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Recording of the Month

Harkness: “Ciao to the Beauty”

Written by: Jason Thorpe
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 15 April 2025

In my December 2024 review of the Mitmat Foundation Premium turntable mat, I mentioned that I’d received a test pressing of Harkness’s new album, Ciao to the Beauty. As I’ve said before, I’ve known the musician Harkness since public school—age 14, I’d guess—and I’ve watched him in many practices and concerts through the years as he played in various bands. Despite a lifetime of performing, he hadn’t released a record of his own until The Occasion, which I wrote about back in 2022.

Read more …

Shelly Manne & His Men: “At the Black Hawk, Vol. 1”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 15 May 2024

Contemporary Records / Craft Recordings / Acoustic Sounds CR00601
Format: LP

Musical Performance: ****½
Sound Quality: ****½
Overall Enjoyment: ****½

I’ve reviewed quite a few of the Contemporary Records / Acoustic Sounds vinyl reissues by Craft Recordings. It would be easy to just say, “Buy them. They sound great.” That would be true, but Craft has made it a point to reissue Contemporary Records LPs that deserve more recognition. Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section is well known, but André Previn’s take on West Side Story is perhaps less so. Craft has done jazz lovers a service by casting a wide net.

Read more …

The Grateful Dead: “Terrapin Station”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 01 April 2024

Rhino Records R1 516251 / 603497830824
Format: LP

Musical Performance: ***½
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****

The consensus among fans and critics is that Grateful Dead was primarily a live band, and its studio recordings were rarely good examples of its art. There are exceptions, of course. Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, both from 1970, have long been considered outstanding and are among the best albums in rock music.

Read more …

The Adam Deitch Quartet: “Roll the Tape”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 01 December 2023

Golden Wolf Records GW009LP
Format: LP

Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****

Drummer and producer Adam Deitch has worked on a lot of records since 1994, with musicians as diverse as John Scofield and DJ Quik. He is a member of three bands, which gives him the opportunity to show his grasp of different musical styles: electronica with Break Science, psychedelic funk with Lettuce, and 1960s-style soul jazz with the Adam Deitch Quartet.

Read more …

Shelly Manne & His Friends: “Modern Jazz Performances of Songs from ‘My Fair Lady’”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 01 November 2023

Craft Recordings / Contemporary Records / Stereo Records CR00391
Format: LP

Musical Performance: ***½
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****

In the 1950s, Contemporary Records released a number of Broadway-themed LPs by trios led by pianist André Previn or drummer Shelly Manne. The sessions fronted by Previn featured Manne on drums and Red Mitchell on bass; Manne’s featured Previn and bassist Leroy Vinnegar. In my June 2023 review of the Craft Recordings / Contemporary Records reissue of West Side Story, the 1959 album by André Previn and His Pals, I wrote: “I’m already anticipating the Craft Recordings reissue of Manne’s My Fair Lady this fall.” Modern Jazz Performances of Songs from My Fair Lady was a 1956 mono release by Shelly Manne & His Friends, and its popularity led Contemporary to ask Previn and Manne to record more albums in the same vein.

Read more …

Ornette Coleman: “Something Else!!!!”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 01 October 2023

Craft Recordings / Contemporary Records / Acoustic Sounds CR00595
Format: LP

Musical Performance: ***½
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****

Jazz composer and saxophonist Ornette Coleman was so revolutionary that even now, 65 years after he recorded his first album, his music remains challenging. His recording debut, Something Else!!!! (1958), and its follow-up, Tomorrow Is the Question! (1959), both appeared on Contemporary Records, whose owner, Lester Koenig, signed Coleman after bassist Red Mitchell brought his work to Koenig’s attention.

Read more …

Pete Townshend: “Empty Glass”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 01 September 2023

Universal Music Recordings 4868197
Format: LP

Musical Performance: ****½
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****

Empty Glass (1980) was Pete Townshend’s second solo album, but his first to consist of songs he recorded with an eye toward official release under his own name. The album that preceded it, Who Came First (1972), included demos of songs recorded with The Who, tracks Townshend wrote in tribute to his spiritual advisor, Meher Baba, and one tune each by Billy Nicholls and Ronnie Lane, who were also followers of the Baba. The tribute songs originally appeared on limited-edition releases.

Read more …

Tony Allen / Adrian Younge: “Jazz Is Dead 18”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 01 August 2023

Jazz Is Dead Records JID018
Format: LP

Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ***
Overall Enjoyment: ***½

When the great Nigerian drummer Tony Allen was in Fela Kuti’s band, Africa 70, he helped invent Afrobeat, which combined American funk and jazz with Nigeria’s own musical heritage. Allen played with Kuti throughout the 1970s and began recording on his own in 1975, while still with Africa 70. He began focusing on his own music more intently by the mid-1980s and worked with younger musicians in various genres throughout the 2000s. He played in two bands with Blur’s Damon Albarn: The Good, the Bad & the Queen, and Rocket Juice & the Moon.

Read more …

Larry Coryell: “Tricycles”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 01 July 2023

In+Out Records IOR LP 77146-1
Formats: LP, 24-bit/96kHz WAV download

Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ****½
Overall Enjoyment: ****½

In 2002, jazz guitarist Larry Coryell was more than 30 years into his career when he recorded Tricycles for In+Out Records, a jazz label based in Germany. He was touring Europe with two other American musicians, drummer Paul Wertico and bassist Mark Egan, and in November they went into a studio in Heidelberg. According to Coryell’s liner notes, the weather had been bad during the tour. While the musicians were recording, they came down with “influenza or something . . . but somehow, we could still play.”

Read more …

Lonnie Liston Smith, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Adrian Younge: “Jazz Is Dead 17”

Written by: Joseph Taylor
Category: Recording of the Month
Created: 01 June 2023

Jazz Is Dead 17
Format: LP

Musical Performance: ****
Sound Quality: ***
Overall Enjoyment: ***½

Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have helmed 16 previous recordings for the Jazz Is Dead series. They’ve worked with well-known jazz musicians, such as Roy Ayers, Brian Jackson, and Gary Bartz, as well as more obscure players. For Jazz Is Dead 17, they’ve developed nine tracks with jazz keyboard player Lonnie Liston Smith, whose discography includes 16 titles as a leader, and many other outings as a sideman. He contributed keys to albums by Miles Davis, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Gato Barbieri, and many other musicians over a career that began in the late 1960s.

Read more …

  1. H. Hawkline: “Milk for Flowers”
  2. Art Pepper: “Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section”
  3. Garrett Saracho: "Jazz Is Dead 15"
  4. Frank Zappa: "Waka/Jawaka"
  5. Richard Dawson: "The Ruby Cord"
  6. Grant Green: "Feelin' the Spirit"
  7. The Comet Is Coming: "Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam"
  8. Larry Young: "Unity"
  9. Gerald Wilson: "Moment of Truth"
  10. Bill Evans: "Trio ’65"

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