderecords.com

Pianist Micah Thomas is out with his first trio album, after appearances on discs by Immanuel Wilkins and Walter Smith III. There are eight original compositions on the self-produced Tide, recorded in performance at the Kitano Hotel in New York. He proves in the first two minutes of Tornado, the opening track, that he’s more than ready for the spotlight. With bassist Dean Torrey and drummer Kyle Benford contributing spirited accompaniment, Thomas takes flight and soars. The piece is aptly titled, a whirlwind of intriguing chord progressions and a quick pace that at some points threatens to overwhelm pianist and the audience alike. Torrey’s bass solo slows things down somewhat, and we get to hear some lovely comping from Thomas before he comes roaring back in. The title track is calm at first, then picks up steam after a Torrey bass solo, with an energetic Thomas exploring every nook and cranny of his song. Benford, another newcomer, sounds great here, with a strong sense of pacing and dynamics. From their tightness and empathetic playing, it sounds to me like this trio has been playing together quite a bit. Across My Path is a pretty ballad that’s carefully caressed by the band in a crafty arrangement that has Thomas alone at the beginning and the end. Grounds is a happy cooker, the kind of tune that you might be humming on the way home from a gig. It’s the kind of piece that gives you the feeling that they could keep it up for hours in an endless series of variations. At just under 9 minutes, this is one of the disc’s highlights. The fun continues with the multi-sectioned The Game, with plenty of tempo shifts and fresh motifs along the way. The Day After is hushed, with bowed bass and gentle chords from the piano in a rather precious and unconvincing performance. The music is back on track with the mellow Vänta, a solo excursion for Thomas in an exploratory vein. It almost feels like he’s having a conversation with himself. Closing the session is Wanderer, which picks up where Vänta leaves off. The trio moves into a light-hearted melody that leads to some delicate interplay and features some fine deep bass playing and convincingly understated drumming. I expect that jazz fans will be hearing a lot more music from Micah Thomas in the future. Don’t miss this one. 

self-produced; Micah Thomas (p) Dean Torrey (b) Kyle Benford (d); NYC, March 2019; Tornado/ Tide/ Across My Path/ Grounds/ The Game/ The Day After/ Vänta/ Wanderer; 64:09. micah.io

Larry Willis: I Fall In Love Too Easily

Pianist Larry Willis had a long and varied career before he passed away in September 2019, not even a month after he convened a quintet at the Van Gelder studio to record I Fall In Love Too Easily. Interestingly enough, it’s the same studio where he appeared for his first session in January 1965 for Jackie McLean’s Right Now! album. Over the decades, he was associated with McLean, Hugh Masekela, Joe Henderson, and Woody Shaw, among many others. His best known gigs were in the groups Blood, Sweat & Tears (1972-77) and The Fort Apache Band (1993-96). While he didn’t record much as a leader until the late Eighties, he made up for lost time with recordings on SteepleChase, Mapleshade, and HighNote. His crisp touch and deep blues orientation always make his work a pleasure to listen to, and this release is no exception. He’s joined here by fellow HighNote artist Jeremy Pelt on five tracks and alto saxophonist Joe Ford on four tunes, with Blake Meister on bass and the always-enjoyable Victor Lewis on drums. Ford was Wallis’ partner in the Fort Apache band and many other situations over a 30 year span. Ford’s Today’s Nights, a mid-tempo swinger, starts off the proceedings in style. Willis’ Heavy Blue follows, a quick funk line that the pianist first performed with Blood, Sweat & Tears back in 1976. The band is on fire for this one, with Lewis’ exciting drumming a key component. Santi Debriano’s Anna, a pretty ballad played by the rhythm section, cools things down considerably. Willis plays it tenderly and with great feeling. Kirk Lightsey’s Habiba, played at a finger-snapping tempo, becomes a real showcase for the horns. Ford is first, with an excited and fluent solo, then it’s Pelt’s turn to delve into the tune’s attractive melody. The Meaning of the Blues, a Bobby Troup composition from 1957, features an arrangement that puts the band to the test by having them play very slowly. Trumpeter Pelt takes the first solo gorgeously, and the success of this performance is never in doubt. The quiet mood is sustained on Let’s Play, a Willis original that served as the title song for a 1991 SteepleChase album and is played without the horns. Jack DeJohnette’s Climax was one of the numbers on the McLean date that began Willis’ recording career in 1965. He hadn’t put it on tape since then, so it’s interesting that it’s included here. The quintet has a ball with it, with powerful solos by Pelt and Ford. In his dynamite accompaniment and a brief solo, Victor Lewis proves once again why he’s been a first-call drummer since he first came on the scene in the mid-Seventies. Ending the set is a charming and insightful solo piano version of I Fall in Love Too Easily, the 1944 Jule Styne composition (with lyrics by Sammy Kahn) that’s been a favorite of improvisers ever since. It’s a truly lovely way to end the CD, and a fitting coda for a journeyman pianist. Recommended.
HighNote HCD 7326; Jeremy Pelt (tpt on 1,2,4,5,7) Joe Ford (as on 1,2,4,7) Larry Willis (p) Blake Meister (b, exc on 8) Victor Lewis (d, exc on 8); Englewood Cliffs, NJ, September5, 2019; 1.Today’s Nights/ 2.Heavy Blue/ 3.Anna/ 4.Habiba/ 5.The Meaning of the Blues/ 6.Let’s Play/ 7.Climax/ 8.I Fall in Love Too Easily; 50:34. www.jazzdepot.com