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Together with jazz legend and Grammy award winner Bob James, trumpeter Till Brönner - Germany's most successful jazz musician - recorded his long-awaited next studio album.

One from the motherland of jazz - the other from the lap of European tradition, the two of them agreed to meet in autumn 2019 in the legendary studio "La Fabrique" in southern France. “At first we both had very different ideas about where our session should develop. However, all theory should give way to a central feeling, we both knew that straight away, «is how the multiple ECHO winner and Grammy-nominated exceptional musician Brönner sums up the development process.

Ironically, a well-known standard - "Basin Street Blues" - finally brought the breakthrough. A song from New Orleans, the musical cradle of bitterly won freedom, gave a view of the common playing field. The result is as profound as it is ambiguous: »› On Vacation ‹is the soundtrack for me to pause for a while. 

Virtuoso, full of creative love for refined details and at the same time of the greatestpossible casualness, Brönner and James create an imaginative and sonorous music for thinking, pausing, smiling and even crying. Together with fantastic fellow musicians, including the drum legends Harvey Mason and Wolfgang Haffner, they combine famous hits with mysteriously shimmering textures to create colorful new interpretations and complement their own compositions, all of which have what it takes to last. "These recordings definitely feel different to anything I've done before," explains Brönner. – Bob James Webpage

BBC Jazz For Moderns, Gearbox Records GB1503OBI

The Joe Harriot Quintet was one of the most forward-looking in Britain, but no jazz man works in isolation from the past and the great tradition of jazz is never absent from the work of the Joe Harriot Quintet. 

Shepherds Serenade, composed for the Joe Harriott group by Dizzy Reece, one of Britain's many distinguished gifts to the jazz scene in New York. But Jazz enthusiasts not only like to know what they're hearing, they like to know who, or at any rate, whom. Joe Harriott's alto Saxophone leads the group partnered by the flugelhorn and occasionally the trumpet of Shake Keane. Incidentally, both they and bassist Coleridge Goode are West Indians who found the jazz world congenial here in London and the climate, well, bearable.

On piano is Pat Smythe and on drums, Bobby Orr. It's Bobby who lays down the basic beat behind Joe Harriott's composition Pictures.

Then there is another Dizzy Reece composition, this time dedicated to the then living legend Thelonious Monk. There is a hint of the old standard Blue Lou in the chord changes, but the solo's are free and forthright as the Harriott Group plays Variations on Monk. A monkish theme by Dizzy Reece, with a solo from Joe, which made the happy grin spread all over the face of session producer Terry Henebery. 

"another lost treasure" - Peter Bevan, Northern Echo

"The combination of a top quality original master tape, expert valve re-mastering at 45rpm on premium 180 gram vinyl gives the illusion that the listener is back in 1962 listening to this music live. It couldn’t have sounded much better in the studio." - Derek Ansell, Jazz Journal

The first ever commercial release of a burning 1962 Maida Vale session, this is a lost treasure of a recording. It features Shake Keane on trumpet and flugelhorn, Pat Smythe on piano, Coleridge Goode on double bass, and the solid-as-ever Bobby Orr on drums. - Bandcamp

An essential album from Brazil's majorly progressive heyday of late seventies jazz-funk.

Viralata sits comfortably on the same pedestal as Azymuth's Light As A Feather and João Donato’s Quem É Quem, which is no co-incidence. All three keystone LPs were recorded and engineered by Toniniho, considered by many to be "the Brazilian Rudy Van Gelder" whose magic touches in the studio also helped to produce Marcos Valle's Previsão Do Tempo and Joyce's Água E Luz among many other holy grails and unassailable classics of soulful Brazilian music. – Far Out Recordings

"Saturday nights at Plastic People wouldn't have been the same without this album. Cascavel was such an important track for the club, it was the last tune we played there before the doors were closed forever.” - Sean McAuliffe (Plastic People & NTS Radio)

Official half-speed mastered re-issue of British trumpeter and bandleader Ian Carr's iconic jazz-fusion-rock hybrid ‘Belladonna’ from 1972.

