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, … [Read more...]

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. … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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 … [Read more...]

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. … [Read more...]