I got into an ebay bidding war with a cat for this CD. We had taken the price all the way up to $36 before I bailed. Fortunately I took a chance and visited Half.com and found it for $29. Word to the wise ? check Half.com before getting into bidding contests for CDs and LPs. You may find a better deal.

What more can be said about Freddie Hubbard?s playing during the Blue Note years that hasn?t already been said by me or others? His technique is incredible, his tone is fat and his musical ideas are fresh. Joining him on this set are Wayne Shorter, McCoy Turner, Art Davis, Elvin Hayes and Benard McKinney on euphonium. Freddie wrote three of tunes (Arietis, Birdlike and Crisis) and those are my favorites.

I am hoping Blue Note does a RVG edition. If they do ? it will only cost you $12 instead of the $31 that I panned out. It was worth ever penny though.

As many of you know – I am a big Terence Blanchard fan.  The man can seriously blow and is one of the few trumpet players with his own unique voice.  His roots are firmly planted in the history of this music and that truly allows his limbs to stretch and expand where others do not go.  He is definitely not a cookie cutter trumpet player in my opinion.  Terence along with a collection of top shelf players join the legendary McCoy Tyner on his new CD – Illuminations.

The selection of material is greatly varied and a refreshing change.  McCoy tackles everything from the Latin laced “Angelina,” standards like “Alone Together” and the down home blues of “New Orleans Stomp.”  He is joined by TB on trumpet, Gary Bartz on saxophone, Lewis Nash on drums and the rock solid Christian McBride on bass.

Even though the CD is McCoy Tyner’s I really feel that Terence shines.  To me this is a serious extension of his fantastic playing on Bounce.  Each solo is well crafted and full of life.  On “Angelina” he slowly builds to an extremely powerful climax and flurry of high notes.  The amazing thing is he manages to do this on just about every track.  Again – my view may be slightly rose colored but it is a performance that you do not want to miss.  Pick up a copy and judge for yourself.

Maybe I need to get out more. Maybe I need to travel in different trumpet circles. Why haven't I heard the name Charles Tolliver more when people talk about great trumpet players? I was turned on to him by listening to Brian Lynch's “Tribute to the Trumpet Masters” album where Brian wrote a tune for him. I was familiar with all the players except for Charles and made it a point to find out more about him.

The Ringer was the perfect introduction to this amazing and exciting player. He reminds me of Woody Shaw in many regards with his aggressive style and crystal clear tone. Check out Charles handles the energy packed title tune – “The Ringer” and gets smooth and mellow with “Mother Wit”. His writing really shines on “Plight” and “On the Nile”.

Do yourself a favor and check out Charles Tolliver.

I got a request a few months ago from someone who wanted to see some Kenny
Dorham albums on my list. Just because I don’t have KD on list as a leader
doesn’t mean I don’t love the cat. I am a big Kenny Dorham fan — I especially
like his work with Joe Henderson (as evident in my review of In N’ Out). That
being said – it is definitely time to pay homage to one of the most underrated
trumpet players (and musicians) in jazz.

Afro-Cuban is an amazing album with an even more amazing line up of
players: Kenny Dorham (trumpet), J. J. Johnson (trombone), Hank Mobley (tenor
sax), Cecil Payne (baritone sax), Horace Silver (piano), Percy Heath – Oscar
Pettiford (bass), Carlos ?Potato? Valdes (conga) and Art Blakey (drums). How can
you go wrong with that line up? I have always considered Latin music "feel good"
music and this is no exception. It is very difficult to sit still or be in a
sour mood with this CD playing. Kenny Dorham writes some great music for this
performance my favorite being the opening track – "Afrodisia." While KD does not
have the technical prowess of Freddie Hubbard or Lee Morgan, his playing is
always energized and expressive. His efforts here do not disappoint and he does
very well in this genre/style of music.

There is also plenty of straight ahead jazz to sample on this CD (check out KD’s delicate delivery of “Lotus Flower”). I love the variety it offers. I recommend that you check out Afro-Cuban and get familiar with the
work of Kenny Dorham. If you want additional album suggestions please feel free
to email me. There are plenty to choose from.

I’ve noticed that one of the curses of being a technically proficient trumpet player is the temptation or tendency to resorts on tricks, high notes and gimmicks to impress listeners. Ryan Kisor is technically proficient on the trumpet but he is NOT guilty of this practice. His ability is amazing and his style/approach to playing is drenched in the foundation of the master musicians of the past.

On the album “Awakening,” Ryan uses his abilities to craft fantastic and expressive solos. On this album he rejoins Sam Yahel (Hammond B3) and Peter Bernstein (guitar) from the very popular “Battle Cry” quartet. This is definitely one of his best albums to date (and can a trumpet player look any cooler on an album cover??). Not to be over looked are fantastic performances by Grant Stewart on Tenor and Willie Jones III on drums.

All the tunes were written by Ryan Kisor who says in his liner notes – “Just let the music speak for itself.” I like what it’s saying to me… great stuff.