Originally released on the Vertigo label, complete with collectable ‘swirl' record centre design, this sought-after jazz-rock-fusion rarity features some of the cream of the UK jazz musicians of the 70’s. Comprised from groups such as Nucleus, Brian Auger's band, Soft Machine, Stan Tracy group, the players included Brian Smith (tenor and soprano saxophones, alto and bamboo flutes), legendary guitarist Allan Holdsworth, Dave MacRae (Fender electric piano), and bassist Roy Babbington, to name but a few.

Seen as a benchmark point in Ian Carr's career, 'Belladonna’ is awash with atmospheric excursions and ethereal qualities, as well as a darker fusion aesthetic and prog-rock sensibility from Holdsworth's exceptional guitar playing. The moody, yet funky, vibe of the album has echoes of Miles Davis' electronic era à la 'In A Silent Way'.

The album is best enjoyed played in its entirety. There are ebbs and flows with certain tracks shining along the way. Standouts include the beautiful down-tempo track 'Summer Rain’, which has a soundtrack / library style brilliance and emotional electric piano soloing. Though recorded in the 70’s, the track has a timeless sound, a melancholic funk so often used in hip-hop and beat tape productions to this day. ‘Mayday's Shaft-like long extended intro builds the drama until the percussive release when the drums drop at over three minutes in.

To give a record of such quality the treatment it deserves, we have once again been lucky to enlist the service of mastering and lacquer cutting engineering don Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, to cut a brand-new half-speed master and let the music speak for itself. – Mr Bongo

Essentially, we are interested in the musical endeavors, in which artists from the Arab world mixed local and regional influences with musical interests that came from outside of the region. Even though the name suggests it’s all about funk music, our focus is more than just that. Often these influences might be inspired from Western popular music such as soul, pop and rock but it’s not limited to that either. Some of our favorite records are best described as Arabic zouk (a genre originating from the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe) like Mallek Mohamed’s music, Algerian coladera (a popular musical style from the Cape Verdean islands) or Lebanese AOR, which means the process of musical influences displayed on this compilation was much more versatile than just taking Western music as a blueprint and translating it with a local accent. The compilation features 15 different artists. Some you might already know thru Habibi Funk’s releases like Fadoul, Ahmed Malek, Dalton or Al Massrieen, while others are meant as an introduction to artists like Kamal Keila, Sharhabeel Ahmed, Attarazat Addahabia & Mallek Mohamed. – Habibi Funk

Electro Funk trailblazer Gary Gritness re-imagines Don Cherry’s late 70s and early 80s experiments through a synthed-out prism, reworking the standard jazz trio format into synth, saxophone and analogue drum machine for a one-take live session featuring a guest appearance from Malian Kora maestro Ballake Sissoko. - Bandcamp

Charismatic guitar savant Sibusile Xaba reframes maskandi and the avant garde into his own humanist manifesto.

With a vocal style that is part dreamscaping and part ancestral invocation, Xaba divines as opposed to plainly singing. Combined with a guitar style that is rooted in expressive picking, Xaba's music shatters the confines of genre, taking only the fundamentals from mentors such as Madala Kunene and Dr Philip Tabane and imbuing these with a mythology and improvisational intensity all of his own. The song TRIBUTE TO BAFO that features on this new record is an homage to Madala "Bafo" Kunene.

Maskandi, malombo, the desert blues and jazz all figure in Sibusile Xaba's expansive vocabulary, albeit through a magnetic individual filter. After the acclaimed release of ‘Opened Letter to Adoniah’ in 2017, Sibusile’s second album NGIWU SHWABADA was recorded in one continuous take at Studio Pigalle in Paris, France, in May 2019. It features his long-time musical companion Naftali on additional vocals.

