Michael Ullman
Trumpeter Terell Stafford never seems to be straining; he can be exuberant without sounding brassy.
Three re-issued albums reinforce the claim that jazz recordings hit their peak from 1956 to 1964.
The music this band produced was famously challenging: it was also often surprisingly beautiful.
Lost amid a flood of new music in the early ’70s, the three lps under review here never received their due.
The clarity and focus of Ron Carter’s bass is exemplary here, as is the balance with Richard Galliano’s accordion.
Keith Jarrett has said that he thinks there is room for C.P.E. Bach recordings on a modern piano. He proves himself right with these 1994 recordings.
Thelonious Monk can sound like someone skipping (or even tripping) — and yet the swing is there.
These pieces integrate the various, varied sounds James Shipp and Nadje Noordhuis produce into something rhythmically as well as melodically exciting and coherent.
The trio on hEARoes is enthralling; it doesn’t sound like anything I have heard.
I wonder why this fine session was withheld for 49 years. It might be the bitter-sounding texts, or the very fact of vocals in a jazz session.
Arts Commentary: The Orchestra Gap — Europe vs. the US