{"id":9075,"date":"2018-02-04T20:48:51","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T04:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=9075"},"modified":"2018-02-04T20:59:50","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T04:59:50","slug":"recent-listening-in-brief-from-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2018\/02\/recent-listening-in-brief-from-mps\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Listening In Brief: From MPS"},"content":{"rendered":"

MPS, the German label headquartered for years in the Black Forest continues its valuable reissue program with three albums from the 1960s and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc70s, when the label attracted established artists as well as those whose renown was rising.<\/p>\n

In Tune:<\/strong> Oscar Peterson<\/strong> Trio +<\/strong> The Singers Unlimited<\/strong><\/a> (MPS)<\/p>\n

\"\"Among the veterans was pianist Oscar Peterson, whose trio MPS teamed with the sophisticated vocal quartet The Singers Unlimited. Playing with delicacy that may surprise listeners accustomed to his vigor, Peterson is superb in ballads including \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It Never Entered My Mind,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u009dThe Shadow Of Your Smile\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A Child Is Born.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Throughout, the Singers Unlimited weave their celebrated magic of texture and harmony. The singers float wordlessly as Peterson and the trio thrive on the rich harmonies of composer Patrick Williams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Catherine.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The album opens with what might have been a surprise in 1971 but has now become a standard\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe Sesame Street<\/em> theme. Peterson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sidemen of the period, bassist George Mraz and drummer Louis Hayes, are restrained but firm in support.<\/p>\n

Monty Alexander<\/strong>, Here Comes The Sun<\/strong><\/a><\/em> (MPS)<\/p>\n

In his late twenties when this was recorded, pianist Alexander had technique that led critics to\"\" compare him to Peterson. His keyboard acumen was leavened with elements of the Caribbean music of his home territory. He began playing piano when he was four years old in Kingston, Jamaica. He achieved musical maturity early. The playing of Nat Cole captivated him. By the time he moved to New York in the 1960s he had collaborated with a cross section of the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best jazz musicians. I once wrote of Alexander\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153piquantly hesitant placement of notes at precisely the correct strategic spots behind the beat.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brown Skin Gal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d embodies that aspect of his work. For a couple of years after the Dave Brubeck Quartet disbanded, Eugene Wright was Alexander\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bassist. His drummer for this session was Duffy Jackson, the ebullient son of Woody Herman bassist Chubby Jackson. The title Beatles tune and Miles Davis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So What\u00e2\u20ac\u009d demonstrate Alexander\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to personalize music, whatever its source.<\/p>\n

Mark Murphy<\/strong>, Midnight Mood<\/em><\/a> <\/strong>MPS)<\/p>\n

The purity of Murphy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intonation, lyric interpretation and diction in Hoagy Carmichael\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I Get Along Without You Very Well\u00e2\u20ac\u009d make it one his most memorable performances on record. In this \"\"1967 album there are few of the pretensions to super-hipness that sometimes took the edge off Murphy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s singing. Here, he almost entirely avoids the excessive manipulation of vowels that later in his career could be an affectation. Murphy and an impressive sextet from the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band work together hand-in-glove. Bassist Jimmy Woode and drummer Clarke fashioned a cherished set of chords (think \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Doxy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s A Wonderful World\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) into an original called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Want Nothin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Murphy assumes command of the time and becomes the driving force of the piece. Elsewhere, there are effective solos by tenor saxophonist Ronnie Scott, trombonist \u00c3\u2026ke Persson and trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MPS, the German label headquartered for years in the Black Forest continues its valuable reissue program with three albums from the 1960s and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc70s, when the label attracted established artists as well as those whose renown was rising. In Tune: Oscar Peterson Trio + The Singers Unlimited (MPS) Among the veterans was pianist Oscar Peterson, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}