Sibusile explains the philosophy behind this second album NGIWU SHWABADA ( I am of SHWABADA – a spiritual lineage) : ‘The record is a dedication to my ancestors for all the love, blessings and guidance they continue to share.These songs are conversations I have had with them, transmitted into songs to be shared with mankind. The elements of the record are waters & the great feminine spirit.’ - Bandcamp

This is the first stop on Sven Wunder’s musical journey. Wunder takes the listener somewhere around the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea, around the Levantine Sea, where he paints a colourful portrait and illustrates the regions flora through sound. The fruitage is a vivid bouquet where Wunder fuses colours and pigments by using traditional and modern instruments merged with arrangements and melodies that stretches from popular to folk music by portraying tulips, red roses, hibiscus, hyacinths, chamomile, magnolia, daisies etcetera. With both fine and thick brushes are these flowers being pictured in a both modern and classic idiom. The outcome is prismatic. It stands between Anatolian rock and European jazz-funk with ponderous drum patterns, groovy organs, far-out synthesizers, enchanting Saz and impetuous bass lines. Eastern Flowers sweeps through time and space and points towards the future. It could appeal both psych and prog listeners, folk or jazz aficionados and as well the gourmet hip hop connoisseurs. - Bandcamp

Hot on the heels of their ‘Sampled Funk’ selection, the folks at Wagram apply the same approach to soul, lounge and easy listening, raiding the crates for those smooth grooves, gospel scorchers and tearjerkers that generations of producer have flipped for high quality hip hop and house. Perfect for wax nerds, sample spotters and bar DJs, this collection features jamz from Ray Charles, Timmy Thomas, Dusty Springfield and Etta James.

Jazz is a conversation—an exchange of ideas between players, as well as between band and audience. Aside from pointing out, via the title’s wry joke, that the genre is very much alive, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge’s Jazz is Dead series has also revealed that jazz is a vital dialogue spanning generations and genres, and in each entry the duo’s hip-hop, funk, and soul roots engage with venerated players like Roy Ayers, Doug Carn, and Marcos Valle.

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The most recent entry pairs the duo with reedsman Gary Bartz, and it’s their headiest to date. Bartz has long been in dialogue with pop music forms—all the way back to his classic NTU Troop band of the ‘70s—so the octogenarian keeps step no matter what sound comes his way, grappling and assimilating without breaking a sweat. His horn slots readily into the simmering groove and scratching wah-wah guitar of “Blue Jungles,” while his melodic sing-song solo is every bit as dreamy as the shimmering keys and backing coos on “Day By Day.” No disrespect to all the mighty drummers behind Bartz back in the day, but it’s a real treat to hear Bartz weave in and around Muhammad’s head-knocking drums. The breaks are crunchy and sweet on standouts like “Spiritual Ideation” and “Distant Mode,” with Bartz revisiting the sort of warm, buttery tone that turned him into a jazz-funk star. Streetwise rhythm and smooth melody in a beautiful exchange. – Bandcamp

London, England: Early 1970's. The airwaves ruled by a mixture of Novelty Pop and Glam by day, Progressive Rock by night. Down at the Disco every night finishes with Jeff Beck's “Hi Ho Silver Lining” if you're lucky, all 11 minutes of “Freebird” if you're not.

Not the best time to release an uncompromising and highly creative foray into Latin Jazz territory. The Robin Jones Seven “El Maja” unsurprisingly falls into that limbo known as “between the cracks”.

Cue a decade later, it's the beginning of the 1980's, a tough decade with tough dancefloors. Two-tone, Punk, Funk, Northern Soul and some Heavy, Heavy Dub. And Jazz. Jazz For dancing. Jazz for cutting up your mates with your moves. Combat Jazz. One of the essential tools for any aspiring Jazz DJ was this re-discovery; a dig from the dustiest part of the basement piece of wax that's just chock full of Latin Jazz Burners!

Back in the night of the day there was only one store that had a decent supply of these must have treasures: Fusions Records run by DJ Paul Murphy. “They came into the stock room and as fast as I could put them on the shelves they were snapped up.”

With originals now going for a wallet busting $400 (and up!) Jazz Room Records are pleased to make this long lost classic available once more.

A groundbreaking album, "El Maja" was released by The Robin Jones Seven in 1972.

