Mimi Fox - Perpetually Hip Year: 2006
Style or Subgenre: Mainstream Jazz, Guitar Jazz
Joshua Redman - MoodSwing Year: 1994
Style or Subgenre: Mainstream Jazz, Post Bop
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With travel and the holiday, I didn't get much new-to-me music. Just these two albums this past week.
I'd heard the Mimi Fox, but just once and had little recollection, so it was time for another spin. This is a two disc set with guitarist Fox leading a standard quartet on the first and going solo on the second. Despite this being more lauded, I couldn't get quite as excited about this as I did her more previous
release, "She's the Woman." Bit I think it's a very good guitar album by any measure, and I expect it might click with another listen or two.
The Redman album was unplanned. While riding with my son, I saw he had the disc in his truck and we listened to it while he drove my wife and I back to the airport at the end of our holiday. I blow hot and cold with Redman, and the album cover here didn't seem to hold much promise. Well, you can't judge a disc by its cover: this was a marvelous listen. There is expressive melody, joy and fun, swing with spirit, reflection and Introspection, blues and moods, all nicely sequenced. Part of the credit goes to the rest of his dream team of a quartet, including Christian McBride on bass, Brian Blade on drums, and Brad Mehldau on piano.
Lorez Alexandria - For Swingers Only Year: 1963
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
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This one came to me by way of recommendation. I pulled it up for my Saturday Night Vocal listen last night and I was absolutely gobsmacked right upon first spin. Scott Yanow's Allmusic bio begins "A solid singer who is superior at interpreting lyrics, gives a soulful feeling to each song, and improvises with subtlety..." and that's absolutely on point there. Alexandria's voice itself is a magnificent instrument and she employs it with beauty, grace and individuality. What's more, she is incredibly versatile, singing ballads, torch, blues, swing, and even calypso, all with subtle flair and beauty, and most importantly, with an individualized interpretation that is absolutely perfect for each style and song. What a magnificent vocalist and what a tremendous album!
Eddie Henderson -Inspiration Year: 1994
Style or Subgenre: Hard Bop, Post Bop, Soul Jazz
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This date from trumpeter/flugelhornist Eddie Henderson comes a couple decades after his modern fusion work, but reaches back to previous decades for inspiration, bringing a very bop oriented affair along with some soul jazz influence and a lot of balladry. This is most definitely not a source of complaint though! This is wonderful music with Henderson continually demonstrating beautiful melodicism, whether shredding or balladeering. Just a couple minor quibbles; the album is a little ballad heavy for my tastes and specifically has too much muted trumpet, then when he switches to the flugelhorn, at one point I thought I was listening to a Chuck Mangione album. Still very nice listening, but I much preferred when he lit things up hard bop style. Still, a super strong overall and one that seems fresh while paying homage to the past, and shows an artist losing zero steam decades into his career. Two thumbs up for sure.
Norman Connors - Dance of Magic Year: 1972
Style or Subgenre: Soul Jazz, Fusion
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Okay, we got us some seriously spaced out soul jazz right here! To kick off his 1972 debut with the album side length title cut, drummer Norman Connors seemed to start with the vibe of Bitches Brew, launch it into Sun Ra's space, and inject it with a massive infusion of soul. The result is, to me, a near classic. The album is bookended with the much shorter, but positively scorching "Give the Drummer Some," a straight drum solo that is a super fun listen. The two middle cuts are also special. Great album from end to end.
Dewey Redman - The Ear of the Behearer Year: 1973
Style or Subgenre: Free Jazz, Avant Garde, Post Bop, Jazz Blues
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Having spent so much time with Joshua Redman lately, I figured I should check out his old man. Wow.... what a role reversal! This is a case where Junior is the one playing it straight, and Senior is the one throwing caution and tradition to the wind. The opening "Interconnection" may seem mistitled as it dives directly into free jazz chaos. But it does have a coherence that reveals itself to the attentive listener, especially on subsequent listens. There is avant garde and free soloing all over this album, but there is also some straight forward post bop and even some traditional sounding dixieland blues. The latter shows up in the 12 minute "Boody" that sits at the center of the album sequence. It starts off with some Dixie Dirge wailing, settles into some jazz blues, and evolves with each member settling deeper and deeper into a groove until the drums take over for a raucous solo before giving way to a bluesy a capella sax that acts as a very effective fade to end the song. Then Wham! it's back into the chaos (also effectively delivered). Amazing album. Amazing, I say.
