Roger Kellaway, Live at the Jazz Standard (IPO). For the pianist’s stand at the New York club, he continues his drumerless ways of recent years but, as usual, has plenty of rhythm.
He is abetted by guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Jay Leonhart. Vibraharpist Stefon Harris is also aboard, fitting into Kellway’s conception of a group modeled on the Nat Cole Trio. Cellist Borislav Strulev makes a moving contribution to Kellaway’s “All My Life.” The exuberant blowing is on familiar pieces, from “Cottontail” to “Freddie Freeloader” and “Take Five.” Unmitigated swing is the rule in this beautifully recorded live date.

Grace Kelly, Lee Konitz, GracefulLee (Pazz). Alto saxophonists, one fifteen, the other eighty, on the same wavelength, enjoying one another’s company. As I wrote near the time this was being recorded, Ms.Kelly is a phenomenon — not a precociously talented child, but a complete improvising musician. With Konitz, one of the great individualists in jazz, she is a peer. On the tracks featuring her in duo with drummer Matt Wilson, guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Rufus Reid, she is resourceful and satisfying. Wow.

András Schiff, Ludwig van Beethoven: The Piano Sonatas, Vol. VII and Vol. VIII (ECM). With these CDs, the pianist completes his recording of the cycle of thirty-two Beethoven onatas written from 1795 to 1822. How Schiff’s approach to the sonatas compares with the
 Beethoven visions of Arthur Schnabel, Sviatoslav Richter, Richard Goode and the many other great pianists who have recorded them is a matter of the knowledge, taste, temperament and ears of the listener. To these ears, he sees into the depths of these last six sonatas. To hear Schiff play the enigmatic final movement of number 32, the Opus 111, is to understand something of the mystery of Beethoven’s genius.

Bill Evans, Live ’64-’75 (Jazz Icons). We see and hear the most influential jazz pianist after
Bud Powell with four versions of his trio in concerts or television appearances in Scandinavia and France. In a slightly disjointed encounter, Lee Konitz is the guest on one tune. Otherwise, Evans is deep in conversation with his sidemen: bassists Eddie Gomez, Chuck Israels and Neils-Henning Ørsted Pedersen: and drummers Larry Bunker, Alan Dawson, Marty Morell and the seldom seen Eliot Zigmund. Much of this video is rare. This is an enormously important release.

William Claxton, Photographic Memory (Powerhouse). This generous volume has the great photographer’s pictures of a few jazz people, including shots of Chet Baker that helped make both of them famous. But here we have full-range Claxton; portraits of personalities as varied in time and occupation as Igor Stravinsky in 1956, Benicio Del Toro in 2001, Ursula Andress in 1962, Spike Lee in 1989 and Vladimir Nabokov in 1961. This survey of Claxton’s work, much of it previously unpublished, documents how clearly he saw into the beings of his subjects.

Alan Broadbent, Moment’s Notice (Chilly Bin). In heavy demand as arranger, conductor and accompanist, Broadbent’s schedule leaves him too few opportunities to work with his longtime sidemen, bassist Putter Smith and drummer Kendall Kay. In this welcome set, Broadbent plays with his customary blend of power, relaxation and inventiveness on tunes by Charlie Parker, Mal Waldron, John Coltrane and Benny Golson, among others. There is riveting interaction between Broadbent and Smith on Parker’s “Chi Chi.” Broadbent’s “Lady Love” has the makings of a new jazz standard.

Javon Jackson, Once Upon A Melody (Palmetto). Whether as the result of marketing gambits or of press stereotyping, Jackson’s name rarely appears without the word “funk” nearby. In truth, from the time of his early beginnings with Art Blakey, his tenor saxophone playing has had fuller stylistic and emotional range that of a funkmeister. This CD is satisfying evidence of Jackson’s breadth, from the sensitivity of his respectful treatment of the melody of “My One and Only Love” to the engaging energy and –all right– funk of his blues “Mr. Taylor.” It’s good to hear Jackson interpret pieces by two of his influences, Wayne Shorter’s “One By One” and Sonny Rollins’s “Paradox.” His thoughtful way with Matt Dennis’s “Will You Still Be Mine?” is another highlight.

Louis Armstrong, Fleischmann’s Yeast Show & Louis’ Home-Recorded Tapes (Jazz Society). If Armstrong’s big band of the late 1930s had been this supercharged on its commercial recordings, critics might not have written all those disparaging things about it. These air checks tell the real story of what Armstrong was capable of in fronting Luis Russell’s band. Here is the fountainhead of jazz inspiration in full flight. The companion CD is a generous sampling of Louis reminiscing, singing, playing and joking into his home tape recorder. To hear him in the 1950s playing along, gloriously, with his 1922 recording of “Tears” is worth multiples of the price of this set.

Cannonball Adderley, Live in ’63 (Jazz Icons). Riding high on his success as a leader, the alto saxophonist was proud of his early 1960s sextet. These televised concerts capture him and his sidemen expansive and swinging. Yusef Lateef, Nat Adderley, Joe Zawinul, Sam Jones and Louis Hayes had integrated with Cannonball into one of the tightest small bands in jazz. Lateef was nearing the end of his tenure with the band, pleasing the audiences –and, clearly, Cannonball, too– with his solos on flute and tenor sax. In his later years, Zawinul went out of his way to disparage his playing during this period. Hearing him here, I can’t imagine why. Sound and black-and-white video quality are excellent.