Robin Jones: "My early recordings all crossed the lines musically between Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian music. I made two such albums that were released by Apollo Sound in the 1970s: "Denga" and "El Maja". Uptempo, four hundred feet or more on the floor stompers like “El Maja”, “Carica Papaya”and the track that Robin himself said is the first recorded Samba tune in the UK: “Batucada Da Vida” are complemented by the Afro-Boogaloo of “The Wailer”, the soulful grooves of “Chant Afrique” and a particular highlight being the funk drenched “Atlas”. - Bandcamp

Bassist, composer, arranger, and film scorer Jorge López Ruiz was the living embodiment of Argentine jazz history. This recording, which was done in 1967 with a big band led by López Ruiz, represents a monumental work in Argentine jazz. The work is a concept album that takes a critical stance on the chaotic political situation and the military regime in Argentina at the time. It was banned upon release and directly led to constraints being placed on López Ruiz’s subsequent activities. Musically, it represents the starting point of López Ruiz’s ‘musical world’, where he wholeheartedly reflects his spirit as a Latin American and Argentine citizen onto his music – jazz. This work is a masterpiece of 60’s big band jazz, which captures López Ruiz’s passion and rage – both as a musician and as a man in the face of an unforgiving reality. Its first vinyl reissue in half a century! – Light In The Attic

Limited Edition of 700

The 3^rd album from UK multi-instrumentalist, Robohands. Fuses elements of Jazz krautrock & ambient music. For fans of Khruangbin, Yussef Dayes & 70s library music.

Since the 2011 debut of Dave Harrington’s revered Darkside project with long-time collaborator, Nicolas Jaar, Harrington has become one of this century’s most unlikely guitar heroes. Harrington blends avant-garde improvisational jazz roots to psychedelic touchstones like Jerry Garcia and David Gilmour, to sophisticated dance-floor burners.

While his latest album Pure Imagination, No Country doesn’t necessarily sound like a Darkside record, it exists at a different axis in the same continuum. Harrington uses guitar as a lead voice, sculpting and creating a new core language with a gifted cadre of players including vibraphonist Will Shore, synth bassist Andrew Fox, drummer Samer Ghadry, and post-rock polymath Lars Horntveth of Jagga Jazzist. – On Bandcamp

The story of Perception takes root in a series of chance meetings, which seem at first glance unlikely, between musicians from differing horizons, be they geographic or esthetic. Jazz Magazine was spot on with an article from the period entitled, "Perception, four conceptions", before detailing the origins of the musicians (Hungarian for saxophonist Yochk'O Seffer, German for pianist Siegfried Kessler, French for bassist Didier Levallet, Franco-Vietnamese for drummer Jean-My Truong). It then looked at their varying backgrounds (classical academic training for the first two, an improvised apprenticeship on the jazz scene for the third), in order to point out the seemingly contradictory and perhaps complementary directions which would unite in a singular identity. None of this, however, was clear from the start as the group began as a trio with a different saxophonist, before stabilising to the first core quartet.

Having been remarked on in 1970 by Gérard Terronès, who was already producer of the cult Alors! (Michel Portal), Célesphère (Burton Greene) and Basse Barre (Barre Phillips), Perception was thus given a timely opportunity to record their first album on his Futura Records label. This eponymous opus, illustrated with a drawing by Yochk'O Seffer, is the first of a fascinating trilogy. It puts the seal on those complementary contradictions with a lyrically incandescent free jazz, made up of startling interactions between complex harmonies and disjointed rhythms. - SouffleContinu Records

Olindo Records is proud to launch sister label Música Infinita, with its inaugural release, ‘The Message’ by Gerry Weil - an overlooked cornerstone of Venezuelan jazz, greatly influenced by ‘Bitches Brew’ era Miles, Hendrix, Tower of Power and fusion of jazz and rock. ‘The Message’ is packed with raw funk grooves, big band horns, and Gerry’s gravelly Tom (Waitsian) vocals. Remastered with love by Frank Merritt at The Carvery, this edition of just 500 copies features brand new artwork and an extensive interview with Gerry.

Arriving in Venezuela from Austria as a 17 year old in 1957, Gerry has become one of the most influential musicians his adopted country has ever seen. His compositions are now part of the repertoire of Venezuelan jazz standards, but perhaps more importantly, Gerry’s career in music education has seen him impart his music theory and piano teachings to at least three generations of musicians. Still active at the age of 81, Gerry is a living legend and a true testament to perseverance through music. – Olindo Records

Japanese P-Vine Records import copies of Prince Billy Mahdi Wright's rare soul-jazz album 'You Got Dat Wright' from 1982.

