Michael Ullman
The advantage to listening to the recorded Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite is that on disc pianist Jason Yeager writes beautifully for septet: the textures he evokes in his arrangements are curiously varied and invariably moving.
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Vince Guaraldi isn’t the heaviest of jazz pianists: he played at a time when McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans were omnipresent. But his tunes, his gently humanist approach to music, meant that he reached listeners that others couldn’t or didn’t.
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Given Keith Jarrett’s current disability, this new ECM recording is an unexpected gift to his fans.
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The sound of both musicians is indelible: trumpeter Enrico Rava is warm and rounded; pianist Fred Hersch, often icy, is fetching and detailed.
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Four! is one of Hampton Hawes’ most satisfying sessions, for the variety of the repertoire and the quality of the performances.
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Trombonist Steve Davis says he never strays very far from the blues, and he proves it with this fine album.
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Play or Die brilliantly showcases what Miles Davis heard in Tony Williams’ playing: variety of sound within a restricted framework.
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Even without the new takes, this Rhino reissue would be welcome: Mingus Three is to my mind one of the great trio albums.
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Live in Paris: The Radio France Recordings 1983-1984 is an example of solid, appealing late Chet Baker, doing what he did best with standards and the occasional original.
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The centenary of bassist/composer Charles Mingus’ birthday is days away and I am listening to the beautifully packaged and processed and richly annotated 3 lps of Mingus’s Lost Album, recorded live at Ronnie Scott’s London club in 1972.
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Arts Commentary: Rich in Creativity — But Nothing Else