Jazz /
80/81
Widely regarded as one of Pat Metheny's most inspired recordings and now considered a classic of instrumental and improvised music, *80/81* unveiled a bold new dimension of the then-26-year-old guitarist's sonic world. Released in 1980, this groundbr…
Travels
Over the years, Pat Metheny Group's Grammy-winning double live album Travels has earned a singular reputation among jazz aficionados as one of the most distinctive and impeccably recorded live jazz albums of all time. Upon its initial release, it app…
Continuum
Following three studio albums (Stoa, 2006; Holon, 2008; and Lyria, 2010) plus a double live album (2012) with his electric band Ronin, Swiss pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch now unveils a new release with his original ensemble, Mobile – whose lineup …
Spirit Groove: Golden Sea Duo in Shenzhen
Tip!
David Murray - Saxophone Kahil El'Zabar - Percussion / Kalimba / Voice
Recorded at the 10th OCT-LOFT International Jazz Festival, B10 Live, Shenzhen October 27th, 2023
Transfiguration
"Recorded live at a UCLA concert hall in April 1978 and released on Warner Bros, Coltrane plays piano and organ accompanied by Roy Haynes on drums and Reggie Workman on bass. The trio conjures both a universe and a universal consciousness; Coltrane h…
Thousand Leaves
Despite a 40-year age gap and the vast distance between Japan and Greece, pianist Masahiko Sato and guitarist Giotis Damianidis reveal themselves as kindred spirits on Thousand Leaves. Capturing their very first meeting—recorded live on February 2, 2…
Raised Pleasure Dot
Drummer Joey Baron has played with such unorthodox types as John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, and Tim Berne, so it's not surprising that his own sessions are equally diverse and ambitious. This date presents an unusual instrumental lineup and a freewheeling,…
Past Tells
This is not a recording for the fainthearted, the straitlaced, or the stylistically correct. Bass trombonist David Taylor has assembled a multi-faceted self-portrait out of pieces he selected, inspired, and composed. His eclecticism demonstrates how …
Third Stone From The Sun
It is a monumental task to interpret the music of Jimi Hendrix on the flute. The incredible flute virtuoso Robert Dick has managed to do it with ease, finesse, and soul. There is almost no sound that he cannot create on the flute with his amazing tec…
Untitled
The spontaneous exploration of musical ideas can be exciting, rewarding, and challenging for both the performer and the audience; jazz musicians demonstrate this constantly. Most of the participants in this recording project have had extensive experi…
Why I Like Coffee
Composer and pianist Bob Nell is best known for his work with Kelly Roberty and Brad Edwards, collectively known as The N/R/E Trio, with whom he performs regularly throughout the Midwest and Canada, backing such jazz luminaries as Eddie Harris, Ray B…
Opposites Attract
It is with great satisfaction that we write these notes as the final part of a compositional saga, the evolution of which we could never have foreseen at its inception. This project was unusual for us in many ways, most notably in the length of time …
Long Night Big Day
When it came time to prepare for this recording, I was intrigued by the possibilities of a quintet consisting of three winds, bass, and drums. My earlier projects had been either in the trio, quartet, or traditional jazz quintet format－now I wanted t…
The New York Composers Orchestra
The New York Composers Orchestra is a big band formed in 1986 by its artistic directors Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb with the idea of giving new life to a classic format and to further the tradition of new music bridging the worlds of notated and …
Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington
When time pulled the rug from under Earl Hines in 1983, he was still enjoying a comeback that had lasted almost twenty years. That comeback was one of the most important events in recent jazz history and the music included here was recorded when his …
Going To Kansas City
Jay McShann secured a lasting place in jazz history on April 30, 1941, when he became the first bandleader to usher Charlie Parker into a studio for a commercial recording session. For years, that was how McShann was remembered, if at all—as an early…
The Texas Twister
The Texas Twister is a relaxed, gently probing session; its several highlights begin with the title selection, a thirty-two-bar riff confection with a characteristically willful opening solo by Buddy Tate. His best playing on the date is heard on "Ta…
Mostly Ballads
The fullness and clarity of the six solos and six duets that comprise Mostly Ballads set them apart from the typical encounter of post-Parker jazz musicians with "the tradition." Standard songs, once the improviser's training ground, fell out of favo…
3 Phasis
3 Phasis is the companion disc to the Cecil Taylor Unit, both set down over four miraculous days in April 1978. It too is a testament to the perfectionism and unpredictability that are hallmarks of Taylor's music. As always, he is the instigator and…
Yes Sir, That's My Baby (The Golden Years Of Tin Pan Alley 1920-1929)
The naive romanticism of the Jazz Age, when, as F. Scott Fitzgerald saw it, "people danced in a champagne haze on the rooftop of the world," was nowhere more clearly reflected than in America's popular music of the 1920s. The banal optimism, the desp…