 After establishing himself as a new star with the Miles Davis quintet, the Thelonious Monk quartet, and various Prestige recordings with Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, and Tadd Dameron, Coltrane made his debut as a leader with this LP. It includes his own compositions such as Straight Street and Chronic Blues; and his inimitable explorations of little-heard old pop songs such as Violets for Your Furs, While My Lady Sleeps, and Time Was. – Elusive Disc

Soundtracking Netflix’s Michelle Obama documentary, the Los Angeles saxophonist trades the sprawl of his albums for a more concise approach, wrapping pop-friendly motifs in big arrangements.

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That Los Angeles saxophonist Kamasi Washington was tapped to compose the music for Becoming, director Nadia Hallgren’s documentary-film companion to Michelle Obama’s 2018 memoir, feels almost like a given. While there is a vital, venerated, multi-generational jazz scene still thriving in Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama’s hometown of Chicago, Washington’s music epitomizes the Obama presidency’s once-in-a-generation vision, uplift, and sense of hope. Today, that period looks like a beacon of light in a time of incessant dolor. You might even feel a lump in the throat when the film shows 2008 footage of Michelle signing campaign materials as a brief reprise of Washington’s bittersweet 2015 song “The Rhythm Changes” plays in the background.

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Becoming’s 15 tracks reveal a seldom heard side of Washington: concision. Barely topping a half-hour runtime, the record ends right where you would otherwise be deep into the third cut on The Epic or Heaven and Earth. Yet such brevity suits Washington here, letting him wrap pop-friendly motifs in big arrangements while also allowing him room to experiment with different approaches. ­– Pitchfork

1956, Sonny Rollins was spiritually and physically rejuvenated. And on Sonny Rollins Plus 4, he's clearly inspired by Max Roach and Clifford Brown's depth of spirit. Multi-dimensional re-arrangements of popular songs were a Brown-Roach trademark. "Kiss and Run" is treated to a stop-and-go intro, then settles into a brisk 4/4, as Rollins, Brown, and the perennially underrated Richie Powell fashion long dancing lines. "I Feel a Song Coming On" creates tension by alternating a vamp figure with a swinging release. Rollins takes an immense solo, contrasting chanting figures and foghorn-like long tones with Parker-ish elisions, and Brown answers with buzzing figures and daring harmonic extensions. Then Roach takes things out with sweeping melodic choruses and polyrhythmic fanfares, setting the stage for a torrid tenor-trumpet duel. On "Valse Hot," there's an early example of a successful jazz waltz as Rollins offers up one of his most charming themes. Max Roach treats the European three with the dancing elan of an American four, and Rollins responds by floating in between the beat, syncopating in Monk-ish stabs and thrusts, as Brown answers with the kind of rhythmically complex, sweetly articulated melodic lines that have inspired every modern trumpeter. – All Music

This is the album that launched Flora Purim's solo career with great promise following her magnificent stint with Chick Corea's first incarnation of Return to Forever. Most of the tracks on this album sound like they would have fit very nicely onto one of RTF's first two LPs, with bandmate Stanley Clarke not only lending support on electric and acoustic bass, but also contributing original compositions and arrangements to the mix. The rest of the supporting cast is not too shabby either, including sax and flute man Joe Henderson, keyboard whiz kid George Duke, guitarist David Amaro, and Purim's other half, percussion legend Airto Moreira. Clarke's funky "Dr. Jive" and lyrical "Butterfly Dreams" are standout tracks here, as is the upbeat Egberto Gismonti composition "Moon Dreams." Duke shows his light Brazilian side on "Love Reborn," featuring Henderson's tenor sax solo and Amaro's lovely acoustic guitar. Purim delivers a gorgeous take on Jobim's well-known ballad "Dindi," and reshapes the standard "Summer Night" into a wordless vocal in her unmistakable style. The disc closes with a fine reworking of Clarke's now-classic "Light as a Feather," which strays not too far from the original RTF version. Neatly capturing Flora Purim's many vocal strengths, Butterfly Dreams delivered on the great expectations generated by her work with Corea and turned out to be a high point in her recording career. – All Music

Official replica re-issue of a South African jazz-funk rarity from Teaspoon & The Waves.