Variety is the spice of life. Variety in a jazz quintet is especially delicious. I first heard this group a few years ago at Borders Book and later at a arts and education program where they paid tribute to Thelonious Monk. I thoroughly enjoyed both. The Unified Jazz Ensemble uses variety in instrumentation along with original composition to create “Small Town Stories.”

The group includes Jeff Antoniuk (soptenoralto sax, percussion), John “Big Pants” Pineda (bass), Tim Harrison (piano, flute), Marty Morrison (drums) and Mike Noonan (vibraphone, trombone, percussion). I can’t think of many groups that include this kind of diversity without bringing in guest artists. They use this diversity to change the sound of the group on different cuts and it works very well.

What really impressed me is the writing on this CD. All songs are original tunes composed by members of the band. Among my favorites include Noonan?s ?Big Pants Plays the Groove? (the flute solo is fantastic) and Harrison’s “Highlandville” and energetic ?Orsey?s Blues.? The chemistry among the band members is obvious. This is truly a group in tune with one another. Unified. Highly recommended.

To find out more about this group and purchase the CD visit their website ? http://www.unifiedjazz.com.

The Terence Blanchard/Donald Harrison quintet of the 1980s never got the credit and accolades that they deserved. While some recognized their talents, they never reached the commercial success of the Wynton Marsalis led band (who was also putting out some top notch albums). The Blanchard/Harrison group released several fantastic albums that were creative, innovated and just down right amazing.

Black Pearl was the final album released by this trumpet/alto sax led quintet who together spent much of their time cutting their teeth with Art Blakey as Jazz Messengers. With both Terence and Donald sharing leadership, the band was very versatile. Listen to the dreamy title “Black Pearl” or ?Infinite Heart? and follow that with the cooking “The Center Piece” or ?Dizzy Gillespie?s Hands.? The group included Cyrus Chestnut on piano, Reginald Veal on bass and Carl Allen on drums. If you look up musical chemistry in the dictionary you will see this group referenced as #2(#1 being the Miles Davis Quintet of the early-mid 60s).

It’s may be hard to track this one down but if you do – you will not be disappointed. Special thanks for Larry Smithee for turning me on to Terence’s earlier bodies of work.

In this fantastic album – Jeremy goes back and tackles some lesser-known standards. I think someone once said you have know where you came from in order to look ahead to the future. I have always thought that Jeremy was a forward thinking musician with roots firmly familiar (but not planted) in the music of past. This album shows me that I was right all along.

Instead of tackling more widely known tunes, JP selected songs like “Weird Nightmare” by Charles Mingus, “502 Blues” by Jimmy Rowles and “In Your Eyes” by Frank Loesser. He performs these songs in the quartet format as well as with strings (arranged by David O'Rourke). He really steps up to the plate in the quartet format and the string arrangements appear to be carefully created to allow him to poke and prod during his improvisation (something he always does well). Check out his solo on “Don't You Know I Care” and use it as a sound model if you're doing any flugelhorn work.

Personnel includes Mulgrew Miller on piano, Peter Washington on bass, Lewis Nash on drums, Meg Okura & Joyce Hammann on violin, Ron Lawrence on viola, David Eggar on cello and David O'Rouke on guitar.

This is definitely worth checking out. To listen to a few samples visit the MaxJazz website http://www.maxjazz.com or Jeremy?s website http://www.peltjazz.com.

As I sit here and listen to this CD for the 5th straight time I'm still amazed at the energy and creativity that these cats release on the opening (title) cut. I remember hearing it for the first time at my friend's house and I've been in love with it ever since (thanks G!). I ran home and ordered it before I took off my hat and coat.

Tunes were composed by Kenny Dorham and Joe Henderson who both play their best. The solos are well conceived and explore every possibility available. They are backed (or fronted in this case) by McCoy Turner, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones. Kenny and Joe really step up the plate and respond to energy created by this stellar rhythm section. Who couldn't respond to those cats?? I mean… they could make ME sound good. They can play in the pocket, around it, to the side, underneath… and it sounds perfect.

Don't sleep on this one. A definite hard-bop diamond in the rough.

Have you ever purchased an album that didn't grab you right away but then you go hear the group perform live and it totally changes your view of it? That happened to me this past week thanks to viewing some vintage footage of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Thanks to what I saw, I am now in LOVE with the Mosiac album.

The group included what is arguably the greatest Messenger's line up of all time: Curtis Fuller, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard (you can't beat the frontline), Art Blakey, Cedar Walton and Jymie Merritt. As they ran through their line up I realized that many of the tunes they performed were taken from the Mosaic album. Upon revisting the CD I realized that this is one powerful session that belongs in every jazz listener's library. The energy that I heard and saw in the live performance was mirrored on this recorded session. All of the solos are exciting but their performances on Shorter's “Children of the Night” is out of this world. Wayne Shorter can write some amazing tunes.

Bottom line – this is another must have for your jazz library. To me this is one of the albums that define the Jazz Messenger sound.

P.S. – Did I mention that Freddie plays his a$$ off in this one??