Kim Parker - Havin' Myself a Time Year: 1983
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
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Kim Parker was a stepdaughter first to Charlie Parker, and later to Phil Woods. Is it any wonder she would follow a life in jazz? Lineage aside, Ms. Parker became an excellent choice for last night's Saturday Night Vocals session. While not blood related to those jazz giants, she has the voice traditional jazz. Her timbre is perfect for the genre, her delivery on point, her phrasing impeccable, and her control astonishing. By the end of the album, things got a little samey; I'd love to her her toss in a little more diversity into her set as I'm confident she could pull it off.
Illegal Crowns - Unclosing Year: 2023
Style or Subgenre: Avant Garde, Modern Creative
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This came by way of suggestion, although I'm sure I would have found it on my own, being a big fan of Mary Halvorsen. Along with Halvorsen is a group of solid leaders of their own (Taylor Ho Bynum on trumpet, Benoit Delbecq:on piano, and Tomas Fujiwara: drums.), all coming together in a creative synthesis of styles and moods. This most easily falls into an avant garde category, but there's plenty of melody and groove as well. The album also has experimental sounding moments, and those experiments are definitely a success. Overall, this is brilliant modern jazz. Monster.
Sue Raney - Alive and In Love Year: 1966
Style or Subgenre: Pop, Standards
Sue Raney - Breathless Recording Date: 1961 - 1969
Release Date: 1970
Style or Subgenre: Vocal Jazz
Next in my Saturday Night Jazz Vocals cue was Sue Raney, who I wasn't sure I'd ever heard before. As I was looking up available albums, I inexplicably found myself in a bit of a pop mood, so I grabbed her first blatantly pop album, Alive and In Love from 1966. Other than a couple well delivered standards like "Smile," this is classic mid-sixties commercial pop, replete with the strings of the day. That said, this album really hit the spot and I'd say it's a standout in that particular arena. How many vocalists could take a song so completely and iconically owned by someone else as Dionne Warwick's rendition of Bacharach's "Walk On By," and just nail it? Raney does, and the result is just gorgeously captivating. Jazz Singers don't always translate well to pop, but this was a major WOW moment.
As deligtful a listen as Alive and In Love was, it was still jazz vocals night and I was eager to hear Raney in that arena, so I pulled up Breathless, a compilation of recordings made over a ten year period corresponding perfectly with the decade of the '60s. As much fun as the previous album was, I knew within seconds of hearing Raney sing on the first album, this is the album that was going to truly floor me. Her voice is beyond compare! Timbre, control, phrasing..... expression! And it turns out not only can she light the torch, she can swing as well! She seems to find exactly the right vibe for every song and bring out every nuance the song has to offer. This is stuff almost to incredible for words. Bravo!
Toshiyuki Miyama - Tsuchi No Ne Year: 1973
Style or Subgenre: Jazz Funk, Fusion, Contemporary Jazz, Avant Garde
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Yowsa! This is some screaming good brass horn funky fusion with occasional avant gard overtones. Styles vary from song to song, or even blend within individual songs; given the tremendous coherence of vision, the variety on this album is amazing.... and consistently engaging. This accompanied my morning workout today and I was seriously motivated. Killer stuff, from the super tight and funky opener through the side long epic closer.
Rich Halley - Objects Year: 2002
Style or Subgenre: Avant Garde, Free Jazz
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Rich Halley - Mountains and Plains Year: 2005
Style or Subgenre: Avant Garde, Free Jazz
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Here's a couple of relatively accessible and, to me, highly enjoyable albums which are neither highly structured nor totally free. What they are is listenable, engaging, label defying sax trio albums in which the group members all know when to fill space and when to open it up and let it breathe. Songs on these albums range from intense to lively to subtle, each doing its own thing very nicely. These two albums today are my first exposure to Halley. He has a much more extensive catalog and I look forward to seeing what else he has up his sleeve.
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