George Russell is listed in the Encyclopedia of Jazz as "composer, piano, educator" and all of these are accurate descriptions of this dynamic musical revolutionary. But in the early Sixties he also spent some exciting years as a bandleader, presenting his Lydian and pan-tonal concepts in action and helping vitally in the rise to prominence of two significant innovators of the period: Eric Dolphy and Don Ellis. Both men play major roles in this 1961 album by probably the best of Russell's small groups, which includes one of Dolphy's most lasting celebrated recorded efforts--his astonishing bass clarinet solo on the Thelonious Monk classic, "'Round Midnight."
Artist: TYNER, MCCOY
Title: "ECHOES OF A FRIEND"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 1991-06-17
List: $11.98 (Save 17%)
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John Coltrane's profound influence on McCoy Tyner began when the pianist joined Coltrane's quartet in 1960. It has never ended. When Coltrane hired him, Tyner was a developing young Philadelphia bebop pianist with a good six-months' track record in the Jazztet. When Tyner left Coltrane in 1965, he was a musician of expansiveness and depth and one of the most famous pianists in jazz. The five solo pieces on this 1972 album constitute a tribute to the man he credits with opening his spirit and his mind to his own possibilities. It includes Coltrane's "Naima" and a version of "My Favorite Things" in which he surpasses even his own celebrated solo on the famous Coltrane recording of the song.
Artist: MONK, THELONIOUS
Title: "UNIQUE"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 0001-01-01
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Monk's second album for Riverside continued the label's initial plan–to broaden his audience by the use of recognizable standard tunes instead of his somewhat frightening originals. Thelonious's uncompromising performances, major-league support (Art Blakey and Oscar Pettiford), and strong material all helped turn this concept into lastingly superior jazz. Particularly notable are his sharp thrusts of humor on such well-worn pieces as "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Tea for Two." The album's impact was strengthened by one of the most unique covers ever devised (Riverside went so far as to print quantities of almost postage-sized Monk stamps; quite a few found their way through the mails!).
Artist: ROBINSON, JIM
Title: "PLAYS SPIRITUAL"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 1994-08-16
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Long before the advent of jazz masses and concerts of sacred music, spirituals had a central place in the repertoire of New Orleans ensembles. Needless to say, the blues are at the root of jazz from any era. So this second album by trombonist Big Jim Robinson's sextet provides a happy 1961 view of the roots music. The extended playing time on the blues titles also shows these dedicated traditionalists more than ready to meet the solo demands of later jazz styles. Two vocal tracks by Annie Pavageau, one of which is among the two bonus performances, also add to this reissue's value.
Artist: MONK, THELONIOUS
Title: "PLAYS DUKE"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 0001-01-01
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The very first 12-inch album in what was to be a most significant catalog also marked the Riverside debut of an artist of towering importance. Fittingly, it was a strikingly original concept; a then-unappreciated revolutionary interpreting the music of a recognized master composer. Once ahead of its time, Monk's Plays Duke Ellington now stands as an enduring jazz landmark.
Artist: MCLEAN, JACKIE
Title: "SCENE"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 1992-01-21
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McLean, who began his professional career before he was out of his teens, quickly established himself on the jazz scene in his native New York. After recording with Miles Davis at age 19, he worked with the bands of George Wallington, Charles Mingus, and Art Blakey. In Blakey’s Messengers he formed an association with trumpeter Bill Hardman. In this set, Hardman is aboard for “Mean to Me,” “Gone with the Wind,” and the title blues. Arthur Taylor is the drummer throughout while Red Garland and Paul Chambers are two-thirds of the rhythm team on the above titles; and Mal Waldron and Arthur Phipps play piano and bass, respectively, on the other three, among which are the plaintive “Old Folks” and the explosive “Outburst” (“All God’s Children”), both showcases for McLean’s emotion-packed playing.
Artist: ROLLINS, SONNY
Title: "SOUND OF SONNY"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 0001-01-01
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Rollins has been acclaimed for three decades as one of the most formidable of all jazz improvisers. This album preserves an early peak of his amazing virtuosity. The emphasis is on Sonny's reworking of a wide variety of likely and unlikely standard tunes; the results remain unsurpassed more than forty years later. And there's a special bonus: his very first totally unaccompanied solo recording.
Artist: NORVO, RED
Title: "MUSIC TO LISTEN TO RELAX"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 1999-01-26
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When he recorded Music to Listen to Red Norvo By, Norvo was no stranger to extending the idea of jazz composition, or to jazz as chamber music. It was he, after all, who hired Eddie Sauter to be his chief arranger for the superb big band Norvo operated from 1935 to 1939. And it was Norvo whose trios of the 1950s remain superior examples of jazz in chamber settings. So it came as no surprise that he would encourage a classically oriented artist like Bill Smith to write an extended work for the Norvo sextet, another great chamber group. Smith's "Divertimento" is the primary attraction of this enduring album, but the other compositions by Smith, Jack Montrose, Lennie Niehaus, Duane Tatro, and Norvo are substantial and important. They are also, not incidentally, beautifully played by six supremely accomplished musicians.
Artist: PIERCE, BILLIE/DEDE
Title: "BLUES AND TONKS"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 1994-08-16
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Wilhelmina “Billie” Goodson (1907-74), a veteran of Ma Rainey’s and Bessie Smith’s touring revues, arrived in New Orleans from her native Florida in 1929. In 1935 she married Joseph DeLacrois “DeDe” Pierce (1904-73), and for the next 40 years they teamed to produce the kind of intimate, blues-saturated music heard on this album and its companion (OBCCD-534-2). The program balances DeDe’s direct, probing cornet work with Billie’s passionate and often salty vocals and piano. Albert Jiles, on drums and tuned bells, provides the lone accompaniment for the pair in a set that characterizes the music heard in New Orleans’ smaller venues.
Artist: TIMMONS, BOBBY
Title: "IN PERSON"
Media: CD
Label: OJC
Rel: 1989-03-08
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Bobby Timmons, in his dual role as pianist and composer of compellingly funky material, had been a great good-luck charm for such leaders as Art Blakey ("Moanin'") and Cannonball Adderley ("This Here"). Eventually, he struck out on his own, making several soulful albums for Riverside and later for Prestige, although never achieving major success. The first trio he assembled included two of the most in-demand young players on the early Sixties New York jazz scene: bassist Ron Carter and drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath. This on-the-job recording at the Village Vanguard comes closest to demonstrating Timmons's strength as both writer and player.