Benny Green, The Reluctant Art (Da Capo). Dave Frishberg’s recent message to Rifftides in which he recommended this book sent me scrambling in haste and embarrassment to obtain a copy. I had never read Green’s book, subtitled “Five Studies in the Growth of Jazz” and should have. There are actually six studies. I am being rewarded by Green’s insights into Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Art Tatum and Charlie Parker. One provocative thought from Green: “Improvisation is more than a virtue. It is a responsibility demanding a degree of creative fertility which a high percentage of respected jazz musicians simply do not possess.”

Miles From India (Times Square). Producer Bob Belden wound up a monumental series of Miles Davis reissue box sets for Sony/Columbia, then he and fellow arranger Louiz Banks turned to interpreting the trumpeter’s immense output of recordings after 1959. This two-CD set considers the intersection of Indian music with Davis’s adventures in scales and modes from Kind of Blue forward. Belden laid down the initial tracks in India, later adding soloists in New York. Among the players are sidemen from several Davis bands. They include Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, Gary Bartz, Chick Corea and David Liebman. Trumpeter Wallace Roney evokes Davis. Guitarist John McLaughlin contributes the brilliant title track. This ambitious project is a success.

Norma Winstone, Distances  (ECM). The British singer places the purity of her voice, intonation and phrasing in the spare setting of Glauco Venier’s piano and Klaus Gesing’s soprano sax. Winstone’s songs include that rarity, a successful vocal version of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” and pieces by Cole Porter, Eric Satie, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Peter Gabriel. She uses her artistic range to bring disparate compositional styles into a collection not unlike a suite. Winstone comes close to jauntiness in her calypso sparring with Gesing’s bass clarinet in “A Song for England,” but the pervasive characteristics of this recital of vocal chamber music are peacefulness and emotional depth.

Johnny Griffin & Lockjaw Davis, Live in Copenhagen (Storyville). The hard-charging tenor saxophonists worked in tandem for twenty-six years. This 1984 club date at the Montmarte club two years before Davis’s death is typical of the unremitting swing and visceral excitement of their live appearances. The rhythm section is pianist Harry Pickens, bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Kenny Washington, in his mid-twenties and formidable. Griffin’s blues “Call It Whatcha Wanna” is a highlight in a set that is itself a highlight. Now that Griffin has joined Davis, this is a memento of one of the great jazz partnerships.

Joe Zawinul: A Musical Portrait  (ArtHaus Musik). This well crafted documentary offers generous helpings of Zawinul’s music while outlining his life and philosophy. Zawinul’s
luxurious existence in Malibu during his final years (“I have everything I want in life”) contrasts with a visit to his boyhood home in Vienna and his account of surviving an Allied bombing in 1944. The sequences featuring the last edition of The Zawinul Syndicate illustrate his charisma and power as a leader. Director Mark Kidel’s videography, editing and sound mixing give the production a human heart.

Dick Wimmer, The Wildly Irish Sextet (Soft Skull Press). Following the elemental Seamus Boyne (Irish Wine: The Trilogy) into the genius painter’s old age, Wimmer cuts his creation no senior citizen slack. Boyne is wilder, more famous and more self-centered than ever. Still, he manages to maintain his loved ones’ and the reader’s affection as he rampages through New York, Westchester, Long Island and much of Ireland. You wouldn’t want him as a house guest, but he’s a great drinking buddy. The novel has a manic rhythm that surmounts every suspension of belief that such a character could exist.

Art Pepper, Unreleased Art, Vol. III, The Croydon Concert (Widow’s Taste). This 1981 concert in the London borough of Croydon captures some of the remarkable music the alto saxophonist made during the last year of his life. Pepper had absorbed some of the Coltrane influence that dominated him for a few years, shaken off the rest and emerged a more powerful individualist than ever. Driven by pianist Milcho Leviev, bassist Bob Magnusson and drummer Carl Burnett, Pepper bares emotions from tenderness to ferocity (in”Patricia,” within the same few bars.) Laurie Pepper, the widow of the label’s name, includes an illuminating, touching, essay about her husband.

Cassandra Wilson, Loverly (Blue Note). After Blue Skies, Wilson seemed to walk away from
the standard repertoire. Twenty years later, we get her second collection of standard songs. It was worth the wait. Her relaxation, phrasing and idiosyncratic interpretations make this one of the vocal CDs of the year. Highlights: irony and boogaloo energy in “St. James Infirmary,” “The Very Thought of You” in duet with bassist Reginald Veal, the gentle swing and longing in “Wouldn’t it Be Loverly?” Pianist Jason Moran does some of his most accessible playing here. Minor non-musical matter: fire the art director who prints essential information in tiny black type on a dark blue background.

Martin Wind, (Challenge). The versatile bassist brings together multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson, pianist Bill Cunliffe and drummer Greg Hutchinson to play compositions by Wind, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington. Wind’s complex “Mr. Friesen,” a tribute to cellist Eugene Friesen, could give this talented composer an entry in the jazz standards book. Of his arsenal of instruments, Robinson confines himself to tenor sax, bass clarinet and echo cornet. His tenor work suggests that he should be placing in poll categories other than those for unusual instruments. Cunliffe’s solos show why he is in demand on both coasts. Wind’s bass lines, as usual, are perfection.

Hank Jones, Jazz Master Class (Artists House). The pianist will be ninety at the end of this
month. He was only eighty-six when he taught this class. Jones plays a solo concert, coaches and evaluates student pianists, charms his audience, chats with critic Gary Giddins and, in general, defies time. Together, the two DVDs in this package run more than five hours. They comprise one of a series of Artists House DVDs that capture producer John Snyder’s master classes at New York University and Loyola University in New Orleans. Others feature Phil Woods, Cecil Taylor, Clark Terry, Toots Thielemans, Benny Golson and Jimmy Heath.