Released in 1977 on Soul Jazz Pop, a subsidiary label of Mavuthela Music Company / Gallo, Teaspoon & The Waves’ self-titled album is an absolute masterpiece. Best known for the song 'Oh Yeh Soweto’, which is an astonishing adaptation of Lamont Dozier's anthem 'Going Back to My Roots', this track has become a contemporary underground club classic in recent times and has been featured in sets from a cross-section of DJs. With such a massive calling card song, it could be easy to write off the album as a typical one-tracker (like so many records often are), but that is a long way from the truth. Each of the remaining four tracks are super strong and, for us here at Mr Bongo, this has to be our favourite South African record of this era. 'Saturday Express' is a jazz-funk/disco stomper which will soon be lighting up dancefloors again. 'Wind and Fire' is true afro-jazz-funk excellence, with great spacey synths and reggae-inspired guitar grooves riding throughout. The opener, 'Friday Night’, also has a slightly reggae-tinged tropical groove, whilst 'Got Me Tight' finishes off the session with a feel-good jazz-funk workout that features cool, quirky, Patrick Adams-esque synths.

Saxophonist Teaspoon Ndlela has had an amazing and rich musical career. Releasing albums on records labels Soul Jazz Pop, Hit Special, Gallo GRC, alongside working with and writing for South African artists such as Mpharanyana, Stimela, Sipho Gumede and Sgu. He also features on the Paul Simon track 'Gumboots' taken from the iconic 'Graceland' project. Though best known for 'Oh Yeh Soweto' we hope this re-issue helps demonstrate that there is much more magic in this wonderful musician's repertoire to discover. – Bandcamp

Thought by many to be among the most revolutionary albums in jazz history, Miles Davis' Bitches Brew solidified the genre known as jazz-rock fusion. The original double LP included only six cuts and featured up to 12 musicians at any given time, some of whom were already established while others would become high-profile players later, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Airto, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Don Alias, Bennie Maupin, Larry Young, and Lenny White among them. Originally thought to be a series of long jams locked into grooves around keyboard, bass, or guitar vamps, Bitches Brew is actually a recording that producer Teo Macero assembled from various jams and takes by razor blade, splice to splice, section to section. "Pharaoh's Dance" opens the set with its slippery trumpet lines, McLaughlin's snaky guitar figures skirting the edge of the rhythm section and Don Alias' conga slipping through the middle. Corea and Zawinul's keyboards create a haunted, riffing modal groove, echoed and accented by the basses of Harvey Brooks and Holland. The title cut was originally composed as a five-part suite, though only three were used. Here the keyboards punch through the mix and big chords ring up distorted harmonics for Davis to solo rhythmically over, outside the mode. McLaughlin's comping creates a vamp, and the bass and drums carry the rest. It's a small taste of the deep voodoo funk to appear on Davis' later records. Side three opens with McLaughlin and Davis trading fours and eights over a lockstep hypnotic vamp on "Spanish Key." Zawinul's lyric sensibility provides a near chorus for Corea to flit around in; the congas and drummers juxtapose themselves against the basslines. It nearly segues into the brief "John McLaughlin," featuring an organ playing modes below arpeggiated blues guitar runs. The end of Bitches Brew, signified by the stellar "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down," reflects the influence of Jimi Hendrix with its chunky, slipped chords and Davis playing a ghostly melody through the funkiness of the rhythm section. It seemingly dances, becoming increasingly more chaotic until it nearly disintegrates before shimmering into a loose foggy nadir. The disc closes with "Sanctuary," completely redone here as a moody electric ballad that was reworked for this band while keeping enough of its integrity to be recognizable. Bitches Brew is so forward-thinking that it retains its freshness and mystery in the 21st century. – All Music

While Joe Henderson seemed to arrive fully formed on his auspicious 1963 debut Page One, the album was really a showcase for the transcendent collaboration between the tenor saxophonist and trumpeter Kenny Dorham who would form a potent frontline team on numerous mid-60s Blue Note classics. Page One opens with a pair of indelible Dorham compositions (“Blue Bossa” and “La Mesha”), with the balance of the 6-song set penned by Henderson including his enduring theme “Recorda-Me.” Dazzling performances by pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Butch Warren, and drummer Pete La Roca further elevate this album making it one of the crown jewels of the Blue Note catalog.

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal. – Blue Note

Chet Baker was 29 years old when he recorded this album of vocals with occasional trumpet back in the summer of 1958 released today, 61 years later for RSD Black Friday.. He sounds like a kid. Actually you could argue he sounds positively girl-ish, which back then must have driven them pretty crazy—even crazier than did his chiseled, pugilistic face.

He's the epitome of cool on this set of standards as is the piano backing provided by the very young Kenny Drew who plays on every track. Philly Joe Jones plays drums on most tracks, with Mingus time keeper Danny Richmond on four tracks. George Morrow and Sam Jones play bass. As soothing and enjoyable are Baker's cool vocals, if you pay attention to Drew's sensitive backing, you're in for an equally enjoyable ride.

The tunes include "I'm Old Fashioned", "You're Driving Me Crazy", "My Heart Stood Still", "Everything Happens to Me" and from "Finian's Rainbow" "That Old Devil Moon".

The sound is mono-sensational with Baker closely miked, dry and unadorned by whatever primitive effects were then available. The richness and roundness heard is strictly a function of Baker's vocal timbre and the microphone's character. The piano and drum sound are equally "just right" and the mix is ideal.

Mastered by Kevin Gray, cut from tape, pressed at RTI and packaged in Stoughton tip-on jacket, Chet Baker Sings.... is everything you want in a reissue, sonically and musically. A late night Cognac delight. – Analog Planet

Reissue: Verve Vital Vinyl series

In 1965 and 1966 tenor giant Sonny Rollins issued three albums for the Impulse label. They would be his last until 1972 when he re-emerged on the scene from a self-imposed retirement. This date is significant for the manner in which Rollins attacks five standards with a quartet that included pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Walter Booker and drummer Mickey Roker.

Rollins, who's been recording for RCA and its Bluebird subsidiary, had spent the previous three years (after emerging from his first retirement) concentrating on standards and focusing deeply on intimate, intricate aspects of melody and harmony. He inverts the approach here, and digs deeply into pulse and rhythm and leaving melody to take care of itself.

This is not a "new thing" date but instead focuses on playing according to the dictates of the rhythm section and on interchanging with Booker and Roker, leaving much of the melodic aspect of these tunes to Bryant. Rollins could never quite leave the melody out of anything he played because of his intense gift as a lyrical improviser; he nonetheless stripped his approach back and played tunes like "On Green Dolphin Street" by improvising according to theme rather than strict melody, where his interplay with the rhythm section becomes based on the dynamic and shifting times played by Roker.

While things are more intimate and straight on "Everything Happens to Me," he nonetheless plays the edges, filling the space like a drummer. Melody happens throughout, the tune is recognizable, but it is stretched in his solo to a theme set by the shimmering cymbals and brushed snare work of Roker.

The oddest cuts in the set are the last two; spaced out readings of "Blue Room," and "Three Little Words"; they sound as if he were preparing the listener for a true change in his approach. Melody gets inverted, with spaces and syncopation taking the place of notes. The swing is inherent in everything here, but it's clear that the saxophonist was hearing something else in his head, the way he squeezes notes tightly into some phrases where they might be placed elsewhere, and substitutes small, lithe lines inside Bryant's solos which dictate the harmonic intervals more conventionally with his singing approach. And speaking of rhythm, the album's hinge piece is the burning calypso "Hold "Em Joe." Here again, as Bryant's changes play it straight, Rollins shoves his horn inside them and draws out the beat on his horn over and over again.

As strange and beautiful as this record sounds, it would have been wonderful if he had chosen to explore this track on his later records, but that restless spirit was already moving onto something else, as evidenced by his next offering, which were his original compositions for the film Alfie with arrangements by Oliver Nelson. If anything, Sonny Rollins on Impulse! feels as if it were a recording Rollins had to get out of his system. But thank goodness for us because it's a winner through and through. – All Music